Paul C. Buff, Inc. Technical Forum

Just curious, I do a lot of youth sports photography. Will the CC do light balancing? I meter the ambient light and set my flash to balance the light using a sekonic 358 meter.

Can't find anything on this other than it's a pretty good flash meter. Im considering buying it but need an ambient meter with the flash.

CC can meter the ambient with no flash, then meter ambient plus flash. This is basically the same as a Sekonic or any other meter does. CC does not automatically calculate a ratio between ambient and flash. No meter can meter flash only as there is no mechanism that allows a meter to differentiate or to exclude ambient from the flash . . . it sees the total light when measuring flash and cannot tell where it is coming from.

Say you meter ambient at f8, and flash (which includes the ambient) at f11. This means the flash has raised the light level by 1f and is therefore equal to the ambient alone. This is the same principle that any flasmeter works on.

Hope this helps.

Thanks, that's exactly what I was hopping to hear.

If I may add:

Like all flashmeters, the CC has a "measurement duration" that somewhat corresponds to a "shutter speed." The duration is adjustable in the menu in full stops, with the default being (if I remember correctly) 1/125. It is measuring both the flash and the ambient light during this moment.

In the typical studio situation, one would normally want the measurement duration to be the same as the maximum sync of the camera, but the measurement duration can be changed to suit the situation.

Luap, I haven't checked this, but is the measurement duration saved along with the other paramenters?

Ok Kirk, Now im confused. I thought I knew a lot about flash readings, (I have a degree in portraiture photography with a minor in commercial). Why is it I don't want to set the duration of the reading to the camera sync speed im using in a controlled studio setting?

Most all of the studio flashes that I have worked with, Profoto, Elincrome, Photogenics, PCB, etc, have a much, much shorter flash duration than any focal length shutter could "out sync"if you will.

In an outside situation when mixing sun and flash, duration will/may throw off your reading by seeing the sun during the whole reading time.

Im not argueing with you but I am just thinking out loud here. Im not the sharpest tool in the shed but im smart enough to know i don't know everything.

Could you please help me understand your thoughts on this....
Thanks

What RD is saying is that, normally, in the studio you would want to use near the maximum sync speed your camera is capable of so the exposure comes from the flash, and is not influenced by whatever ambient light or modeling lamps. Excess light from ambient sources can change the color balance and induce motion blur if it's sufficiently high. This would be especially true in a brightly lit office building when relatively low flash power is being used.

RD . . . yes, the meter parameters are saved, but the actual readings may be invalid if lights are moved or modifiers changed between sessions.