fill flash with a Vivitar 285HV
The Vivitar 285HV is an electronic flash unit designed to work with most brands of current digital SLR cameras as well as with SLR film cameras. While the most typical use of electronic flash units is to provide bright artificial lighting in low-light situations such as dimly lit rooms or outdoors during the evening hours, these versatile flash units can also provide supplemental fill flash lighting in normal daylight situations helping to eliminate shadows and ensure uniform exposure of your subject.
Instructions
Fill Flash with the Vivitar 285HV
1. The Vivitar 285HV requires four AA batteries
Insert four fresh 1.5 volt AA batteries into the flash unit by sliding open the battery cover located on the side of the flash unit. Electronic flash units are high energy consuming devices, and it is always best to make sure you are starting our with fully charged batteries.
2. Attach the flash unit to the hot shoe of your SLR camera by sliding the foot of the flash unit into the hot shoe bracket on the top of the camera body from the rear of the camera. When properly positioned, the "On/Off" switch of the flash unit should be facing toward the rear.
3. Turn the Vivitar 285HV flash unit on by sliding the "On/Off" switch to the red "On" position.
4. Rotate the flash head on the flash unit to face forward, aligned along the same plane as the camera's lens.
5. Turn on your SLR camera and set the camera's shutter speed to the flash synchronization speed (usually 1/60 to 1/250 second). With the shutter speed set, use the camera's exposure meter to set the lens aperture (f-stop) and ISO for the proper exposure.
6. Measure or estimate the distance between your subject and camera and set the "Vari-Power Dial" on the side of the flash unit to align the subject to camera distance with the f-stop selected by the camera's exposure meter. The Vivitar 285HV is now properly set to operate in fill-flash mode.
Tags: flash unit, Vivitar 285HV, flash units, 285HV Vivitar, 285HV Vivitar 285HV, camera exposure, camera exposure meter