Rear-curtain flash on Z2??

[livid_chimp]

First things first - very impressed with my new Z2 (also my first camera!), served me very well on a recent holiday to Corfu.

)))) = movement, O = exposed object, > = direction of movement

There is one thing i really want to do, but there is no mention of it in the manual, so I was hoping someone might have a top tip to help acheive it. How do you acheive rear curtain flash on longer exposures? Having the flash at the beginning of an exposure creates the affect of a solid object with motion moving forward from it (eg((((((0< )- which is surely pointless? I want the motion to lead to the solid object( eg ((((0>), thus requiring flash at the end of the exposure. Why would I want a photo a solid car with motion moving ahead of it? It just looks as though its travelling in reverse.



Sorryif I haven't explained this well, sort of awkward. Hope someone can help,

Cheers,

Andy

[Puck M]

As far as I can see in the manual the only option we have on the Z1/Z2 is "Slow Sync" which appears to fire the flash at the beginning of the exposure. I don't see an option to fire the flash at the end of the exposure. When I want to do that I have to grab my old Epson 3000Z which allows for both leading and trailing flash sync.

The main use I can see for leading sync is taking a portait at night. You tell the subject to stay very still, the flash fires exposing the subject and then the shutter stays open longer to properly expose the dark background. That's not very good to show motion as in your example though, is it?

[livid_chimp]

Thanks for your reply Puck, but as you observed, no, it isn't very useful in my case! I was just hoping that someone might have a 'top tip' for getting the results I wanted, but that's probably a long shot. Wouldn't it have been a really easy and cheapfeature to add on the camera in the first place, or even something that could have been included in a firmware update in the future - just all seems a little bacward to me, surely the night portrait would work equally succesfully with a rear flash?

[montrealqc]

Hi !

Indeed, it would be very nice to have both first and second curtain flash. If this is something that can be arranged via firmware update, I hope someone from konicaminolta is listening and will proceed. That person could also add a 2 second delay option for shutter release. 10 second becomes long on repetitive tripod shots.

In the meantime, may besecond curtain flashcould be achieved with an external flash. Or is this an intrinsic feature of the camera itself?

M.

[ignavia]

The slow sync is supposed to be rear curtain except that they use red-eye reduction. I think it's pretty dumb, but maybe you can try covering the flash with your hand, or maybe a black card or something, for the preflashes, and let it flash at the end...

Kind of a backwards way to do things, but if it works...

[KCan]

I don't think it works because the main flash will burst before the rest of the (long) exposition time (not rear curtain sync), as I understand from the Z2 manual, page 26:

Quote from the manual:
Slow sync
flash and ambient light exposures
are balanced; red-eye reduction is used. Use
slow sync. when in dark locations to reveal
background details.Ask your subject not to
move after the flash burst; the shutter may still
be open for the background exposure. Because
exposures can be long, the use of a tripod is
recommended.
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