Manual External Flash YN 560 II

[billllybob140]

Hi I have a Yonguo YN560 II Speedlite Flash which is strictly a manual flash. I was looking for a Distance chart in Feet instead of meters if any one could help me with that. I am new to the uses of Flashes but would like to learn. Any help or advice?

[Bobobird]

Make you own and print a small card and stick it to the back.

Use this to convert
http://www.metric-conversions.org/le...rs-to-feet.htm

Or simply download a suitable one from here and print.
https://www.google.ca/search?q=flash...=1358&bih=1036

[Manfred M]

Easiest and fastest is to just make one yourself. A meter is about the same length as a yard, so just divide all the distances in meters by 3 to get you feet. If you want to be more accurate, divide by 3.3.

1m = 1.1 yd = 3.3ft

[rpcrowe]

Unfortunately, although we have a decimal system of money in the USA, we have not evolved to the point of civilization in which we use the metric system for measurement. It is said by educators that our school kids are basically a year behind those in other nations because we persist in using our antiquated system for weights and measures...

The above posters are perfectly correct in how to convert meters to feet. HOWEVER, if you are using guide numbers to calculate exposure, you need to use a guide number that is calculated for feet rather than meters. The YN 560 II has a guide number of GN of 58 in meters and a guide number of 190 in feet @ 105 mm using ISO . The HOWEVER (again) this guide number is valid only when the flash is at 105mm and when you are using ISO 100...

BTW: the 190 guide number in feet is calculated by multiplying the 58 guide number for meters by the meter to feet conversion of 3.28084...

In the "Dark Ages" of film photography before the advent of automatic flash exposure it was actually easier to determine the exposure than it is today with digital photography.

First of all, I mostly used one film so I wasn't concerned with ISO (or ASA as it was called at the time). The flash did not adjust for focal length so it put out the same power all the time. Zoom lenses for film cameras were crappy so I always used a prime lens.

Instead of using a guide number and dividing the distance from flash to subject to get my f/stop... I knew the exposure for each shot by experience... Head and shoulder shots were one f/stop, full-length shots were another f/stop and groups (depending on the number in the group) were another f/stop. Of course by using a prime lens, I would be the same distance from the subject when shooting the various shots. I would need to adjust the exposure depending on the environment and if I bounced the flash. This was a lot faster than determining flash to subject distance, dividing that into the guide number to determine the exposure.

OTOH... Press photographers were not all that concerned with specific exposure. The slogan for how to get good pictures was "f/8 and there!"

When I use manual studio strobes for portraiture, I determine the exposure with a flash meter. However, I am so used to these lights that I can pretty well guestimate the f/stop to use and the modeling lights will pretty well show me the ratio that I am using.

[jcuknz]

The final result is the same irrespective of if you use imperial or metric f/5.6 at ten feet is f/5.6 at 3 metres ie 56 or 16.8/17.
You can if you like be precise but rounding up or down to the nearest f/stop will get you a result that can be corrected in editing.
When you work at greater distances than ten feet with a flash with a GN of 56/17 or 80/25 it is usually desirable to err to the over exposure by a half stop or full stop. This is due to the lack of surrounding surfaces helping with the exposure, particularly outdoors.
There is also the question of subject tones, such as when I went closer to shoot the wedding cake I would close down as far as possible, fortunately in those days I was shooting B&W negative film where a bit of over exposure was not disasterous the way over exposure is with digital. Even with a weak GN56 flash at three feet you need less than f/19 with a white cake and I didn't have such a small aperture.
I never take the maker's GN as gospel and assume that they are being optimistic. As a YN owner I discovered that to make the units sound more powerful they quote a GN for the unit at telephoto setting not wide or normal.

Film speed / ISO .... I work this out in terms of f/stops .... ie. when you start with a GN56 at 100 ISO this doesn't become GN 112 with 200 ISO but 80 .... twice the sensitivity so you would close down one stop so f/5.6 becomes f/8

Working with GNs is about the simplest form of photography short of a fully automatic camera though as you strive for better results you need to bear in mind the subject matter's tones.