Camera Flash Guide Number Explained

Another common practice when flash devices are marketed in the u s.
Camera flash guide number explained. Ideally you d like to capture photos that look like 3 all. The specifications will also show the flash settings at which the guide number is calculated including the iso and flash zoom setting. Before we dig into some examples it s important to note. High guide number flashes provide a greater reach or working distance for a flash.
Compare flash power of nikon ittl flash models. This can vary depending on how the manufacturer conducted their test. 118 36 m at iso 100 for the flash head zoomed to 35mm the gn of 118 is close enough to the nikon s that the explanation is the same for 35mm flash head zoom. In regards to the zoom range one flash might have coverage from 24 200mm on a full frame camera while another would only cover 18 105mm on a aps c camera.
I use the cheap godox units. Just to drive the point home the gn for iso 200 film would be 160 since you gain a stop of light with the faster film so gn f16 x 10 feet or 160. Built in flash units typically have a guide number of around 10 14m so are okay for subjects reasonably close to the camera but are not powerful enough to cover large groups of people or great distances. 30 m 98 ft.
Guide number gn is a numerical method used to determine exposure of direct flash for manual flash power levels to automatically deal with the inverse square law making the math be trivial. By bjorn petersen. A guide to on camera flash. For instance if using a flash with a guide number of 100 at iso 100 at 1 4 power and photographing a subject at 25 away you will now require an aperture of f 2 which is 1 4 the original example s given aperture.
The nikon guide number charts in the user manuals show these gn specifications. Flash guide number formula. Flash guide number distance aperture and iso. In order to understand how a flash guide number is calculated.
So for example consider two flashes with guide numbers of 40 and 80 feet. Understanding flash guide numbers plus gn calculator flash intensity falls off with distance. There are flashes available that have a gn of 220 or even higher for iso 100 film. They have a guide number of 60 meters calculated at iso100 and a full flash zoom setting of 200mm.
197 60 m at iso 100 for the flash head zoomed to 200mm guide number. Is to provide two guide numbers which can be expressed in a variety of formats so distances and f numbers may be calculated using either feet or meters e g.