Manual Flash is the simplest way to introduce yourself to Flash Photography. It allows you to take full control of the light in a photograph by allowing you to set the output power rather than passing this control to the camera. Once set, the amount of light from the flash unit is now fixed. Your speedlite, your camera, or the ambient light cannot change the light output from your flash.
The simplicity of Manual Flash also makes it the cheapest form of flash. It does not require any communication with your camera as TTL flash does. Manual flash only needs to be told when to fire. As long as your flash has access to the central contact of a standard hot shoe, it will work on that particular camera. This means that Manual Flash is not dedicated to any camera manufacturer; the same flash will work on a Canon or a Nikon. This is unfortunately not the case for Sony as they don’t use the standard hot shoe.
But using Manual Flash means more than that; you will also switch your camera to Manual Mode. This gives you complete control over the lighting and exposure of your image and you can take full credit for a high quality image. This also means that if the exposure was wrong, then you can only look to yourself. Thankfully, when you see the issues in the image you will be in a better position to correct the error.
It is this aspect of control that can intimidate a lot of people when considering Manual Flash. Yet, if you can get past this, Manual Flash will give you much more control over your photography; this is why studio flashes are almost exclusively Manual Flash.
What Other Names Are There For Manual Flash?
Manual flash has a number of names. Let’s go through them and clarify them one-by-one.
Speedlite – This is a Canon-derived name for portable flashes. It started off as their own-brand name for manual flashes but has since expanded to include all of their portable flash offerings. Speedlight is the equivalent for Nikon. Other third-party manufacturers have entered the portable flash arena, and other people have started to use these terms to mean Portable Flash.
A Hot-Shoe flash refers to all flash units that can be mounted on the camera Hot Shoe – even though they can be moved off-camera using remote triggers too.
For studio work, there are Strobes, Monolights, and Monoblocks. These are generally less portable, but higher power units and will generally also have a model light. The model light is a constant light source set in the same place as the flash tube. This allows you to immediately see how the lighting will look – including the shadows – when setting up for a shot.
But for my purposes here, I will use the term Speedlite to refer to portable flash units. Sometimes I will refer to them as Manual Flash units to be completely clear. They all refer to the same thing.
Why Should You Use Speedlites?
Speedlites provide a very intense but short-duration burst of light. This can be used as the main light source in a photograph or it can be used as a supplementary light to help improve the already-existing main light.
A typical example would be where you are shooting in bright sunlight and the sun is creating dark shadows on your model. Her face could be hidden in the shadows. I short burst of light from a speedlite could send enough light into those shadows to solve this problem.
In a studio you can eliminate all light sources and then use a speedlite as your main light. This allows you to completely control the direction the light comes from. You can even add more speedlites to have multiple light sources in the same image. Adding coloured gels means you can have light of different colours in the photograph.
Maybe you are photographing fast-moving things, like the spinning wheel of a bicycle, and in ordinary light the wheel is spinning too fast so it becomes a blur. Using the short pulse of light from a speedlite can allow the spinning wheel to become sharp in the photograph.
Adding multiple speedlites and mixing them with ambient light can allow to make many more special effects according to your imagination.
And all this from a small unit that is a little bit larger than your hand. And cheap – they can be cheap too. You can try portable manual flash with only a moderate investment. If you like it, you can build on this. If you don’t enjoy it, you can always sell the kit on Craigs List and then move on.
Manual Speedlites Are Cheap
This is a topic that can really get people agitated. Speedlites from Canon or Nikon are expensive. They are very reliable and well-build pieces of kit, but man, they’re expensive. You need to be sure you want them before investing. But I have never owned a Canon or Nikon speedlite – for this very reason. I have always bought third-party speedlites – purely based on cost. They feel ok to me, but I have never even held a Canon or Nikon speedlite so I cannot compare them.
The thing is my 3rd-party speedlites have never let me down. Of course you will hear of other who haven’t been so lucky. Maybe their flash unit just failed. Maybe it fell over a broke. Maybe people feel there is a reassurance in the expense of the own-brand flash units. I can’t enter this discussion because…
- I only judge by price and I cannot justify paying $500 for an own-brand unit when I can buy a 3rd party equivalent for $135.
- I have never had a 3rd party speedlite fail (but I always carry a spare – just in case)
- Canon and Nikon etc. don’t make manual speedlites; they make auto speedlites that have manual modes built-in.
The price becomes even more critical when you decide you want to use three speedlites in your photography. As a quick example I will look at a Canon 600EX-RT kit against a Yongnuo YN600EX-RT equivalent (I know, these are both fully automatic speedlites but it is a quick and simple comparison).
Kit = 3x 600EX-RTii ($499.00 ea) units plus 1x ST-E3-RT ($285.00) = $1,782.00
Kit = 3x YN600EX-RTii ($135.00 ea) units plus 1x YN-E3-RT ($89.00) = $494.00
If this sounds too expensive at the moment, then consider a totally manual-only system – three YN560iv ($85.00 ea) flash units with YN560 tx ($41.00) controller = $296.00.
This is only a quick example of the potential cost of a manual flash system. You would not recommend you go out and buy a manual flash system on the basis of this information, but please consider it food for thought.
Portability – Easy to Carry
I always have a speedlite in my camera bag – even if I don’t plan to use it on the shoot (because – you never know). It hardly takes up any room in the bag and adds very little to the overall weight of the bag.
I can mount it on the camera for ease of use or I can even hand-hold it for the shot. I even use a setup where I will hand-hold the flash and trigger the camera and flash remotely.
My only real stipulation for carrying a speedlite at all times is to also carry a spare set of batteries (because – you never know).
Fixed Light Output
I have great trouble getting my head around using TTL flash. If I’m taking photos in sunshine, I am using a fixed brightness light source (the sun). If I want to fill in shadows etc. then I would want to do this with another light source of fixed brightness. I have tried TTL lighting but found the results to be too variable and unpredictable. With fixed light intensity I know where I am. If something doesn’t look right, I know what is required to fix it.
Manual Speedlites Are Not Camera-Specific
If you consider a flash unit from Canon or Nikon etc. according to which camera you use, you will be locked into that particular manufacturer. If you decide in the future to move from one camera manufacturer to another, you will have to dispose of your flash equipment too.
You can mix your manual flash, strobes, monoblocks etc. no matter who was their manufacturer. The flash units are not connected directly to your camera, so they don’t need to match your camera system. As long as your wireless trigger will connect to your camera and can trigger the flash units, you’re good to go.
So in short, as long as all your flash units comply with the standard hot shoe connection, your flash system is compatible with your camera system. Sorry, Sony camera users, this does not include you unless you have a hot shoe converter.
Speedlite Setup
It takes more time to set up a Manual Flash system, so Manual Flash is best suited for situations where you have the time available – for example in studio work. But there are other times where you need to work fast in rapidly changing situations – like Corporate events, Concerts, Weddings, etc. In these kind of events, Manual Flash will generally not be suitable and you should look to TTL flash to best serve your needs.
The Repeatability of Manual Flash
The control you have from using Manual Flash allows that, with proper documentation of the studio setup, you can quickly and reliably re-create the same setup at any time in the future. This will allow you to re-create the same style of photograph. It will also allow you to return to the same style of photograph so you can continue experimenting to further improve on the image. Using TTL flash, the control of the light can change if you use different speedlites or a different camera. Or maybe not. My point is that you can never be completely sure what aspect of a scene will make the speedlite system change the exposure settings. A random reflection off a window or glasses could affect the camera’s TTL sensor to change the exposure levels.
Using Multiple Flashes
Manual Flash is external flash. Your manual Speedlites will only accept a trigger signal from the camera and no more. They and can be mounted on the camera (but only if you must) or they can be set up at various locations around the subject to give the light you want. Yes, I said ‘they’ – because you can use as many external speedlites as you have available. Your lighting scheme can be as simple or as complex as you want. All your speedlites will be controlled from the camera by one wireless trigger.
Manual Flash Wireless Trigger
I will discuss wireless triggers elsewhere, but for now let’s assume ‘wireless’ to take the old-fashioned meaning of ‘radio’ rather than the literal meaning of ‘wire-less’. In speedlite parlance, ‘wireless’ tends to mean ‘optical’ when what most people assume is that ‘wireless’ means RF. Optical triggering is an acceptable trigger method in an emergency, but I find it too unreliable for everyday use. The best way to trigger your speedlites is by using a radio trigger. The modern triggers even provide a controller that mounts on the camera’s hot shoe. You can alter the speedlite settings from this controller, meaning you don’t have to run backwards and forwards between speedlites to change their settings. This is especially useful if your speedlite is set inside a softbox or at some inaccessible position.
Who is Manual Flash For?
If you spend time to plan your photographs, then the precision and repeatability of manual flash could be for you. If you are prepared to take multiple photographs while you search for that perfect one, then manual flash is for you. This is why most studio flash units are manual models.
Who is Manual Flash Not For?
If you are in a situation where you have to move around quickly and take rapid shots in different lighting conditions, then manual flash is not for you. If it’s more important to get a good shot quickly than to spend a lot of time trying to get a perfect shot, then manual flash is not for you.
Do I need Both Manual Flash and TTL Flash Units?
If you are determined to use manual flash almost exclusively, then there are lots of advantages in using dedicated manual flash units. However, if you will use regularly switch between manual flash and TTL flash, then you can exclusively use the TTL flash units – they have a manual mode. You can just switch between manual mode and TTL mode as needed.
Why should I use Manual Flash?
| Complete control | Off-Camera Lighting. Multiple units. |
| Simple operation | Easier to become second nature. They even use it extensively in studio work. |
| Cheap | So you can build a larger flash system. |
| Not camera-specific | Mix ‘n match – old and new – different manufacturers |