How well do you know your flashgun?

Alex Mustard · Issue 8, Aug/Sep 2002 · pp. 45–48

Products mentioned: Nikonos V, Nikonos IVa, Hasselblad 500C/M, Zeiss 80mm, Subtronic strobes, Sea and Sea YS 120, Olympus 3040, Light and Motion Tetra 3030, Nikon SB 105

The year is 1984, and while the world worries whether "Big Brother is watching", I am splashing about filling my first rolls of film with the out of focus underwater scenery that was commonplace in those days. Meanwhile, events of far more consequence to the world of underwater photography are occurring: Nikon are introducing the Nikonos V. The Nikonos V was more than an evolution of the IVa it replaced; it was a technological revolution. Most notably the Nikonos V made Through-The-Lens (TTL) flash metering available to all us proles! Eighteen years on and TTL works well. So well in fact, that we are that we are inclined to forget there is another way to use a flash. I am, perhaps, the worst culprit; indeed my current Subtronic strobes have never been set on anything other than TTL since they were new. Imagine then my horror when I started using my Hasselblad underwater and discovered th…