Olympus Stylus Epic Flash Modes - how does it work?
Charlie
Oyvind Naess wrote:
>
> I just bought a Olympus Stylus Epic (called mju-II in Europe),
> which have the following flash modes:
>
> - Auto
> - Auto with redeye-reduction
> - Off (no flash)
> - Fill-in (forced activation)
> - Night Scene
> - Night Scene with redeye-reduction
>
> What is the difference between the Fill-in and the Night Scene mode?
> Is there any difference using these two flash modes in daylight
> conditions?
I see no one has answered your question yet. I saw it yesterday and
don't have an answer other than what's stated on:
http://www.olympusamerica.com/camera/stylus/stylusepic.html
There's not much info there; probably no more than in the instructions.
That disappoints me as I have an Epic on order and even with the info on
the URL, still don't have a clear idea of what the Fill-in and the Night
Scene modes do.
Sounds like the instructions are severely lacking.
--
Charlie Newark, DE
To reply by email please remove antispam "TY" from address.
Robert Connolly
Charlie wrote:
> Oyvind Naess wrote:
> >
> > I just bought a Olympus Stylus Epic (called mju-II in Europe),
> > which have the following flash modes:
> >
> > - Auto
> > - Auto with redeye-reduction
> > - Off (no flash)
> > - Fill-in (forced activation)
> > - Night Scene
> > - Night Scene with redeye-reduction
> >
> > What is the difference between the Fill-in and the Night Scene mode?
>
> > Is there any difference using these two flash modes in daylight
> > conditions?
>
>
> ...as I have an Epic on order and even with the info on
> the URL, still don't have a clear idea of what the Fill-in and the
> Night
> Scene modes do.
>
> --
> Charlie Newark, DE
>
I have a new Epic.
1) Fill-in mode forces the flash to fire. The idea is to use it when
your subject is in shadow w/ a bright background i.e. I recently saw
someone's photos where a couple people were sitting on a boardwalk
bench... the beach and ocean in the background were very bright, but the
subjects came out very dark -- a lousy picture. The fill-in flash would
have made the exposure more even by brightening the foreground.
2) Night-scene mode uses a flash also, but less so, and slows the
shutter down. This way instead of a strong flash that makes the
subjects bright (and the night background very dark), a less strong
flash and longer shutter speed allows the night background to show up.
It's almost the inverse of the fill-in mode, because it deemphasizes the
foreground somewhat to allow in more of the background.
3) Auto mode is just that. It uses the flash as necc. when things are
too dark... it'll usually fire even on just a cloudy day if using slower
film speeds (200 and below). But, note that it is different than the
two modes above. In 1), the flash wouldn't fire since the scene is
already bright... here you'd want to force it. In 2), the flash would
fire, but not w/ less strenghth and slower shutter speed... you'd get
bright subjects against a dark background.
4) No flash. Simple... just uses available light. Primarily useful
for indoors/nightime w/ a faster film speed... at least 400, 800 even
better.
Red-eye just sends out a strobe that's supposed to get your subject's
pupils to contract... I still see red-eye and am leaning toward just not
using flash when someone's eyes are visible... ruins too many pictures.
-- Rob
real2reel
Oyvind Naess <o...@halden.scandpower.no> wrote:
>I just bought a Olympus Stylus Epic (called mju-II in Europe),
>which have the following flash modes:
>
> - Auto
Camera selects when to use flash. For auto fill in, color correction
with flourecent lighting, etc.
> - Auto with redeye-reduction
Same as auto, with stoboscopic red eye reduction. Warn people when
you use this.
> - Off (no flash)
Flash never activates.
> - Fill-in (forced activation)
In some cases, the auto fillin may not activate, this forces the
flash to fire in daylight situations
> - Night Scene
This is like slow sync with an SLR. The camera calculates exposure so
the object near the camera is properly exposed with the flash, and the
background is properly exposed using existing light.... a time
exposure with flash.
> - Night Scene with redeye-reduction
Same as night scene, but with the stroboscopic red eye reduction
>
>What is the difference between the Fill-in and the Night Scene mode?
Yes, the fill in uses a different program than the night scene. How
alike they are I don't know. You would have to try. I would not use
them interchangably.
>Is there any difference using these two flash modes in daylight
>conditions?
???? Why, when they arre both available. The only thing you can do
is experiment.
The Epic also has a strange way of selecting objects to focus on using
its three beam autofocus. Learn how to use the spot mode alot.
I got so sick of it's focusing I returned the camera.
>
>Thank you
>
>
>oyvind...@scandpower.no
j.ha...@cableinet.co.uk
On Fri, 19 Sep 1997 15:38:13 -0400, Charlie <de...@earthlinkTY.net>
wrote:
>Oyvind Naess wrote:
>>
>> I just bought a Olympus Stylus Epic (called mju-II in Europe),
>> which have the following flash modes:
>>
>> - Auto
>> - Auto with redeye-reduction
>> - Off (no flash)
>> - Fill-in (forced activation)
>> - Night Scene
>> - Night Scene with redeye-reduction
>>
>> What is the difference between the Fill-in and the Night Scene mode?
>> Is there any difference using these two flash modes in daylight
>> conditions?
>
>
> I see no one has answered your question yet. I saw it yesterday and
>don't have an answer other than what's stated on:
>http://www.olympusamerica.com/camera/stylus/stylusepic.html
>
>There's not much info there; probably no more than in the instructions.
>That disappoints me as I have an Epic on order and even with the info on
>the URL, still don't have a clear idea of what the Fill-in and the Night
>Scene modes do.
>
>Sounds like the instructions are severely lacking.
>
The instructions are mostly pictorial. Not wordy at all. I think they
are fairly clear.
>--
>Charlie Newark, DE
>
>To reply by email please remove antispam "TY" from address.
I have a fairly new Epic 105. I've run about 25-30 rolls thru it and
tried almost all the flash modes.
The fill-in is just that -- fill in flash. You use it when you want
to force the flash to fire. (Subject in shadow, backlit subject,
etc.) If you what flash, but the flash signal light does not appear
normally, change the mode.
The night mode is one of my favourites. It takes the picture at a
slow shutter speed to photograph the background properly -- then fires
a burst of flash to properly expose the foreground. Your night street
scenes can have the "street" and "people" properly exposed. The only
problem here is camera stability. I've never used the "night mode" in
daylight conditions as questioned above, so I really don't know what
would happen.
One thing that surprises me from the first question above is the
number of modes. I've got a new champaigne zoom 105 stylus and I
don't have the night mode with redeye reduction mode identified above.
I can't imagione that the NON zoom version has different modes. Are
you sure about that mode?
By the way, the spot metering system works on all flash modes EXCEPT
the night mode.
My impression on the camera is that it is absolutely fabulous. I
think that the esposures are close. I've run about 4 rolls of
kodachrome 200 and fujichrome 100 thru it and had them properly
expose. The camera seemed to do better with the kodachrome. the
colours were more saturated.
The instructions recommend 400 asa film. I've tried 100 to 1000 and
would recommend the ZOOM (800) or the ULTRA (400) film (at least thats
what they call it here in the UK.
Mike
Oyvind Naess
Robert Connolly wrote:
>
> Charlie wrote:
>
> > Oyvind Naess wrote:
> > >
> > > I just bought a Olympus Stylus Epic (called mju-II in Europe),
> > > which have the following flash modes:
> > >
> > > - Auto
> > > - Auto with redeye-reduction
> > > - Off (no flash)
> > > - Fill-in (forced activation)
> > > - Night Scene
> > > - Night Scene with redeye-reduction
> > >
> > > What is the difference between the Fill-in and the Night Scene
> mode?
> >
> > > Is there any difference using these two flash modes in daylight
> > > conditions?
> >
> >
> > the URL, still don't have a clear idea of what the Fill-in and the
> > Night
> > Scene modes do.
> >
Using the light meter on my Canon A-1 as a reference, I found out that
in Auto mode, my Epic is activating the flash at light conditions
where my A-1 suggest 1/45-5.6. First I was suprised about this, but
in such light conditions, I guess most people appreciate the flash
to lighten up the foreground as long as the background is
correctly exposed too.
Oyvind Naess
Oyvind Naess
Charlie wrote:
>
> Oyvind Naess wrote:
> >
> > I just bought a Olympus Stylus Epic (called mju-II in Europe),
> > which have the following flash modes:
> >
> > - Auto
> > - Auto with redeye-reduction
> > - Off (no flash)
> > - Fill-in (forced activation)
> > - Night Scene
> > - Night Scene with redeye-reduction
> >
> > What is the difference between the Fill-in and the Night Scene mode?
> > Is there any difference using these two flash modes in daylight
> > conditions?
>
> don't have an answer other than what's stated on:
> http://www.olympusamerica.com/camera/stylus/stylusepic.html
>
> There's not much info there; probably no more than in the
> instructions.
> on
> the URL, still don't have a clear idea of what the Fill-in and the
> Night
> Scene modes do.
>
>
> Charlie Newark, DE
>
I have aksed Olympus (http://www.olympusamerica.com/docs/ask.html)
for a more elaborated description of the working limits and
preferences of the different flash modes. On this web page
Olympus state that: "We are committed to total customer satisfaction",
so I expect a detailed answer in a few days! When I get the answer,
I will post it on this newsgroup.
Oyvind Naess
Charlie
Oyvind Naess wrote:
> I have aksed Olympus (http://www.olympusamerica.com/docs/ask.html)
> for a more elaborated description of the working limits and
> preferences of the different flash modes. On this web page
> Olympus state that: "We are committed to total customer satisfaction",
> so I expect a detailed answer in a few days! When I get the answer,
> I will post it on this newsgroup.
Oyvind,
I appreciated your detailed explination, I saved it to file. I
received my Epic tonight, can't wait to try it.
Thanks also for writing to Olympus, I'll be interested in hearing about
the reply.
J Sullivan
> Oyvind Naess <o...@halden.scandpower.no> wrote:
>
> >I just bought a Olympus Stylus Epic (called mju-II in Europe),
> >What is the difference between the Fill-in and the Night Scene mode?
> >Is there any difference using these two flash modes in daylight
> >conditions?
One tidbit of info re the flash modes I've come across relates to the
slowest shutter speeds of the various flash modes. Although the stylus
has a slowest shutter speed of 4 seconds this is apparently only
available in night scene (with/out redeye) mode. The maximum available
in 'no-flash' mode is 2 seconds apparently. The significance of this
is that if you're taking a night/dusk exposure with slowish film and the
scene renders flash inappropriate then you're limited to a 2 sec max
exposure - not as good.
I did a rough test of the times in the various modes for a night
exposure which confirmed what i'd heard above - the night-scene exp was
indeed approximately twice as long as the no-flash exp.
Regards the difference between the night-scene and auto & forced flash
modes, I've no idea sorry. What I suggest is that you check out the
Olympus web-site at
http://www.olympusamerica.com/camera/faq/camerafaq.html and give their
on-line service guys an e-mail - I've used them once & got a prompt
answer.
cheers
--
______________________________________
Jake
Christchurch, New Zealand
--------------------------------------
David M Anthony
In article <342317A0...@erols.com>,
>> >
>> > I just bought a Olympus Stylus Epic (called mju-II in Europe),
>> >
>> > - Auto
>> > - Auto with redeye-reduction
>> > - Off (no flash)
>> > - Fill-in (forced activation)
>> > - Night Scene
>> > - Night Scene with redeye-reduction
>> >
>>
>> > Is there any difference using these two flash modes in daylight
>> > conditions?
>>
>>
>> the URL, still don't have a clear idea of what the Fill-in and the
>> Night
>> Scene modes do.
>>
>> --
>> Charlie Newark, DE
>>
>
>I have a new Epic.
>
>1) Fill-in mode forces the flash to fire. The idea is to use it when
>your subject is in shadow w/ a bright background i.e. I recently saw
>someone's photos where a couple people were sitting on a boardwalk
>bench... the beach and ocean in the background were very bright, but the
>subjects came out very dark -- a lousy picture. The fill-in flash would
>have made the exposure more even by brightening the foreground.
>
>2) Night-scene mode uses a flash also, but less so, and slows the
>shutter down. This way instead of a strong flash that makes the
>subjects bright (and the night background very dark), a less strong
>flash and longer shutter speed allows the night background to show up.
>It's almost the inverse of the fill-in mode, because it deemphasizes the
>foreground somewhat to allow in more of the background.
My Yashica T4 Super has a single Forced Flash mode that also acts
as a Night Scene/Slow Sync. I guess it is just a fill mode that
always meters for the background. I wonder why the Epic has
separate modes. Maybe the are the same mode and just the icon
changes? <g> Maybe someone can test this out and fire both modes
in daylight and at night?
Dave Anthony
Oyvind Naess
Charlie wrote:
>
> Oyvind Naess wrote:
>
I got the following answer, see below, and have sent the
same question using the "contact us" page at
http://www.olympus-europa.com/
Oyvind
>Subject: OLYMPUS Question -Reply
> Date: Mon, 22 Sep 1997 10:57:08 -0400
> From: Vincent Marino <VMA...@olympus.com>
> To: oyvind...@scandpower.no
>
>Thank you for your inquiry.
>For product, sales and service information outside of the
>United States,
>please contact :
>OLYMPUS OPTICAL CO. ( EUROPA )
>WENDENSTRASSE 14-16, 20097
>HAMBURG
>Tel ( 040 ) 237730
>http :/ w w w olympus - europa. com