Film cameras
Nikon SB-12 User manual
User manual for Nikon SB-12. 23 pages in English. Read the original PDF, download or print a copy without registration.
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Document details
- Brand
- Nikon
- Model / document
- Nikon SB-12
- Document type
- User manual
- Language
- English
- Pages
- 23
- File size
- 1.6 MB
- Category
- Film cameras
- Document date
- Not specified in catalog
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Page 3 · Read text
www.orphancameras.comNOMENCTATURE O Anto shooting range indicators @ Dirtance scale (white) @ E*posure calculator dial @ Flash head @ Butt"ry chamber with battery chamber lid @ eSn/ISO film speed indexView original page 3
Page 4 · Read text
www.orphancameras.com
Power switch @
Ready-light @
Open-flash button @
Mounting loot with
locking ring @
Contact pins @
Sync socket @
Shooting mode selector @View original page 4Page 5 · Read text
www.orphancameras.comCONTENTS FOREWORD
NOMENCTATURE . . . .2-g Designed exclusively for the Nikon F3, the
FOREWORD.' .....4 SB-12 Speedlight is a direct-mounting elec-
BASICOPERATION.... ....5-12 tronic ILash unit providing automotic TTL
CONTROTS IN DETAIT ... 13-19 control of the Ilosh exposure. Becouse the
Mounting Foot. . . . . l3 light is meosured through the lens, you are
Flash Head :. . .. . . . . 14 assured oI perlectly exposed flash pictures
Shooting Mode Selector . . . l5 with o wide variety of ^/enses ond accessory
Exposure Calculator Dial. . . . l6-17 ottochments Ior the camera. By using a silicon-
Ready-Light... ......18 controlled rectilier and series circuitry, the
Open-Flash Button . . . . . . 19 speedlight is able to sove ifs excess energy Ior
SyncSocket... ......19 the next shot thus reducing recycling time.
ACCESSORIES ...20 Even though the SB-12 is as automatic os they
Wide-Flash Adapter SW-4: . . . . . 20 come, it is stiLl o good ideo to familiorize your-
Sync Cord SC-II . . . 20 self with the unit's basic operotion as presented-nED EYE" . . .21 in the first section. For more detailed infor-
'ControlsSPECIFICATIONS. .....22 mation, p,leose refer to in DetoiL."
A few minutes wisely invested now will pay off
Iater in yearc oI rewording photogrophic
experiences.View original page 5Page 6 · Read text
www.orphancameras.com/ nnsrcoPERATToN
Open the bcrttery chcrmber @. Locrd the bcrtteries. l. 2.
Slide the lid in the direction of the arrow. Foilowing the + and symbols on the
inside of the chamber, load four AA-type pen-
lrqht batteries into the chamber.View original page 6Page 8 · Read text
www.orphancameras.com t?ck the speedlight securely into R Rotcrte the flash hecrd @.5. -t PtCIce. T,.,rn the flash head 90 " so that the calcu- Rotatethe locking ring clockwiseuntil it stops. lator dial @ is on top.View original page 8
Page 9 · Read text
www.orphancameras.com -BASIC OPERATION continued
Set the shooting mode selector @ 8.- - S"t the exposure cclculcrtor dicrl@. to "4." Turn the dial until the ASA/ISO index @ is
opposite the speed of the film in use. Note the
color-coded f/numbers which appear on the
left side of the color-coded lines e. These
lines indicate the range of camera-to-subject
distance in which the correct flash exposure
can be obtained. For example, if you're using
ASA/ISO 100 film and select f./4, the automatic
shooting range is indicated by an orange line.
Thus, you can shoot any subject located be-
tween approx. I and 6 meters (approx. 3 and
20 feet) away from the camera.View original page 9Page 10 · Read text
www.orphancameras.com S"t the lens_qpe-rlurering to shuttersPeeddial9. 10. cn appropricrte f/number. i""Ji:-" Referring to the calculator dial, select an f/number which is appropriate for the camera- to-subject distance; then set this f/number on the lens. Ary aperture can be used as long as the subject is within the automatic shooting range.View original page 10
Page 11 · Read text
www.orphancameras.com -BASIC OPERATION continued
Turn on the cqmerct. Turn on the speedlight. I l. 12. Move the power switch to the right to Slide the power switch @ to the right to
uncover the red mark. uncover the red mark.
t0View original page 11Page 12 · Read text
www.orphancameras.com
, I
Jit R Look into the viewfinder. Tcke the picture.rrvo 14.
As soon as the LED ready-liqht comes on, If the LED ready-liqht @ does not blink,
the flash is ready to fire. If you depress the then you have a perfect f lash exposure.
shutter button halfway, you'll notice that the
LCD displays 80 indicating that the proper
synchronization speed of l/80 sec. has been
automatically set by the speedliqht.
11View original page 12Page 13 · Read text
www.orphancameras.com -BASIC OPERATION continued
ofl the sPeedlight.15. Jurn To conserve battery power between
shooting sessions, slide the power switch to
the le{t.
12View original page 13Page 14 · Read text
www.orphancameras.comCONTROTSIN DETAIT
Mounting Foot @
The SB- 12 f.eatures a mounting foot designed transmission, plus auto switching to the proper
for exclusive use with the F3's new accessory synchronization speed of l/80 sec. with the
shoe. Inside the foot are three pins @ which camera on "AUTO", or manually set to I/I25
make contact with the three electrical contacts sec. or above; and 3) throuqh-the-lens control
on the accessory shoe. They provide: I) direct of the flash exposure using the camera's SPD
synchronization contact between the flash unit metering cell as the auto sensor.
and the camera; 2) LED ready-liqht signal
13View original page 14Page 15 · Read text
www.orphancameras.comCONTROTS IN DETAIT- continued
FlcrshHecrd @
The SB- 12's flash head rotates through an arc Adapter SW- 4, coverage is wide enough for a
o. With the 29mm lens. Using the SB-12 in the verticalof I80' with click-stops every 90
speedliqht unit mounted on the camera, it is position is generally not recommended, since
recommended to turn the flash head to the this will result in inadeguate coverage with
horizontal position (with the calculator dial on Iiqht fall-off in the corners of the frame. The
top) to insure adeguate coverage when using color temperature of the SB-I2's liqht output
wideangle Ienses. In this position, the angle of makes it suitable for use with dayliqht-type
coverage is 56 " horizontal and 40 " vertical color f ilm.
allowing the SB-12 to be used with a 35mm
wideangle lens. With the optional Wide-Flash
l4View original page 15Page 16 · Read text
www.orphancameras.com
On Mcrnual
The SB- 12 incorporates an override for manual
control. You can use it in situations requiring
a regular electronic flash unit. To use, slide the
shooting mode selector to "M." Then the SB-12
will fire at its maximum light output.
Flcrsh synchronizcrtion
As soon as the SB -I2 is mounted onto the F3's
accessory shoe and turned orr, the shutter
speed is automatically switched to the proper
Shooting Mode Selector @ synchronization speed of I/80 sec. This is the
On Auto case when the shutter speed dial is at "A" or
To shoot on Auto, slide the shooting mode manually set to I /I25 sec. and above. However,
selector to "A." The SB-12 is able to vary its if the dial is manually set to l/80 sec. (X) or
liqht output automatically to match the camera- below, the flash unit synchronizes with the
to-subject distance. The farther away the sub- shutter speed selected.
ject is, the more Iiqht is emitted; the closer the
sublect, the less liqht is given off . In addition,
recycling time varies with distance. The closer
the subject, the shorter the recycling time and
15View original page 16Page 17 · Read text
www.orphancameras.comCONTROTS IN DETAIT- continued
(Ex.t)
Exposure Calculcrtor Dicrl @ tance is greater, but the recycling time of the
For Automcrtic Opercrtion speedliqht is shorter. On the other hand, the
The SB- l2's exposure calculator dial helps you smaller the aperture, the greater the depth of
select the usable range of f/stops for the speed field, but the recycling time is Ionger and the
of the film in use and the camera-to-subject maximum shooting distance is less. Therefore,
distance. On the dial there are eight f/stops to in choosing an f/stop, all these factors should
choose f rom. Each f/stop determines the be taken into consideration.
usable distance range in which you can obtain The following two examples explain how to
the correct automatic exposure. The automatic use the exposure calculator dial:
shooting range for each f/stop is indicated by
a color-coded line C. When the subject dis- Excmple I
tance remains the same, the larger the aperture If you are using ASA/ISO 100 film, you can
selected, the less the depth of f ield in the f inal shoot subjects at distances from 0.6m to I2m
(approx. 2It to 40ft) at the respective f/stopsphotograph, and the maximum shooting dis-
shown in the table.76View original page 17Page 19 · Read text
www.orphancameras.comCONTROTS IN DETAlT-continued Recrdy-Light @ Built into the back of the SB- 12 is a ready-liqht set between ASA/ISO 25 and 400; or 3) when which comes on as soon as the speedliqht is the speedliqht fired at its maximum output recycled and ready to fire. Another ready- indicating that the liqht might have been in- liqht also appears inside the camera's view- sufficient for correct exposure. The warning finder at the same time. Thus, without remov- blink is approx.2 secondsin duration. ing your eye from the eyepiece, you can tell when the f Iash unit is ready for the next shot. l\lote.' The white plostic plote found in new comeros not only Both ready-liqhts also blink to warn you of the serves to protect the shutter curtqins, but olso con be used when moking feslsiofs with the speedliqht. Without film or following conditions: I ) when the SB- 12 is not the white plostic plote in ploce, the reody-lights blink even attached properly to the F3's accessory shoe; if the comero ond flosh unit ore of the corcect setting. 2) when the ASA/ISO dial on the camera is not 18View original page 19
Page 20 · Read text
www.orphancameras.com
Open-Flcrsh Button @ Sync Socket @
Located on the back of the SB-12, the red Pluq one end of the optional SC-l I Sync Cord
open-flash button is used to fire the flash unit into this socket and the other end into the
manually without having to trip the camera's camera's sync terminal. Then you can remove
shutter.In this manner, you can create multiple- the speedliqht from the F3's accessory shoe for
exposure "stroboscopic" effects or paint the off-camera operation. Automatic operation is
scene with liqht by firing the speedliqht re- not possible when using the SB -I2 ofI-camera.
peatedly with the camera set to "B" or "T." The In this case, set the shooting mode selector to t\M"open-flash button is also used for test-firing and compute the exposure manually. The
the speedlight. sync socket also allows you to connect more
than one SB-12 together for multiple liqhtinq
setups.
19View original page 20Page 21 · Read text
www.orphancameras.comACCESSORIES
Wide-Flcrsh Adcrpter SW- 4
This dif f user slidesover the SB-12'sf lash head
to increase the angle of coverage f rom the
onormal 56' horizontal and 40o vertical to 67
and 48" respectively. This insures that there
will be adequatecoverage when a 29mm wide-
angle lens is used. At the same time, the guide
number (ASA/ISO lO0 and meters) is reduced
from 25 to IB, or from 40 to 28 (ASA/ISO 25
and feet). For the automatic shooting ranges,
please refer to the table on pag e 17.
Sync C,ord SGll (Not pictured)
For off -camera or multiple-flash lighting set-
ups.
20View original page 21Page 22 · Read text
www.orphancameras.com"REDEYE"
This phenomenon, in which a subject's
eyes appear red in color photographs taken
with flash, results from the flash directly
illuminating the retina. To avoid this, ask
the subject not to look straight into the
camera and , if. possible, increase the
overall illumination in the area where you
are shooting to minimize the opening of
the subject'spupils.
21View original page 22Page 23 · Read text
www.orphancameras.comSPECIFICATIONS
Light outpui control Automatic : Silicon-controlled Number oI flcrshes Automatic : Variable depend-
rer-ii{ier (thvrisinr) and series ing on shooting distance 'ffh
;;;;;"' Manual: Approx. 60 with
Manual: Full output fresh set of zinc-carbon
Guide number batteries; approx. 160 with
(ASA/ISO 100 cnd 25 (lB when used with Wide- alkaline-manganese batteries
meters) Flash Adapter SW-4) Power source Four l.5V AA-type batteries
(NiCd batteries may be used)
(ASA/ISO 25 and 40 (28 when used with Wide- Recrdy-light Provided
feet) Flash Adapter SW-4) Open-flcrsh button Provided
ASA/ISO film speed ASA/ISO 25-400 Mounting Directly on F3 accessory shoe
range Dimensions l 0 5 m m ( W ) x 4 0 m m ( H ) x
Angle ol covercge Horizontal: 56o (67o when (excluding 8 5 m m ( D )
using SW-4) mounting foot)
Vertical: 40" (48" when using Weight 350q
sw 4) (without bcrtteries)
Automqtic shooting e.g. I ,v6.2m (3.3^,20.3f1)
rqnge (ASA/ISOl00l at I/4; varies with f/stop
selected
Recyclingtime Automatic: Variable
depending on shooting
distance
Manual: Approx. 9 sec. with
fresh set of zinc-carbon
:'*'',?::;T"?l',i;.lLlli.Yi"i
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