Using a strobe with your compact can give you great results, if you learn to use your manual settings in a way that suits your camera

Ask a big camera professional about handling manual settings with your strobe and he’s almost sure to tell you to cap your shutter between 1/160s and 1/250s.

As most professionals today work with DSLRs, the compact camera newcomer is almost sure to be misinformed in this way when seeking help.

But you need to remember a few important things:

A) DSLRs can tune their apertures to over f/30 while a high performance compact camera’s maximum ranges from f/8–11. B) While a DSLR’s mirror system limits it flash sync to a shutter speed of 1/200s–1/320s (depending on the camera), a compact can shoot with a strobe up to 1/2000s.

Taking the given misinformation and applying a 1/250s shutter speed at f/8 on your compact camera and strobe in midday sun, will give you a green or ugly blue background. Returning to your “teacher”, he’ll tell you to upgrade to a DSLR because it allows you to shoot way over f/8.