In article <55e4t8$ka9@newsbf02.news.aol.com>, alant24fps@aol.com says...

>I have a battered but beloved Nikon F3; also a Vivitar 283 flash which
>I've not used much over the years.
>Lately though I've needed to take more flash pictures (mainly of my kids
>inside!) and the Vivitar is kind of a pain.
>As I understand it some of the Nikon flashes starting with the SB-16A can
>meter off-the-film and automatically provide the correct amount of flash.
>The SB-16A can even do so when bounced, and has a little auxiliary head
>for frontal flash when bouncing. And it's available fairly cheaply used.
>Can anyone enlighten me about any advantages of more advanced Nikon
>flashes...I know they're up to at least SB-25 by now, but I'm sure most of
>their features only work with AF cameras.
>Is there a Nikon flash which can be set to provide a 'fill' only?

Only the flashes with the unusual F3 shoe will meter TTL with the F3
(Nikon: SB-12, 16A, 17), but if you add the TTL remote cord or the
AS-7 shoe, you can set a different ASA on the flash shoe, allowing
TTL fill ratios to be established (BUT, the maximum ASA allowable
is 400, so any fill ratio lowers the allowable speed by the amount
of the fill ratio [one stop = 200 ASA max film speed, 1 1/3 = 160
ASA, etc.]).
Hope This Helps