Flash question: Keep it simple for stupid!

jodieoliver

Okay... all I want to know is will I be okay shooting indoors in Av mode with my 580ex in ETTL mode (which I assume is like auto)? I understand while shooting in av the flash is used primarily as fill flash. What about shooting in M can I keep my flash on auto?
Thanks for your help and yes please keep it simple I get so overwhelmed. I tried reading those articles in some of the other threads and I think my eyes starting rolling in the back of my head and I almost went crazy:rofl

digismile

For shooting indoors in Av mode, the answer to "would I be OK" would probably be no. The darker the overall lighting, the worse it can be. What your camera/flash will do in Av mode is try to balance the ambient light with the foreground (subject) lighting. This will lead to very SLOOOWWW shutterspeeds.

As long as your aware of this, you can adjust if necessary. But I can tell you from experience, you can get shooting and forget to lcheck and you start taking a lot of borderline shutterspeed shots. Just enough to show a bit of movement.

Shooting in manual mode will ensure you have an adequate shutterspeed. It may mean that the background is somewhat darker. If you haven't shot in manual mode before, you should try it out ahead of time to see the effects of shutterspeed/aperture changes. Try starting at 1/30 or 1/60 second and f5.0 or 5.6 as a starting point.

Or, if you are looking for a more Auto mode, set your camera to P mode. This will ensure that your shutter speed doesn't go to slow.

pathfinder

Shooting indoors in ambient lighting in Av mode will likely give shutter speeds from 1/30th to several seconds. You will need to shoot from a tripod for this kind of shutter speed, as the program for EOS flash in ETTL with the camera in Av mode, will plan to expose the background with the ambient lighting and the forground subject with flash.

For shooting with the camera handheld, you are much better to place the camera in Manual Mode, and the EOS flash in ETTL. This will properly expose the subject with the flash, and the background will be exposed according the the aperture and shutter speed chosen. If the background is too dark, lengthen the shutter speed, or open the aperture.

Lots about the EOS flash system here

ziggy53

Many Canon cameras have a setting in custom functions that allows you to specify that when the camera senses an E-TTL II flash attached the camera will force the shutter speed to maximum flash sync shutter speeds. You can then adjust the ISO to moderate the ambient light contribution to the exposure.

If you don't use the custom function you can still use ISO to adjust the shutter speed in AV mode to something fast enough to stop most motion.

jeffreaux2

pathfinder wrote:

Shooting indoors in ambient lighting in Av mode will likely give shutter speeds from 1/30th to several seconds. You will need to shoot from a tripod for this kind of shutter speed, as the program for EOS flash in ETTL with the camera in Av mode, will plan to expose the background with the ambient lighting and the forground subject with flash.

For shooting with the camera handheld, you are much better to place the camera in Manual Mode, and the EOS flash in ETTL. This will properly expose the subject with the flash, and the background will be exposed according the the aperture and shutter speed chosen. If the background is too dark, lengthen the shutter speed, or open the aperture.

Lots about the EOS flash system here

This is the way to do it. You can maintain adequate depth of focus, and holdable shutter speeds, and with the flash in ETTL it will figure everything else out for you and should give great results.

jodieoliver

Thank You all! I fully understand-thanks for keeping it simple:ivar and I do have experience shooting in Manual, so I will just do that! Thank you so much for your time and responses.