430ex flash with macro

RurikRurik Registered Users Posts: 20 Big grins
edited April 27, 2009 in Technique
hey guys/gals, sorry i cant figure this out myself...but why cant i use a faster shutter speed than 1/200 @ f2.8 with my camera using the 430 flash?

should i use a different mode like macro 1/1?

Comments

  • Chile ChefChile Chef Registered Users Posts: 473 Major grins
    edited April 27, 2009
    Passage, You can mate!


    there's the speedlite_430ex_back2b.jpg

    Keep hitting the mode button until you see this #l ( but an arrow where the l letter is ) and you can go up to 40000, also try to use time value as well.

    I hope this helped.
  • RurikRurik Registered Users Posts: 20 Big grins
    edited April 27, 2009
    i need to wait til i get home to check this, thanks you i will see what happens!
  • pathfinderpathfinder Super Moderators Posts: 14,708 moderator
    edited April 27, 2009
    You need to turn on High Speed Synch with the button just to the left of the zoom button. It looks like a lightning strike by an 'H' and you should see that symbol light up on the LCD display once it is activated. High Speed Synch converts your flash from emitting a single flash to a sustained series of flashes to illuminate the sensor during the entire time the slit of the focal plane shutter passes across the sensor. At shutter speeds faster than your camera's native synch speed ( typically 1/200 to 1/250th - some DSLRs can synch at 1/500th ) the shutter window is never entirely open all across the sensor, but just a slit that passes across the sensor, so the flash needs to be "ON" for much longer than 1/200th of a second. It does this in HSS by flashing repeatedly.

    High Speed Synch is described in your manual that comes with your 430ex.

    The mode button has nothing to do with High Speed Synch.
    Pathfinder - www.pathfinder.smugmug.com

    Moderator of the Technique Forum and Finishing School on Dgrin
  • RurikRurik Registered Users Posts: 20 Big grins
    edited April 27, 2009
    Pathfinder, thank you, i just got this flash and havent been able to study yet...

    that is very interesting about high speed sync and the shutter... i never knew that! (but it is no surprise that i didnt:D )

    again thanks
  • pathfinderpathfinder Super Moderators Posts: 14,708 moderator
    edited April 27, 2009
    I leave my flash in High Speed Synch most of the time, because if you do not, and try to use your flash for fill flash in bright sunlight, it will be over exposed because you need a shutter speed of say 1/500th or so at a larger aperture, and even with the camera in Manual Mode, the flash will not allow your camera to fire at 1/500th but will alter your shutter speed to the native synch at 1/200th and you can end up with an over exposed picture and scratch your head wondering why the over exposure, until you figure out that the shutter speed you dialed into the camera is not what the camera used due to the flash's electronic brain changing it behind your back.

    Leaving HSS "On" prevents that kind of scenario from tripping me up. The downside is that the flash is not quite as powerful firing mulitple flashes in a rapid sequence as it is when it dumps a full capacitor's charge into the flash lamp. SO if I find the flash is not powerful enough with HSS on, I just turn it off. Simple.


    I also leave 2nd curtain flash on, so that I can use a very slow shutter speed - say 1/15th sec - and not have the flash fire until just before the shutter curtain closes. This helps with a blurred image with the very last part of the movement properly lit by the flash. Otherwise it looks like the movement followed the flash and seems weird. Push the High Speed Synch button two times and you have activated 2nd curtain synch.

    There are a number of links about EOS system flash usage here - http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=70330
    Pathfinder - www.pathfinder.smugmug.com

    Moderator of the Technique Forum and Finishing School on Dgrin
  • RurikRurik Registered Users Posts: 20 Big grins
    edited April 27, 2009
    yup, that was on my mind too...mystery solved.... man i have alot of reading ahead of me...too bad it doesnt sink in until after ive done it with my hands in real life.
    again thanks! (again):D
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