Flash photography

Sam

Not sure I have any specific questions but thought I would comment and see if any one has some words of wisdom for me. I will be reading everything I can on this subject.

I have had a 580 EX on my list of things to buy for a while now and finally went ahead and picked one up.

My initial experiment with it yesterday produced mixed results. Some how I was expecting to be able to get fast shutter speeds while using aperture priority, but it didn’t work out that way. Shutter speeds were anywhere from 1/200 (ok) to way over a second. When I used shutter priority, & FP flash, I was able to set the shutter speed to anything I wanted but the camera would set the wide open at f4, and would blink. (Only tried the 17-40L so far) While I think the blinking indicated that the exposure would be off, the histogram looked pretty good.

I tried using it in TV, & FP for fill flash with some success.

I did try to increase the flash exposure, but that didn’t seem to change the histogram.

Oh well I guess if they made the whole process easy, everyone would be a master.

Sam

ginger_55

And I thought it was because I have the Sigma.

ginger

Andy

canon flash photography tips, techniques, tutorial

intro reading

advanced reading

lynnma

andy wrote:

canon flash photography tips, techniques, tutorial

intro reading

advanced reading

OOOOOOOOhh thanks.. at last..a flash tutorial..

lynnma

lynnma wrote:

OOOOOOOOhh thanks.. at last..a flash tutorial..

p.s. having printed out and actually read the info.. I know understand my E-TTL Speedlite EX - now I know why my shutter speed was soooooo slow at the reception of my friends wedding when I had it in AP mode in a dark room... thanks again Andy

USAIR

Just ordered mine from B&H Friday ..so probaly get it late this week
Everyone I talked to saied it's a great flash we will see

Going to read the links Andy posted next let us know what you find out

Thanks
Fred

Sam

USAIR wrote:

Just ordered mine from B&H Friday ..so probaly get it late this week
Everyone I talked to saied it's a great flash we will see

Going to read the links Andy posted next let us know what you find out

Thanks
Fred

After another test sesion, I will sugest you buy stock in a battery company. 4 AA Batteries don't seem to last very long.

Sam

lynnma

This is a little off the subject but it's still lighting and sooooo good I thought I resurrect it, it really helped me. Heres the link to the link..

lynn

mercphoto

My initial experiment with it yesterday produced mixed results. Some how I was expecting to be able to get fast shutter speeds while using aperture priority, but it didn’t work out that way. Shutter speeds were anywhere from 1/200 (ok) to way over a second.

Because in Av mode its also trying to properly expose the background, which might require a very slow shutter.

When I used shutter priority, & FP flash, I was able to set the shutter speed to anything I wanted but the camera would set the wide open at f4, and would blink.

Which is the camera's way of telling you the background will be very under-exposed. This is something you might not care about.

Best bet is to use P or M. I'm going to be shooting some martial arts this evening, and I'm being allowed to use my 580EX (the guy WANTS his students to get randomly distracted -- wise teacher). I'm going to be using M mode. I will set the shutter I want for the action I anticipate. I will set the aperture to deal with depth of focus. I will let the flash go on ETTL-2 to properly expose the subject. I will not care about the background exposure at all.

Also, further note on the 580EX. I find that if I am photographing subjects close to me that it works much better with the flash head tilted 45 degrees up and the bounce shield extended. This works even without a wall or ceiling to bounce from. I'm not sure why the results are that much better, but I think it might have to do with the zoom feature of the flash head. And I usually use -2/3 of FEC, but that is to taste.

John Mueller

mercphoto wrote:

Because in Av mode its also trying to properly expose the background, which might require a very slow shutter.


Which is the camera's way of telling you the background will be very under-exposed. This is something you might not care about.

Best bet is to use P or M. I'm going to be shooting some martial arts this evening, and I'm being allowed to use my 580EX (the guy WANTS his students to get randomly distracted -- wise teacher). I'm going to be using M mode. I will set the shutter I want for the action I anticipate. I will set the aperture to deal with depth of focus. I will let the flash go on ETTL-2 to properly expose the subject. I will not care about the background exposure at all.

Also, further note on the 580EX. I find that if I am photographing subjects close to me that it works much better with the flash head tilted 45 degrees up and the bounce shield extended. This works even without a wall or ceiling to bounce from. I'm not sure why the results are that much better, but I think it might have to do with the zoom feature of the flash head. And I usually use -2/3 of FEC, but that is to taste.

Yes,it works much better with the bounce shield up at 45.Also Im getting best results with ISO 400 in M and FEC +1 varied shutter speeds.
I also use a LPII. I have better results with the bounce method.

Sam

mercphoto wrote:

Because in Av mode its also trying to properly expose the background, which might require a very slow shutter.


Which is the camera's way of telling you the background will be very under-exposed. This is something you might not care about.

Best bet is to use P or M. I'm going to be shooting some martial arts this evening, and I'm being allowed to use my 580EX (the guy WANTS his students to get randomly distracted -- wise teacher). I'm going to be using M mode. I will set the shutter I want for the action I anticipate. I will set the aperture to deal with depth of focus. I will let the flash go on ETTL-2 to properly expose the subject. I will not care about the background exposure at all.

Also, further note on the 580EX. I find that if I am photographing subjects close to me that it works much better with the flash head tilted 45 degrees up and the bounce shield extended. This works even without a wall or ceiling to bounce from. I'm not sure why the results are that much better, but I think it might have to do with the zoom feature of the flash head. And I usually use -2/3 of FEC, but that is to taste.

Thanks for your response. The Rebel dosn't have ETTL-2 only ETTL. Not sure until I do more reading what that means. I will try the 45º method. I think I need to try sveral techniques, and practice.

I have printed out all the material sugested but have had a crazy week, so no time to read it, but I am haveing some minor surgery on my wrist next Monday and will be off work for about 4 weeks. I have a lot of reading scheduled.

Sam

USAIR

Mine came today
Pulled it out of the box put it on ETTL took a couple of shots of the cats one of my wife one of my son running away from me
They look really good for full auto even used the catchlight thingie

I sure it's going to take a little more to use it to it's full capabilities

Fred

Steve Cavigliano

Sam wrote:

After another test sesion, I will sugest you buy stock in a battery company. 4 AA Batteries don't seem to last very long.

Sam

Invest in 8 AA NIMH's and a charger. These lil guys can be recharged many times and with 8, you'll always have a spare set charged . FWIW, my charger takes about 75 minutes to charge a set of 4 well used NIMHs. I get lots of flashes from them and really fast recycling. I think I paid < $30 for the 8 batteries and the 4 slot charger.


Steve

Sam

Steve Cavigliano wrote:

Invest in 8 AA NIMH's and a charger. These lil guys can be recharged many times and with 8, you'll always have a spare set charged . FWIW, my charger takes about 75 minutes to charge a set of 4 well used NIMHs. I get lots of flashes from them and really fast recycling. I think I paid < $30 for the 8 batteries and the 4 slot charger.


Steve

This is on my Fry's list already.

Thanks,

Sam

USAIR

Check out Andy's links if you use a canon flash it is a must read

I printed it all out have not read all yet but it sure answers a lot of my questions

Thanks Andy

Fred

USAIR

Question ?
The 580ex is supposed to have a switch inside the battery compartment to go from metric to feet for coupling range
Where is it I can't find it ?
I would like to see feet myself
I am thinking its behind the battery arrangement sticker

It's in part 2 under Manual (M) exposure mode flash (Andy's link)

Update:
Well I guess I don't absorb everything I read the first time
Page 27 bottom of the page tells how to do this...very easy too
Sorry for wasting everyones time


Thanks
Fred

Higgmeister

Steve Cavigliano wrote:

Invest in 8 AA NIMH's and a charger. These lil guys can be recharged many times and with 8, you'll always have a spare set charged . FWIW, my charger takes about 75 minutes to charge a set of 4 well used NIMHs. I get lots of flashes from them and really fast recycling. I think I paid < $30 for the 8 batteries and the 4 slot charger.
Steve

I use a $35 charger bought at Walmart that does the charge in 15 minutes for 4 batteries (AA or AAA). The lower internal resistance of the NiMH's allow for the faster recycle time than Alkalines. Here's the catch. Alkalines will keep their charge for many years and the NiMH's will discharge while in storage after a few weeks. It's always good to keep a spare set of Alkalines with you, but I exclusively use the NiMH batteries. And they store much more energy than the Alkalines. Check the rating of the batteries before you buy them. I buy the 2500mAH batteries for about $1 each where an alkaline batter is equivalent to about 1600mAH.

I usually keep a set on the charger at all times (no harm done, the charger doesn't overcharge).

Just my .02,
Chris

Baldy

We see some print returns from the w0nkY colors flashes add to wedding dresses and skin.

Wedding dress blues.

Nuclearized faces.

Seamus

using flash on manual settings
Hi folks,

I have read the links posted by Andy and have been trying different settings. I think I am right with my settings but I would like to check.

If I set the camera to manual, 1/250 f8 iso 400 the flash will light the scene and I have a high enough shutter speed to freeze motion. Specifically I will be going to a motorbike show at the end of the month and the venue will be badly lit.

P mode on the camera always has 1/60 f4 at iso 400. I want to take pictures of people and I amn't sure if these settings will be fast enough to freeze motion.

Thanks,

Shay.

USAIR

More Flash Links
Thought these looked intresting

Five Flash Techniques

Fill Flash Cheat Sheet

Fred

Sam

USAIR wrote:

Thought these looked intresting

Five Flash Techniques

Fill Flash Cheat Sheet

Fred

Fred,

Thanks for the thought, but I can't seem to download anything from your link, or direct from the web site.

Sam

USAIR

Sam wrote:

Fred,

Thanks for the thought, but I can't seem to download anything from your link, or direct from the web site.

Sam

I just checked both here at work and they work fine

Fred