 Julie L. Curiel |
Need help with 580EX flash Ok, first off I am ashamed to even come in here and ask these questions because I just feel like I am so dumb for not being able to figure this out by myself and you'll all probably think I'm one of THOSE people who didn't try reading the manual first. So bear with me, it's hard for me to humble myself and ask for advice. So, here's the deal. I have a Canon 20D and various lenses and a 580EX Speedlight. I shoot mostly using available light but in those circumstances where the flash unit is needed I want to be able to use it correctly. I have read the manual for the 580EX about 10 times and I still can't quite figure out how to get the accurate settings. I do not have a light meter and realize this probably would help things but I also know that many digital photographers don't use one but just tink around with the flash settings until they have it right. But how does that help if you're taking pics at say- an event or something and it's on the go and you don't have time to check your settings a million times. I a lot of times bouce it off the ceiling using the catchlight panel but of course in some cases that just isn't appropriate. So here's my question. Can someone please walk me though step by step how to get an accurate setting for my flash. Is is best to shoot in ETTL mode or in Manual mode. ETTL seems to always look too unnatural to me. In manual mode I have to take in account my distance from the subject correct to set the right flash output? How do I best get my forground and background to be exposed properly? Then how does using a diffuser such as a Lumiquest big bounce effect my settings? Again, I feel so stupid for asking these questions but flash is something I've struggled with. I avoid using it at all costs. I don't do a whole lot of event shooting anyway but it's nice to know how to use it properly when the occasion arises. I wish there was just a tutor around I could find to show me hands on how to use it but so far not luck with that. Thank you all for your help. I forgot to add that I sometimes want to shoot at an aperature of f/8 for large groups. What would a reasonable setting be? Someone told me once that they set their aperature at 5.6 and their shutter speed at 125 and just tweaks the flash from there. That works most the time but on large groups I want to make sure everyone is sharp but yet don't want motion blur from shutter speed.
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Joe Jarosz |
Hi Julie, don't feel stupid asking these questions. There are a lot of different threads on this site which go through exactly what you are asking. I included a link to one below. I also have the same setup as you (20D and 580) and it took me a while to figure it out. First of all, I recommend to use ETTL. Its not as automatic as you might think or expect. When I first got mine I thought I could just put it on and the flash and camera would work together to get the perfect exposure. It just doesn't seem to work that way, so you have to compensate up or down depending on your situation. Use your histogram also to check the exposure after you take a shot and adjust as you go. The diffusers do reduce the light output, so you will have to compensate for that when using one. Check out this thread, I thought it was pretty good. Also I included a search below that has a bunch of threads on this subject. Joe http://www.betterphoto.com/searchResults.php?szTerm=canon+580&schMod=QnA&limit2=all
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Jon Close |
More reading ;-) http://photonotes.org/articles/eos-flash/ gives a much more thorough explanation of the EOS flash system than the manual. The thing to remember is that there are essentially 2 exposures in each flash photo. The 1st is the exposure of the near subject provided by the flash. This is controlled by the speedlight's power output (determined by the E-TTL metering) in combination with the lens aperture. The flash duration is too short to be affected by the shutter speed. The 2nd exposure is the ambient light background. The light from the flash dissipates rapidly with distance (inverse square law) and cannot evenly light the whole scene from near to far. You control the ambient background exposure with the lens aperture and shutter speed. When you say E-TTL gives you "unnatural" looking shots, I assume that you mean that the near subject is brightly lit, but the background is too dark. This is the normal snapshot look that one gets when using flash in the full auto modes (P, green box, icons). If the ambient light is bright enough it will try to balance flash and backround exposures, but if it is a typical dim indoors situation the camera forces a relatively high shutter speed (1/60 or higher), the aperture is opened as wide as possible, and the flash power is set so that it is the main light. The meter always reads "0" because it is with respect to the flash lit subject only. Av, Tv, and M are the balanced fill flash modes for EOS cameras. The meter scale gives the exposure for the ambient light only, without regard for the flash. The flash automatically switches to fill-flash mode and applies flash exposure compensation on its own, based on ambient light levels. Any flash expsoure compensation you set will be in addition to what the camera determines. Re - setting f/8 for large groups but the resulting shutter speed (for good ambient light exposure) is too slow to prevent motion blur: The only way around that is to set a higher ISO.
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