I have a Canon 300D and a 580EX flash. This may seem odd, a fairly
old body and a brand new flash. I got the body and several lenses at
a good price from a friend who was upgrading. He had the body and
some lenses to sell but was happy to keep his 550EX flashes so I had
to buy one new (actually was given it by the wife for Christmas).
I mostly use it for fill in for which is OK but I have just noticed
that it does not seem to do a good job when it is the primary light
source. I have tried all modes on the camera, including P and green
square, and the histogram always indicates considerable
underexposure. I finally found that I can get a better exposure by
setting a +1 or + 1 1/3 stop compensation on the flash but it upsets
me that I should have to do this. I had hoped that if both the body
and flash were in auto mode, it should get simple things right without
help.
Is something wrong with body or the flash or might there be something
that I am missing?
Something that may or may not be related is that the flash seems to
expect to be used with newer bodies. It successfully detects the
focal length that is being used. According to the manual, there is a
symbol on the flash indicating that the camera has reported its sensor
size. This does not work with the 300D but when I put the flash on a
30D the symbol appeared. So, it is possible that the flash is
spreading its beam too widely. E.g. when I use my 50mm prime, it is
assuming a standard coverage as it would be on a full frame camera but
really it is like an 80mm on a full frame and the beam would ideally
be narrower. This unnecessary spread would roughly fit with an
underexposure of 1 stop.
? "Seán O'Leathlóbhair" <jwlawler@yahoo.com> ?????? ??? ??????
news:1178189603.308830.291850@o5g2000hsb.googlegro ups.com...
I have a Canon 300D and a 580EX flash. This may seem odd, a fairly
old body and a brand new flash. I got the body and several lenses at
a good price from a friend who was upgrading. He had the body and
some lenses to sell but was happy to keep his 550EX flashes so I had
to buy one new (actually was given it by the wife for Christmas).
I mostly use it for fill in for which is OK but I have just noticed
that it does not seem to do a good job when it is the primary light
source. I have tried all modes on the camera, including P and green
square, and the histogram always indicates considerable
underexposure. I finally found that I can get a better exposure by
setting a +1 or + 1 1/3 stop compensation on the flash but it upsets
me that I should have to do this. I had hoped that if both the body
and flash were in auto mode, it should get simple things right without
help.
Is something wrong with body or the flash or might there be something
that I am missing?
Something that may or may not be related is that the flash seems to
expect to be used with newer bodies. It successfully detects the
focal length that is being used. According to the manual, there is a
symbol on the flash indicating that the camera has reported its sensor
size. This does not work with the 300D but when I put the flash on a
30D the symbol appeared. So, it is possible that the flash is
spreading its beam too widely. E.g. when I use my 50mm prime, it is
assuming a standard coverage as it would be on a full frame camera but
really it is like an 80mm on a full frame and the beam would ideally
be narrower. This unnecessary spread would roughly fit with an
underexposure of 1 stop.
<end quote>
Errr..Sorry to ask the obvious, but does your dSLR/flash combination do TTL
metering?With TTL metering, the flash is fired and its ...flash stops when
there is enough light to expose the sensor.eg my nikon fm-2 was fully manual
and I had to set the aperture according to film ISO, and distance from
subject, which truly annoyed me as I'm taking mostly snapshots,so I finally
came up with a digital P&S.
--
Tzortzakakis Dimitrios
major in electrical engineering
mechanized infantry reservist
dimtzort AT otenet DOT gr
On 3 May, 19:16, "Tzortzakakis Dimitrios" <nowh...@noone.com> wrote:
> ? "Seán O'Leathlóbhair" <jwlaw...@yahoo.com> ?????? ??? ??????news:1178189603.308830.291850@o5g2000hsb.goo glegroups.com...
> I have a Canon 300D and a 580EX flash. This may seem odd, a fairly
> old body and a brand new flash. I got the body and several lenses at
> a good price from a friend who was upgrading. He had the body and
> some lenses to sell but was happy to keep his 550EX flashes so I had
> to buy one new (actually was given it by the wife for Christmas).
>
> I mostly use it for fill in for which is OK but I have just noticed
> that it does not seem to do a good job when it is the primary light
> source. I have tried all modes on the camera, including P and green
> square, and the histogram always indicates considerable
> underexposure. I finally found that I can get a better exposure by
> setting a +1 or + 1 1/3 stop compensation on the flash but it upsets
> me that I should have to do this. I had hoped that if both the body
> and flash were in auto mode, it should get simple things right without
> help.
>
> Is something wrong with body or the flash or might there be something
> that I am missing?
>
> Something that may or may not be related is that the flash seems to
> expect to be used with newer bodies. It successfully detects the
> focal length that is being used. According to the manual, there is a
> symbol on the flash indicating that the camera has reported its sensor
> size. This does not work with the 300D but when I put the flash on a
> 30D the symbol appeared. So, it is possible that the flash is
> spreading its beam too widely. E.g. when I use my 50mm prime, it is
> assuming a standard coverage as it would be on a full frame camera but
> really it is like an 80mm on a full frame and the beam would ideally
> be narrower. This unnecessary spread would roughly fit with an
> underexposure of 1 stop.
>
> <end quote>
> Errr..Sorry to ask the obvious, but does your dSLR/flash combination do TTL
> metering?With TTL metering, the flash is fired and its ...flash stops when
> there is enough light to expose the sensor.eg my nikon fm-2 was fully manual
> and I had to set the aperture according to film ISO, and distance from
> subject, which truly annoyed me as I'm taking mostly snapshots,so I finally
> came up with a digital P&S.
Yes, both claim to support TTL but there are some complex ifs and buts
to do with various model combinations. My body is quite old but the
flash is new. The flash seems to know and expect some information
that the body is not providing e.g. the sensor size. So, I was
wondering whether they were not working very well together.
The TTL metering is working to some extent, the flash does adjust the
exposure according to the conditions. It just seems to be
consistently underexposing. If I set a compensation of +1 on the
flash, the exposure looks correct It just disappoints me that I have
to do such a thing on expensive fancy equipment (unless the scene is
genuinely unusual in some way).
Seán O'Leathlóbhair <jwlawler@yahoo.com> writes:
> I mostly use it for fill in for which is OK but I have just noticed
> that it does not seem to do a good job when it is the primary light
> source.
That is a common complaint.
> I have tried all modes on the camera, including P and green square,
> and the histogram always indicates considerable underexposure. I
> finally found that I can get a better exposure by setting a +1 or +
> 1 1/3 stop compensation on the flash but it upsets me that I should
> have to do this. I had hoped that if both the body and flash were
> in auto mode, it should get simple things right without help.
Have you tried "M"?
Many people find that the simplest way to use E-TTL flash with a Canon
DSLR, is to put the the flash on automatic E-TTL (ETTL) and the camera
on manual (M), with a shutter of 1/60 second and a suitable aperture
(e.g. f/5.6). With this setting, the flash will automatically be
adjusted to expose the foreground adequately, while the background
exposure is determined by the shutter/aperture combination.
> Is something wrong with body or the flash or might there be
> something that I am missing?
There is probably nothing wrong, but Canon's E-TTL flash system takes
some time getting used to.
> Something that may or may not be related is that the flash seems to
> expect to be used with newer bodies. It successfully detects the
> focal length that is being used. According to the manual, there is
> a symbol on the flash indicating that the camera has reported its
> sensor size. This does not work with the 300D but when I put the
> flash on a 30D the symbol appeared. So, it is possible that the
> flash is spreading its beam too widely.
>
> E.g. when I use my 50mm prime, it is assuming a standard coverage as
> it would be on a full frame camera but really it is like an 80mm on
> a full frame and the beam would ideally be narrower. This
> unnecessary spread would roughly fit with an underexposure of 1
> stop.
Yes, it spreads its beam wider than it would with a newer body that
communicates the sensor size to the flash, but that shouldn't affect
exposure - unless you are working close to the power limit of the
flash.
--
- gisle hannemyr [ gisle{at}hannemyr.no - http://hannemyr.com/photo/ ]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sigma SD10, Kodak DCS460, Canon Powershot G5, Olympus 2020Z
------------------------------------------------------------------------
On 7 May, 13:35, Gisle Hannemyr <gisle+n...@ifi.uio.no> wrote:
> Seán O'Leathlóbhair <jwlaw...@yahoo.com> writes:
> > I mostly use it for fill in for which is OK but I have just noticed
> > that it does not seem to do a good job when it is the primary light
> > source.
>
> That is a common complaint.
>
> > I have tried all modes on the camera, including P and green square,
> > and the histogram always indicates considerable underexposure. I
> > finally found that I can get a better exposure by setting a +1 or +
> > 1 1/3 stop compensation on the flash but it upsets me that I should
> > have to do this. I had hoped that if both the body and flash were
> > in auto mode, it should get simple things right without help.
>
> Have you tried "M"?
Yes, and I am happy to put some effort into learning to use it well
but I was trying the program modes on the principle of learning to
walk before running. Also, I thought that the fully auto-modes would
test if my equipment was working correctly and compatible. See below
for some more on M.
> Many people find that the simplest way to use E-TTL flash with a Canon
> DSLR, is to put the the flash on automatic E-TTL (ETTL) and the camera
> on manual (M), with a shutter of 1/60 second and a suitable aperture
> (e.g. f/5.6). With this setting, the flash will automatically be
> adjusted to expose the foreground adequately, while the background
> exposure is determined by the shutter/aperture combination.
>
> > Is something wrong with body or the flash or might there be
> > something that I am missing?
>
> There is probably nothing wrong, but Canon's E-TTL flash system takes
> some time getting used to.
>
> Here is a pointer to my notes on using E-TTL:
> http://hannemyr.com/photo/flash.html#uefe
Thanks, that was very interesting and helpful. Reassuring in a way,
it is not just me and I am not out of place using an FEC of +1 but I
am still a little disappointed that it is necessary to do this in the
auto-modes. My use of auto-focus points may be relevant. I tend to
use only one (rarely the multi-point mode). Mostly the centre point
or the ones immediately either side. I use wide apertures frequently
(to get a shallow depth of field) and hence I need to be very careful
with the focus. This may mean that flash is being metered for the
closest object (the subject). I use focus lock quite a bit but that
should mean that the flash is metering on the background and should
over expose. I have not seen this. I only get overexposure if I use
a silly FEC. More below.
> > Something that may or may not be related is that the flash seems to
> > expect to be used with newer bodies. It successfully detects the
> > focal length that is being used. According to the manual, there is
> > a symbol on the flash indicating that the camera has reported its
> > sensor size. This does not work with the 300D but when I put the
> > flash on a 30D the symbol appeared. So, it is possible that the
> > flash is spreading its beam too widely.
>
> > E.g. when I use my 50mm prime, it is assuming a standard coverage as
> > it would be on a full frame camera but really it is like an 80mm on
> > a full frame and the beam would ideally be narrower. This
> > unnecessary spread would roughly fit with an underexposure of 1
> > stop.
>
> Yes, it spreads its beam wider than it would with a newer body that
> communicates the sensor size to the flash, but that shouldn't affect
> exposure - unless you are working close to the power limit of the
> flash.
I got some nice results at a party at the weekend. Most of the shots
were individual head and shoulder shots. Some indoor (typical room
lighting) and some outdoor (with fading natural light at first and low
power artificial light later). Indoors, I was bouncing the flash off
the ceiling. Outdoors, the flash was aimed at the subject (no
convenient bounce surface) but with a diffuser cap. The lens was a
50mm f/1.8 for most shots.
At first I played with auto-modes and I got good exposures only with
an FEC of +1. I stopped using these modes since I wanted more control
of the aperture. For many shots, I wanted a low depth of field. So,
I went to M, selected f/1.8 for many shots to get the desired shallow
depth of field and maximise available light for the background, 1/30s
again to maximise the use of available light (I am confident that I
can hand hold at this speed). However, I still needed an FEC of +1 to
get good results. I used these same settings indoors and out. I was
pleased with the results. The indoor shots are exposed well, both
subject and background. The lack of colour cast on the white wall
behind suggests that even the background was mostly exposed by the
flash. Maybe I can thank the use of bounce for that. The subject of
the outdoor shots was well exposed. The background was usually rather
dark but I guess that could not be solved without more equipment.
Maybe I could have tried 1/15s, I may have managed to handhold that or
used my Gorilla Pod but even if I did, the subjects may have moved.
They were not posing.
So to summarise, I can get good shots from the equipment but it is not
child's play. No problem, I did not go back from a point and shoot to
an SLR to have an easy life. I still have the point and shoot when I
want life to be easy.
The focus is off in a few shots. I still need practise at the use of
the f/1.8 lens but that is another story.
Flash exposure question 
Linear Mode
