Help Files Camera and Photography Forum

For general camera equipment and photography technique questions. Moderated by another view. Also see the Learn section, Camera Reviews, Photography Lessons, and Glossary of Photo Terms.
Results 1 to 10 of 10
  1. #1
    LRPS Alison's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2006
    Location
    UK
    Posts
    2,773

    Understanding my flash

    I'm having trouble understanding my flash.

    Now I know there are different lighting conditions but I tried using my flash today and it wasn't going off. (Yes I had charged batteries in lol)
    Played with my flash some more, well hubby did, and then the flash went off. I asked him how he did it and he said he hadn't changed anything

    I feel, right now my flash is being unpredictable and I really want to understand it.

    If I use my 50mm on auto (P mode) do I set my flash to ETTL and my zoom to 80mm to compensate for the 1.6 crop factor.

    What if I use my 18-55mm kit lens. What then?



    TIA

  2. #2
    Member gryphonslair99's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2006
    Location
    Kansas
    Posts
    465

    Re: Understanding my flash

    What Camera? What Flash? Need more info try and help you. Try reading this as well. It may help you.

    http://photonotes.org/articles/eos-flash/

  3. #3
    LRPS Alison's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2006
    Location
    UK
    Posts
    2,773

    Re: Understanding my flash

    Canon EOS 350D and 430EX speedlite

  4. #4
    Member gryphonslair99's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2006
    Location
    Kansas
    Posts
    465

    Re: Understanding my flash

    Quote Originally Posted by Alison


    If I use my 50mm on auto (P mode) do I set my flash to ETTL and my zoom to 80mm to compensate for the 1.6 crop factor.

    What if I use my 18-55mm kit lens. What then?



    TIA
    Alison,
    Thanks, the info helps. If you are going to shoot in P mode with a 50MM, just set the flash to ETTL. Leave the zoom alone. You do not need to compensate for the crop factor. The flash and camera work together, the flash knows what lens you have on and what camera it is attached to. They will do the work together. If you use your kit lens the camera will even tell the flash what focal length you are using at the time and adjust for that. It will know if your zoom is at say 37mm or 55 mm.

    Try shooting in Manuel mode, with a shutte speed of 200 and an apeture of f11. The flash will do all the work adjusting itself to the setting. It will also tell you when the photo can not be taken. Once you master that setting, you can play around with larger or smaller apetures for more control.

    If you haven't taken the time to do so. Read the 430EX Manuel. It will explain a lot that the camera manuel does not.

  5. #5
    LRPS Alison's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2006
    Location
    UK
    Posts
    2,773

    Re: Understanding my flash

    I have tried reading the flash manual and it wasn't helping me. I needed it explained simply to me as you have done.
    And providing me with that link helped me a great deal, thank you so much for that. I clicked on one of the FAQ links that I thought may concern me. I clicked on the right one.
    Because within minutes of reading one paragraph I understood that I could use manual and the flash would do the rest, yay!

    I love manual mode. In some cases I don't mind the auto modes but with toddlers running around a slow shutter in AV is no good. I much prefer setting my own ss and my own aperture.

  6. #6
    LRPS Alison's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2006
    Location
    UK
    Posts
    2,773

    Re: Understanding my flash

    One of my results. :thumbsup:

    I was actually practising, using my 7 year old daughter as my model, when my baby girl stood in front of me and said "me!" She crossed her arms, smiled nicely and waited for me to take the shot. Bless her. She's only 19 months old.

    There is no backdrop set up. She just happened to stand in front of my hubby's computer chair LOL.

    Manual Mode
    SS 1/125
    F/5.6
    ISO 400
    Bounced flash
    Slight adjustments to levels and colours in PS
    Last edited by Alison; 02-25-2007 at 05:21 PM.

  7. #7
    Member gryphonslair99's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2006
    Location
    Kansas
    Posts
    465

    Re: Understanding my flash

    Glad it helped. Nice shot of a pretty little lady.

  8. #8
    has-been... another view's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2003
    Location
    Rockford, IL
    Posts
    7,649

    Re: Understanding my flash

    Looks like you got it all figured out! Pretty convenient about the background - the reason it's dark like that is because of the bounce flash not lighting what was behind your subject. Plus, I'm guessing there was a fair distance between her back and anything else. Nice shot!

  9. #9
    LRPS Alison's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2006
    Location
    UK
    Posts
    2,773

    Re: Understanding my flash

    Quote Originally Posted by another view
    Looks like you got it all figured out!
    I don't know about that LOL
    But I am much happier knowing that I can use my manual controls and have my flash do the rest.
    I did find, however, that if I changed position in the room some of the images were over exposed, so, I pressed the "sel/set" button and adjusted it to -2/3 and it seemed to work. Did I do the right thing?

    Please excuse my Christmas Tree box in the bg :blush2:
    These two shots are sooc.
    Last edited by Alison; 02-25-2007 at 05:21 PM.

  10. #10
    has-been... another view's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2003
    Location
    Rockford, IL
    Posts
    7,649

    Re: Understanding my flash

    Quote Originally Posted by Alison
    I did find, however, that if I changed position in the room some of the images were over exposed, so, I pressed the "sel/set" button and adjusted it to -2/3 and it seemed to work. Did I do the right thing?
    Yeah, you did the right thing! Flash can be difficult to understand, and trial and error is probably the best way to learn it. Understand the concepts, then put them to work and you'll see that it really isn't that difficult - but can be frustrating at times.

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •