580EX-II metering modes

[Darvidanoar]

'twas my birthday yesterday and instead of actual presents, I was given approval to make a photographic spend. yay :banana: :)

So, after spending some time playing with all the settings and features of my lovely new 580EX-II, I have figured out the following:

- Full E-TTL auto mode is quite good and using FEC to tweek the results works well.
- Manual is good too, but will take some time to master.

The two (of five) metering modes available to me on the 400D are E-TTL and Manual External Metering. Both modes yielded good results, but the External Metering mode seemed to offer more info and options on screen.

I'm wondering what mode(s) people tend to gravitate to and why?

[JM Tran]

I use full ETTL for most things, such as fill flash and indoor bounce etc

Manual mode for when im shooting in a tightly controlled environment such as when the flash is on a light stand with wireless trigger

[Allann]

hehe... you've had it a couple of days and you already know more about it than me :o. I normally use ETTL and then FEC to "fix" the shot if needed... I find that I have so much to learn about it, and the more I pick up, the more I realise I don't know.

[MarkChap]

Manual External Metering. Both modes yielded good results, but the External Metering mode seemed to offer more info and options on screen.

I'm wondering what mode(s) people tend to gravitate to and why?

It has an External Metering Mode ??

Time for a play I think

[Darvidanoar]

hehe... you've had it a couple of days and you already know more about it than me :o.

haha, yes Im a very bad IT person .. I tend to read the manuals these days. Must be a sign of age? :p

[DAdeGroot]

I use full ETTL for most things, such as fill flash and indoor bounce etc

Manual mode for when im shooting in a tightly controlled environment such as when the flash is on a light stand with wireless trigger

Same for me too. ETTL for birds or daylight fill, and the odd bounce shot, and manual for wireless triggers.

[Darvidanoar]

It has an External Metering Mode ??

Time for a play I think

Yeah, this little doo-dadd in the bottom left is a meter :)

[MarkChap]

Cool, so it also works like an old thyristor flash as well, that could be good

[etherial]

'twas my birthday yesterday and instead of actual presents, I was given approval to make a photographic spend. yay :banana: :)
SNAP! It's my birthday Tuesday, and I too was allowed to buy a 580. Got to use it at a wedding yesterday, just about to download the pics. I loved it!

I tended to use ETTL for most things and tweek the FEC, it did the job beautifully for me as a noob. The thing I need to master is the cameras exposure and the use of P mode or Av to get backlit scenes right.

[Darvidanoar]

SNAP! It's my birthday Tuesday, and I too was allowed to buy a 580. Got to use it at a wedding yesterday, just about to download the pics. I loved it!

I tended to use ETTL for most things and tweek the FEC, it did the job beautifully for me as a noob. The thing I need to master is the cameras exposure and the use of P mode or Av to get backlit scenes right.

hehe, I've been having a ball with mine too, but I think my wifa and daughter may end up with some sort of photography induced retina damage :p

So far, I've been sitting on ETTL like you all and using the FEC to control the light.

I'm quite impressed with the results I've been getting even when shooting indoors at night where there is very little usable available light. The 580 has more then enough grunt to produce fairly natural looking bounced light even for ridiculous test settings like F8 1/200 which would normally turn out black in my living room :) Looking forward now to testing it out for fill light in some real situations.

[charton]

FEC = ?? excuse my non-photography jargon

I have the 430EX II still having trouble wrapping my head around it....when in Av mode everything just blows out, can somewhere direct me where I am going wrong?

[Invictus]

Very nice present David :th3:
I got mine last xmas and have to admit I've only learned a fraction of it's settings and capabilities.

Charton:
FEC = Flash Exposure Compensation (http://www.google.com.au/#hl=en&safe=off&q=canon+FEC+%2B+%22Flash+Exposure+Compensation%22&meta=&fp=60339c0c8b4bb0)
"This is flash exposure compensation; referred to as “fill-in ratio control” or “flash level control” in older Canon material."

[charton]

Very nice present David :th3:
I got mine last xmas and have to admit I've only learned a fraction of it's settings and capabilities.

Charton:
FEC = Flash Exposure Compensation (http://www.google.com.au/#hl=en&safe=off&q=canon+FEC+%2B+%22Flash+Exposure+Compensation%22&meta=&fp=60339c0c8b4bb0)
"This is flash exposure compensation; referred to as “fill-in ratio control” or “flash level control” in older Canon material."

:o Thanks, I did think it may have been something like that!

[pollen]

I have the 430EX II still having trouble wrapping my head around it....when in Av mode everything just blows out, can somewhere direct me where I am going wrong?
It's because your camera has a X-Sync speed of 1/250 or 1/200. When the metering in AV mode wants to make the shutter speed exceed that to get a correctly exposed photo, the camera will prevent the shutter speed from going faster. This will cause you image to be very bright (usually completely blown when outdoors).

What you can try is use High Speed Sync. Press the button with the "Lightning symbol with H" on your 430EXII. This has its own limitations such as reduced power and range but will overcome your problem of blown out shots.

[charton]

It's because your camera has a X-Sync speed of 1/250 or 1/200. When the metering in AV mode wants to make the shutter speed exceed that to get a correctly exposed photo, the camera will prevent the shutter speed from going faster. This will cause you image to be very bright (usually completely blown when outdoors).

What you can try is use High Speed Sync. Press the button with the "Lightning symbol with H" on your 430EXII. This has its own limitations such as reduced power and range but will overcome your problem of blown out shots.

Thank you so much for this information. I will give it ago.

[milspec]

I just had a read of this (page 30), instant eye opener :)


http://books.google.com.au/books?id=XbOThjT3Oh8C&pg=PA30&lpg=PA30&dq=canon+FEC+%2B+%22Flash+Exposure+Compensation%22&source=bl&ots=PZSgO3EX7N&sig=kqxYRoOktjFGVPPNcxpDmVUIZOA&hl=en&ei=0BSnSvngJcmZkQWu48mDCQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4#v=onepage&q=canon%20FEC%20%2B%20%22Flash%20Exposure%20Compensation%22&f=false

[charton]

I just had a read of this (page 30), instant eye opener :)


http://books.google.com.au/books?id=XbOThjT3Oh8C&pg=PA30&lpg=PA30&dq=canon+FEC+%2B+%22Flash+Exposure+Compensation%22&source=bl&ots=PZSgO3EX7N&sig=kqxYRoOktjFGVPPNcxpDmVUIZOA&hl=en&ei=0BSnSvngJcmZkQWu48mDCQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4#v=onepage&q=canon%20FEC%20%2B%20%22Flash%20Exposure%20Compensation%22&f=false

Looks like it can help me big time, flash is all very new to me.

[Satine]

SNAP! It's my birthday Tuesday, and I too was allowed to buy a 580. Got to use it at a wedding yesterday, just about to download the pics. I loved it!

I tended to use ETTL for most things and tweek the FEC, it did the job beautifully for me as a noob. The thing I need to master is the cameras exposure and the use of P mode or Av to get backlit scenes right.

Hi,

Just wondering if you used the speedlite on your camera or did you use it as a wireless? Did you use an umbrella or softbox with it for the wedding?

I've mostly done outdoor sports photography so just learning about flashs!!

Thanks

[etherial]

I'm pretty new to using a decent flash too! I used it on the camera as I don't have any other way of triggering it at the moment. At the reception I used bounce flash as much as I could. It was rather tricky because the room was really dark and the ceilings weren't a light color and varied so depending on where I was in the room I got different colors that I had to try and fix afterwards in PP.

The gallery of shots can be see here (http://etherialdesigns.smugmug.com/Photography/Kellie-and-Pauls-Wedding/Reception/9455361_V7EjL/1/635440000_x9nD4) if you're interested.

For the formal shots (which I was just playing around probably annoying the hell out of the pro tog) I was just tweaking the FEC and shooting with it direct; those were outside so I was just adding a bit of fill flash.

[Darvidanoar]

I just had a read of this (page 30), instant eye opener :)


http://books.google.com.au/books?id=XbOThjT3Oh8C&pg=PA30&lpg=PA30&dq=canon+FEC+%2B+%22Flash+Exposure+Compensation%22&source=bl&ots=PZSgO3EX7N&sig=kqxYRoOktjFGVPPNcxpDmVUIZOA&hl=en&ei=0BSnSvngJcmZkQWu48mDCQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4#v=onepage&q=canon%20FEC%20%2B%20%22Flash%20Exposure%20Compensation%22&f=false

Hmmm, I must find that and have a flick thru .. thanks