Is my (reasonably) new 6D broken or am I being stupid...

Habitual

Habitual

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Tom
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Hi All,

I bought a brand new Canon 6D in September and I've just had two issues. There's a good chance I'm being stupid, but I'd like to know for certain...

I've built a new setup for my LEGO photography and I wanted to test it. I was basically trying to bounce the light onto my "stage" using some white foam board to see the types of effect I could get.

This is the setup.


LEGO Setup by Tom Cash, on Flickr

That's my 6D with a Canon 50mm 1.8 and Yongnuo wireless flash triggers which are firing my Canon 430EX II.

I'm still really green when it comes to flash photography, so bare with me...

I accidentally took my first shot in AE at 2.8, ISO 100. The flash fired and the shutter released at 1/13. Basically, it washed out the picture.

Naturally, I put it into M mode and adjusted the setup to handle the flash, trying a shutter speed of 1/800. This is what happened:


1/800 by Tom Cash, on Flickr

It looks to me, like my camera took a photograph of the shutter?

I then took another one at 1/400 and it was the same issue, just half as bad....


1/400 by Tom Cash, on Flickr

I tried swapping my lens to my 1 month old 17-40 F4L and I had the same issue.

What's going on?!!?!!

The second issue I've had tonight is with the Live View.

First, the first three times I tried to turn it on (whilst in M mode), the camera just took 3 pictures.

Then, when it did come on, it was just a black screen with the grid. Not until I turned any wheels or pressed any buttons did it load.

When it loaded, it kind've faded on too.

Is my camera broke?

Could this be the result of a dodgy battery??

My battery has 3/4 life and it's a 6 month old, genuine Canon battery. My spare battery is currently charging so I can't test this theory yet.

I bought the camera from DR, so I don't really want to have to send it back...

Any help or insight that people could provide would be excellent!

Thanks very much for getting this far.

Tom.
 
Flash sync speed,it's all covered in the manual. But try 1/160, and shoot manual not AV or TV when using flash as your primary light source.

And check bracketing for the 3 shots thing.
 
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your camera is broken, I'll give you £100 for it.




Nah what's happening here is your camera is flashing while the shutter is still moving, because your shutter speed is faster than the flash sync speed, set it to 1/180 and it should be perfect.
 
Just keep dropping the shutter speed until you get a full image, you are right the black thing is the shutter curtain

The sync speed should be 1/250th, or lower with some types of studio flash.

Some Canon cameras/flash combinations do have a "high speed shutter" setting but this will not work with the flash off the camera (has to be on the hot shoe).

Can't answer your Live View question - sorry

David
 
You need to set your shutter speed to the cameras flash sync speed or slower - otherwise you will always have a section of image blocked off. At shorter exposure times than sync there is only a gap between the shutter curtains. At speeds equal to or slower than sync then the shutter is completely open. Sync speed will be either 1/125 or 1/250th.
 
As the others have said, you need to use a slower shutter speed.

The shutter has two blinds or curtains, one extended from the bottom (first curtain) covering the sensor and one folded into the top (second curtain). When you release the shutter, the first curtain slides down revealing the film/sensor and folds up at the bottom. This is shortly followed by the second curtain that extends down to the bottom, recovering the sensor.

For slower exposures, at or below the synch speed, the second curtain is not released until or some time after the first curtain reaches the bottom of the frame. So when the flash fires the whole frame is exposed.

For fast/brief exposures (above the flash synch speed), the second curtain is released before the first curtain reaches the bottom of the frame. For very fast exposures, they are almost released at the same time, just a fraction of a delay. The gap between the curtains produces a moving slot that sweeps across the whole frame. If the flash fires it will capture the slot..

The flash can be triggered when the first curtain reaches the bottom of the frame (default) or when (actually just before) the second curtain is released. Either can be useful.

When the shutter is reset, both curtains are raised together so the sensor is not exposed.

Sorry to blather on.. I hope that helped..
 
The 6D has a sync speed of 1/180th.
Increasing the shutter speed will do nothing to the exposure. You need to either change the power on the flash, ISO or aperture.
 
Phil V said:
... and shoot manual not AV or TV when using flash as your primary light source.
Click to expand...
Just to pick up on this issue, which is in danger of being overlooked...

When you use flash in Av or TV mode, the camera meters for the ambient lighting on the assumption that you are using fill-in flash. That's not appropriate for your set-up.
 
try using the flash on camera and see if the high speed sync is working. I am not sure it will work off camera with your triggers
 
Wow, what a response. Thanks everyone!! Can't understand my appreciation for such a quick and comprehensive response! Very pleased I was being stupid - that's a much cheaper result.

I really need to get my head into flash photography. I've only had the thing for 12 months now!!!

I turned the flash power down to the lowest and that helped keep the camera below 1/180 as advised, which worked perfectly.

GeeJay57 said:
As the others have said, you need to use a slower shutter speed.

The shutter has two blinds or curtains, one extended from the bottom (first curtain) covering the sensor and one folded into the top (second curtain). When you release the shutter, the first curtain slides down revealing the film/sensor and folds up at the bottom. This is shortly followed by the second curtain that extends down to the bottom, recovering the sensor.

For slower exposures, at or below the synch speed, the second curtain is not released until or some time after the first curtain reaches the bottom of the frame. So when the flash fires the whole frame is exposed.

For fast/brief exposures (above the flash synch speed), the second curtain is released before the first curtain reaches the bottom of the frame. For very fast exposures, they are almost released at the same time, just a fraction of a delay. The gap between the curtains produces a moving slot that sweeps across the whole frame. If the flash fires it will capture the slot..

The flash can be triggered when the first curtain reaches the bottom of the frame (default) or when (actually just before) the second curtain is released. Either can be useful.

When the shutter is reset, both curtains are raised together so the sensor is not exposed.

Sorry to blather on.. I hope that helped..
Click to expand...

Excellent response, thank you. :)
 
Still need to figure out the Live View mode, however.... If anyone has any views on that.
 
Habitual said:
Wow, what a response. Thanks everyone!! Can't understand my appreciation for such a quick and comprehensive response! Very pleased I was being stupid - that's a much cheaper result.

I really need to get my head into flash photography. I've only had the thing for 12 months now!!!

I turned the flash power down to the lowest and that helped keep the camera below 1/180 as advised, which worked perfectly.



Excellent response, thank you. :)
Click to expand...

'Helped' keep it below 180? SHouldn't need any 'help' - shoot in manual mode and then you get to dictate the settings.
 
CharlotteM said:
'Helped' keep it below 180? SHouldn't need any 'help' - shoot in manual mode and then you get to dictate the settings.
Click to expand...
I think his point was that, with the flash on a high power setting, a slow shutter speed would lead to over exposure.
 
Habitual said:
Still need to figure out the Live View mode, however.... If anyone has any views on that.
Click to expand...
You had two issues with Live View.

One was that it was taking 3 photos and it was suggested that you check the exposure bracketing settings. Have you done that?

The other was about to display being dark. How have you got Live View configured? Have you got exposure simulation enabled? (See pages 189 and 348 of your manual.)
 
With some triggers, Canons won't fire the flash in live view. Just come out of live view for the actual exposure.

On your set-up, take the Stofen-type diffuser cap off the flash. It's serving no purpose there and will send some light directly to the back of the subject - unless you want that. Then shield the flash with a piece of card so that no light can fall on the lens or you'll get flare problems.
 
StewartR said:
I think his point was that, with the flash on a high power setting, a slow shutter speed would lead to over exposure.
Click to expand...
Bingo - thank you!

StewartR said:
You had two issues with Live View.

One was that it was taking 3 photos and it was suggested that you check the exposure bracketing settings. Have you done that?

The other was about to display being dark. How have you got Live View configured? Have you got exposure simulation enabled? (See pages 189 and 348 of your manual.)
Click to expand...
Thanks for that Stewart, very helpful. My manual isn't in English due to being from DR. I'll download one after work... The thing is though, it's never done this before. I've used live view quite a lot since I've had the camera, and it started doing it last night for every photo in every mode. I worked around the entire dial, trying numerous settings and situations. Both with and without the flash connected.

HoppyUK said:
With some triggers, Canons won't fire the flash in live view. Just come out of live view for the actual exposure.

On your set-up, take the Stofen-type diffuser cap off the flash. It's serving no purpose there and will send some light directly to the back of the subject - unless you want that. Then shield the flash with a piece of card so that no light can fall on the lens or you'll get flare problems.
Click to expand...
Thank you. I'll give these ideas a try this evening. :)
 
I think (but could be wrong), if you're using YN622c's as the flash transmitter they fool the camera/flash into think it's attached so you can use HSS off camera, when normally you can't as an optical slave...

And yes, I'd also take the diffuser off as it's likely bouncing light straight into your lens.
 
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