I'm fairly new to photography in general but am a total newbie to using flash. I have treated myself to a Canon 430EX II and tried it out on saturday night.I have had a look at the shooting details on one of the shots and it is telling me that the focal length was 28mm, ISO was 100, the aperture was F8 and the exposure was 1.6 seconds!!!! When I pressed the shutter button it seemed like an eternity till the shot was taken. I expected it to happen in a 'Flash' as it were. I obviously need to do a lot of experimenting. Can anyone tell me what I am doing wrong please.
New to using flash
- Thread starter Bluenose
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Sit yourself down and prepare for a long read.
Have a look at http://photonotes.org/articles/eos-flash/index.html
It tells you all about how flashes work with Canon EOS cameras. It's a bit of a slog but worth it.
Have a look at http://photonotes.org/articles/eos-flash/index.html
It tells you all about how flashes work with Canon EOS cameras. It's a bit of a slog but worth it.
Hi Mike, the link that you have provided seems extremely comprehensive but I think that you are correct in saying that it will be well worth the slog. I will certainly get on to this during the coming days. Thanks a million for your help.
marts_uk
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I think Mike has covered what you need 
Basically read up ... a lot.. , experiment, and then when it doesn't work how you want, try and work out how, and then experiment fixing it. That way you'll know exactly what you've done right and wrong.
Basically read up ... a lot.. , experiment, and then when it doesn't work how you want, try and work out how, and then experiment fixing it. That way you'll know exactly what you've done right and wrong.
Thanks again Martin, You're right, it's going to take a lot of reading, digesting and experimenting. Mike's link is well comprehensive but I think it will do the trick. Thanks again to both for showing an interest in my plight.
HoppyUK
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That's a very good link, but very technical as well as long.
It sounds like the OP was using Av, in which case a shorter answer is to use a different mode, P for example is pretty foolproof, or go into custom functions and change the default shutter speed for flash on Av.
What the camera is trying to do in Av is balance the shutter speed for correct background ambient exposure with the flash for the foreground, so if it's dark, that's obviously going to be a very long exposure time. But you can change that - see handbook.
Very good book on all things Canon flash - Speedliter's Handbook by Syl Arena, £18 Amazon.
It sounds like the OP was using Av, in which case a shorter answer is to use a different mode, P for example is pretty foolproof, or go into custom functions and change the default shutter speed for flash on Av.
What the camera is trying to do in Av is balance the shutter speed for correct background ambient exposure with the flash for the foreground, so if it's dark, that's obviously going to be a very long exposure time. But you can change that - see handbook.
Very good book on all things Canon flash - Speedliter's Handbook by Syl Arena, £18 Amazon.
HoppyUK said:
+1
If light levels are very low I prefer to just stick the camera in manual. Choose a shutter speed of say 125 and pick the widest aperture you can get away with. Flash in ttl and adjust flash exposure compensation to taste. Slow the shutter speed to bring in more ambient light on static subjects if you like.
I have had a look at the 'properties' on some of the shots and, shown against 'exposure programme' it says 'Aperture Priority' but on some others it says 'Normal' any ideas what this means please?
I will try to suss out your suggestion about the default shutter speed for flash on AV. Thanks also for your info re the book from Amazon, I do have some Amazon vouchers from my birthday so will use those to get myself a useful pressy. Thanks again.
I will try to suss out your suggestion about the default shutter speed for flash on AV. Thanks also for your info re the book from Amazon, I do have some Amazon vouchers from my birthday so will use those to get myself a useful pressy. Thanks again.
Hi Graham, thanks for coming in on this, I note that you say "Flash in TTL" but I have looked at my gun and the two modes that I have are "ETTL" and "M" I did think about shooting wide but then thought that a smaller aperture would give me more depth in focus. Am I correct in thinking this? Thanks again for your help.
HoppyUK
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"Flash in TTL" means E-TTL in Canon speak, or iTTL for Nikon etc - it's just their respective 'Through-The-Lens' flash metering systems.
Yes, a smaller aperture (higher f/number) will give you more depth of field, more in focus.
Here is the first of a 4 Part guide to Canons flash system and controls.
Read at your leisure.
http://cpn.canon-europe.com/content/education/technical/getting_the_most_from_speedlites.do
Part 2,3 & 4 are also on there
Read at your leisure.
http://cpn.canon-europe.com/content/education/technical/getting_the_most_from_speedlites.do
Part 2,3 & 4 are also on there
Yeah what Hoppy said.
By widest aperture you can get away with I just mean select the aperture that will give you the DOF required. So if I am shooting a single person I can get away with a very shallow DOF if I don't want the background in focus. By opening up the aperture the flash wont have to work as hard and I can bounce it a lot further because I can get away with less light coming back. If I need more DOF I just try to use just enough rather than dialling more than I need. This comes with experience I think.
There's so much more to all this but I was just trying to give you a simple starting point that's pretty reliable.
One other thing is I would use a higher ISO, at least 800 for indoor shots if its low light most of the time.
Sometimes it doesn't matter how many times you read it, it just doesn't stick....So the videos are great, as you can see and hear the info at the same time....This gives you a much better chance of some of it sticking in the grey matter.
How did you get on ?
Hi Tugster, Am really busy at the moment, workmen all over the place!! I will give you some feedback when I have a little more time to study it. Thanks for all your help. Thanks too to lensflair and HoppyUK for their input.