basic question: How do u use Speedlite on manual mode?

<p>I just got a speedlite 430exii after doing only natural light for 4 years. I am embarrassed to ask, but I cant figure out how you get correct flash output when the camera and my speedlite are in manual. How do you know? I meter, put it on the correct exposure for what I am looking for then shoot, but of course meter read was without the flash so when if flashes its way bright. If you do them both in Manual is it assumed you will have a light meter to tell you what to set the correct exposure taking into account the flash? <br>

I have read a ton on the internet and read my manual over and over and I dont get it. Theres a section in my manual entitled metered manual flash exposures but when I try that it doesnt work. Its clear Im missing something very basic.<br>

<strong>1. How the heck do you use the speedlight when your not on ETTL? Step by step with your camera in Manual.</strong><br>

2. Should I just be using my flash on ETTL and my camera on manual- in other words, what am I missing as far as quality and control if I dont put the speedlite on manual. <br>

I cant believe how long I have been beating my head up against the wall trying to figure this out, so I appreciate your help. Sorry again for the dumb question- I know it seems like something I should be able to figure out on my own but for some reason I cant.</p>

<p>Mindy</p>

<p ><strong><br /></strong></p>

<p>You need to measure something.</p>

<p>Either you need to measure the light, from the subject position, with a light meter, or you need to measure the distance from the lens to the subject and use the "guide number" on the flash to calculate the aperture for a given distance.</p>

<p>If you're shooting digital, you can just do some trial and error. Set the camera to manual, shutter speed to 1/250 (or whatever your camera's sync speed is), aperture to something like f/8, and flash to manual at 1/4 power or so. If the picture is too dark, either open up the lens, raise the flash power, or increase your camera's ISO setting. If the picture is too light, reverse these suggestions.</p>

<p>Yes, that's a crude way to do it, but you should be able to zero in on the correct exposure after a few trial shots, and with practice you'll get better at estimating the exposure and estimating the amount of correction required.</p>

<p>Ok good- guess Im not missing anything- I thought maybe there was some way I didnt know about besides guide numbers and trial and error. Thanks much!<br>

What am I losing if my speedlite is on ETTL and not manual. Is there any reason I should not use ETTL? </p>

<p>basic equation: aperture = guide number / distance. Or you can rearrange the equation if you know what aperture you want and the distance to the subject: aperture x distance = guide number</p>

<p><a href="http://markhancock.blogspot.com/2005/11/understand-basic-flash-exposure.html">http://markhancock.blogspot.com/2005/11/understand-basic-flash-exposure.html</a></p>

Flash meter.

<blockquote>

<p>Is there any reason I should not use ETTL?</p>

 

</blockquote>

<p>Sure there is.</p>

<p>Light meters are dumb. Dumb in that they can not read our minds. They have absolutely no idea what we want.<br>

"Garbage in garbage out" (i.e) If we point a meter at something too bright or too dark or highly reflective, the meter is fooled into thinking something we did not want for the end result.</p>

<p>While eTTL and iTTL have come a long way and do much of the heavy lifting, the photographer still must have a firm understanding in the relationship and limitations of the meter mode vs scene dynamics.</p>

<p>Here is just one example where I would use full manual, <strong>camera and flash</strong>:</p>

<p>Let's say you are shooting a B&G outside (day time) with a beautiful city skyline in the back ground.<br>

The B&G are moving, assuming various poses while you fire shot after shot.<br>

You might zoom in, zoom out, compose with the B&G frame left or frame right.</p>

<p>If you are in ANY of the auto modes, the camera will meter whatever you happen to be pointing at.<br>

What if you had the B&G positioned to frame left? The meter now sees the bright city skyline and sends a command to the flash for more output, thereby over-exposing your subjects. Making things worse, if you are shooting in Av, your f/stop will close down.</p>

<p>What about the same scenario but now at night? Same problem.</p>

<p>Perhaps you zoom in closer to capture the brides white dress. Now what does the meter "think."?</p>

<p>Essentially, unpredictable results in the above scenario when using (auto) anything.<br>

**Nikon has a great feature called (FV Lock) which locks the flash output regardless of subsequent meter readings or changes to aperture or shutter speed.** Not sure if Canon flashes have this feature or not.<br>

You can accomplish the same exposure manually, but FV Lock is a real time saver.</p>

<p>In fairness, the eTTL or iTTL modes are great in other situations, especially where ambient lighting is changing faster than our fingers can dial in new settings.</p>

<p>We don't see auto modes in the studio do we?</p>

<blockquote>

<p>if you are shooting in Av, your f/stop will close down.</p>

 

</blockquote>

<p>ooops. Meant to say, your shutter speed will change.</p>

<p>Look up the guide number (GN) to your flash. It will be listed in meters and feet. Just make sure you stick with one or the other. Guide number divided by distance between flash and subject equals the f/stop that should make middle gray come out middle gray. Do some testing. Sometimes flash manufacturers GN estimates are off, and you may need to add a stop. GN is also typically listed for ISO 100, so you'll have to adjust for higher ISOs. Each time you double or half the flash power or ISO that's a stop. Each time you double or half the distance or aperture that's 2 stops.</p>

Most wedding photographers do what they call dragging the shutter. You set the camera on manual and the flash on ETTL. They set the exposure at about a minus two stops and the camera will meter the flash exposure independently from what you have set for the camera. Why do they do this? Because if you set the ambient exposure two stops below ambient light you will get an underexposed but visible background instead of a totally underexposed black background while preventing ghosting from from either camera movement or people movement. If you use actual ambient light you will see ghosts. I use this method myself. This is really what I think you want to use shooting kids. You will lose some pictures because ETTL is not perfect but you will get plenty of keepers or pictures where you can make minor corrections in PS to make them acceptable. Bounce the flash off the ceiling or a wall to soften the light. That is if they are close to being white. Nadine O'Hara in her posts explains this better than I do.

If you are shooting moving kids you can also lock your shutter speed at 1/200 while shooting flash in custom function 3 on the XTi. I do that while shooting movement. I have an XTi and a full frame camera.

You can only lock the shutter speed in AV at 200th. This is not as good IMO as dragging the shutter in Manual mode.

<p>I don't know about the 430EX but the 550EX /580EX has a scale at the bottom of the LCD display with the flash-to-subject distance in feet/meters that will be undescored depending on the ISO/Power/Aperture combination. if you don't see that scale then you are going to have to divide the GN(guide number) by the flash-to-subject distance to obtain the proper f-stop, or you are going to have to divide the GN by the f-stop to obtain the proper flash-to-subject distance. keep in mind that the GN changes depending on the focal length of the lens.</p>

<p>You may find the <a href="http://strobist.blogspot.com/">Strobist</a> tutorials very useful (see the dropdown boxes on the right hand side). The entire "Strobist" current (or approach, or whatever) is about using small flashes. </p>

<p>Have a look at the upcoming <a href="http://www.theflashbus.com/">The Flash Bus</a> tour with Dave (the original Strobist) and McNally. </p>

<p>When you use flash you need to decide if that will be the only light source or will you mix it with ambient. Shoot first without a flash, see what exposure does to the scene and then add flash to taste. That might be low as 1/64 or as much as full power. If you want to mix it with available light and just fill in the shadows, take the proper reading as suggested by your camera and then bounce flash for example set on 1/4 power. Then adjust up or down to get it where you want it.</p>

<p>I agree on the Strobit blog, lots of good info.</p>

<p>1a. Set the aperture, ISO and shutter speed as you wish (considering that the flash sync limit is 1/200th or 1/250th depending upon camera model), so don't set a speed faster than that.</p>

<p>1b. Turn the flash on, and use the mode button to put the flash in flash manual mode. Half press the shutter button. A distance is displayed on the LCD. If your subject to flash/camera distance is not the same as the distance displayed, power the flash down by pressing the Set button until the power setting blinks, and using the +/- buttons until the distance displayed is the same as the distance between the subject and the flash (measure or estimate). You may need to half press the shutter button each time to get the distance to display. Press the Set button again to lock the power setting. This assumes you want a 'straight', correct flash exposure and the flash head is pointed straight ahead at the subject. The distance on the LCD is not displayed if you have the head tilted up or swiveled.</p>

<p>1c. If you are looking to use fill flash, where the flash output is reduced in relation to the ambient exposure value, you can set the flash power so that the distance displayed is shorter than your subject to flash distance, or conversely, if you want the flash to overexpose the subject for some reason, you can set the flash power so the distance displayed is more than the subject to flash distance.</p>

<p>2a. ETTL is an automatically produced flash exposure value, and is the camera's 'guess' as to what the 'correct' flash exposure should be. It can act differently depending upon camera mode, but the key thing to know is that it changes depending upon such things as camera mode, subject value, and according to ETTL's algorithms (set of instructions to follow). It probably changes every time you go to take a picture. It may not be what you want or expect. This is why manual flash mode is valuable--you set it the way you want it, and everything remains constant from picture to picture, until you change something. <strong>Consistency</strong> is one of the big reasons to use manual flash.</p>

<p>2b. Just like the fact that there is no one, correct exposure for ambient, depending upon what you are trying to show in the picture, there is no one, correct flash exposure, and now you have two exposures to play with--ambient and flash.</p>

<p>2c. You can control how ETTL responds by using flash exposure compensation. In fast moving situations, it is impractical to use manual flash (although some people are so used to it they can respond very fast), so by testing and kind of 'knowing' how ETTL is likely to respond, one can just set compensation quickly, and on the fly (shoot a test exposure) to arrive at a workable exposure. Knowing how ETTL works and how different camera modes affect it also helps in anticipating ETTL response. You can get so good at it that your ETTL exposures can be quite accurate.</p>

<p><strong>Bottom line:</strong> You haven't been missing anything by not using manual flash mode, if you test and can accurately anticipate ETTL response. On the other hand, for static situations, you can't beat knowing every image is going to be the way you want it. So learn both. :^)</p>