Speedlite 550 flash in Fill Mode

[shayne_laverdi_re]

Hi Guys

I am renting a Canon Speedlite 550 flash this thursday to shoot a

bar party. I was told by the rentor that If I put it on "Fill" I

will basically iluminate my room just a bit, thus consreving my

natural non-flash feel. What I want is to be able to shoot over

1/100 of a second because I want crisp shots. I have shot at this

bar before and had to shoot at ISO 1600 with my 20D at 1/30s wide

open. The result was less than crisp shots with a lot of noise. Will

the flash set to "fill" alow me to shoot over 1/100 at a lower than

800 ISO? If not Does anybody have suggestions with the speedlite

550. Thanks

[jimstrutz]

It's not going to work. Shooting with "fill flash" means that the flash is usually one to two stops under the ambient exposure. That's not going to change your shutter speed at all. If 1/30 @ 1600 ISO worked last time you could try 1/60 @ 3200 ISO. Adding a bit of underexposed fill flash won't change your exposure, but it will fill in some of the shadows.

 

Another way to do this is to use the 550EX to provide full flash exposure, and adjust the ambient exposure to one to two stops under. That of course, will make flash the dominant lighting, but it will provide higher shutter speeds (1/60 to 1/120 @ 1600 ISO) and keep the background from going dark.

 

Another thing to do is use no flash (or a little fill flash) and use slower shutter speeds to inroduce more obvious blur. I find that sometimes a little blur is objectionable, but a lot of it can be "art."

 

Use FEC to adjust the flash to suit, and keep the camera in manual exposure mode. It's easier that way.

[carl_weller]

If you are wanting to shoot at 1/100th I presume you are using at least an 85mm lense or

your subjects are moving quickish?

 

You can 'drag' the shutter on flash shots if the subject is not moving. For example, shoot

at say 1/60th with an 85-100mm lense and you won't get blur from unmoving subjects.

Thats because the flash is what produces the light for the exposure and that only flashes

for a much shorter time than your shutter speed. If your subject is moving draging the

shutter won't help. You will have to set the shutter speed to freeze the action.

 

Get hold of a fast prime, say a 50mm 1.4 or 1.8 if you can. You should be able to drag the

shutter and shoot at say f2 at 1/30th with the camera on manual exposure.

 

Set the flash exposure compensation on the 550ex at somewhere between 2/3 and 1 & 1/

3 of a stop MINUS to reduce the flash a bit. You may find this will expose the subject, but

the background will be almost black, can't be helped if you don't want to shoot at really

high ISOs.

 

Thats about all you can do.

 

Sounds like a seriously dark place you'll be working in. It would pay to practice with the

20D and flash in similar conditions beforehand.

[yakim_peled1]

<p> <a href="http://photonotes.org/articles/eos-flash/index2.html#fillflash">Fill flash</a>. HTH. </p>

 

<p>Happy shooting, <br>

Yakim.</p>

[jim_larson1]

Let's see. . .

 

1/30th ISO 1600 equals normal exposure.

1/100th ISO 1600 would therefore be 2 1/2 stops underexposed.

1/100th ISO 800 would therefore be 3 1/2 stops underexposed. . .

 

I think you will find that the camera will tend to fire the flash for more than "fill". It will tend to fire the flash at rather high power.

 

What is it you are trying to do? Capturing the feel of a "dark room" and getting properly exposed subjects tends to be . .. umm. . impractical with today's technology. So if you are illuminating with a flash to get "quality" images. . .you must make compromises.

 

First. . .if you use bounce flash and a diffuser. . you can get shots that don't look like they are flash exposed -> won't look like the actual lighting of the room, but it won't look like a P&S digicam flash either.

 

Hopefully, the bar ceiling is not dark sound-proofing material.

 

Second. . . if you want to tone down the flash and let the scene look slightly underexposed (or, if you want to deliberately underexpose and fix in Photoshop). . you probably want to dial in a stop of negative flash exposure compensation. Remember. . .the ambient exposure and flash exposure systems are independent. Even if you have the camera in "M", the flash will be "auto" unless you over-ride it. Flash Exposure Compensation is the easiest way to over-ride it.

 

Third: Consider using second curtain sync. Honestly, I don't know why camera systems don't default to this. But if you shoot "slow" with a flash, you want second curtain sync. First curtain sync fires the flash at the beginning of the shutter opening. . and the image ghosts will be AFTER the illuminated portion -> which makes things look like they are travelling backwards. With second curtain sync. . flash first at the END of the shutter opening.. .so the ghosts will look like normal motion trails. . .

[shayne_laverdi_re]

Thanks Guys

 

How do I get my 20D to sync on the second curtain. I have been trying to do that because I love the feel of the motion with the flash. But the Only way I have found to do this is to have my subject perform their motion backwards (haha).

 

Ok Please let me know. Thanks for all the info guys

Take care

Shayne

[jimstrutz]

If you're using the 550EX you have to set it on the flash. The built in flash, as well as a 420EX can be set using the camera's custom functions, but any Speedlite that has 2nd curtain controls has to be set on the flash.

 

I'm just repeating what I heard & I don't really follow Canon's logic on this. I suppose I should try it out myself.

[jim_larson1]

yes, the 550EX has controls for this.

 

do you have the manual? If not. . I think you can download one from the Canon website.