Under exposer with 20D and 580ex flash

[minush]

I am using a conon 20D with 24-70 lens and 580ex flash on weddings and all my shots

are under exposed specially ones inside.

I take about 600 pic in a weeding so to PS all of them is impossible but even when

photoshop still they dont have the snappiness or the quality of 35-mm.

Now I am not trying to compare digital to analog but to me the look well not professional.

I am suspecting is the ETTL II.

So my question is is there e way to not use ETTL II and is any body else having this

problem.

And if I go with a 1D mk II is there a big difference in this mater.

Thanx

[digitmstr]

>>they dont have the snappiness or the quality of 35-mm.<<

 

That's a bit vague. 35mm what, film prints? Prints are edited by the lab. You can pay someone to edit your digital images or you can learn to do it yourself.

 

Assuming your technique in using the flash is correct, if all the images are underexposed by similar values it would be extremely easy to create an action in PS to batch process them.

 

On the other hand it is possible that you need to re-evaluate the way you meter. It's impossible to give advice without knowing or seeing a sample that is indicative of the problem of which you speak.

 

Most of the time, during a shoot with varied backgrounds , light values and subjects you will have to evaluate the scene and use FEC on the fly. That's just a fact of life.

[eosdoc]

<blockquote><i><small>

I am using a conon 20D with 24-70 lens and 580ex flash on weddings and all my shots are under exposed specially ones inside...

I am suspecting is the ETTL II. So my question is is there e way to not use ETTL II and is any body else having this problem.

</small></i></blockquote>

E-TTL II comes in two flavours (Evaluative and Average),

controlled by CFn.14 on the EOS 20D. Have you read the

instruction manual? And did you try setting CFn.14=1 ?

<P>

If you are unable to learn to use E-TTL II, you can always

use MANUAL power flash. But that would require more thinking.

[PuppyDigs]

"I am using a conon 20D with 24-70 lens and 580ex flash on weddings and all my shots

are under exposed specially ones inside. "

 

There's an easy workaround: use flash exposure compensation (FEC) to increase flash

exposure according to your taste. In fact, that's why Canon installed FEC. That is, to give

the photographer control of flash exposure rather than depending on automatic which

may or may not give you what you want (it can't read your mind). With my 10D and 420EX I

generally need -2/3 FEC to offset slight overexposure.

[rich_weiss]

I had a similar situation with 1D MKII and 1Ds MKII - I spoke with Canon Professnl Services and was told to try to crank up flash compensation 1/3 to 1/2 stop - 1/3 worked fine

[lee_nguyen]

You have to turn the dial mode to P mode and then add +1 to your flash. You can't just add anything if you are in P&S mode (green rectangle)

It's not good from Canon that we can't do P&S out of the box.

[james_castagno]

I shoot a 20D/550EX combo and I set FEC at +2/3 and I get great exposure 90% of

the time. I will sometimes run into an exposure problem if someone has darker skin.

[jim_larson1]

I find the "read the manual" comments are not always helpful when it comes to Canon flash photography. Typically. . Canon provides little to zero information on how the systems work for people to make any intelligent decisions.

 

heck. . .those of us who prowl the net still can't figure out how the system REALLY works.

 

Having said that. . . .

 

try CF14=1.

try FEC=+2/3

 

Try reading the net to see how ETTL-II does - and does not- work.

[crystal-lite]

> am using a canon 20D with 24-70 lens and 580ex

Similar set up to mine.

Depends on the location, size of the room and lighting etc.

Did a wedding recently (June) with my brand new Speedite 580EX Testing at the wedding I

used automatic flash with the speedite and then FEC +2/3. With FEC the images were very

clear and much improved.