woodbyte Posted November 1, 2005 Share Posted November 1, 2005 I am a very "amateur" amateur and trying to improve my minimal skills. Today was taking shots of my daughter backlit by warm (bizzare in Belgium at this time of year I know) sunlight. Was using 20D and 100mm macro from about 2-3m distance. I could force the flash to triger using the "night portrait" mode, but would prefer to somehow force the flash to trigger using P - program mode. Subsequently I read my manual and see I should have pressed the flash button to pop the built in flash to force it fire, but at the time I never thought of reading the manual. Instead I fitted external flash (EX580). I tried it on auto and it would not fire. Setting it on manual , yes it fires, but I have the spend a lifetime working out what setting to put it on. My "simple" question is how can I force the EX580 to fire in P - program mode and make use of all the magical evaluative ETTL stuff?<div></div> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
david_lee2 Posted November 1, 2005 Share Posted November 1, 2005 For fill flash, you don't want to use "P" mode. Try using "Av" (aperture priority). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
julie_glover Posted November 1, 2005 Share Posted November 1, 2005 When I use my 580 ex on my digital rebel, I have to use Tv (shutter speed priority). In Av the camera sets a really slow shutter speed and the picture, usually people, is blurred. I usually set it around 1/60. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sheldonnalos Posted November 1, 2005 Share Posted November 1, 2005 The Canon E-TTL system is a complicated beast... your best solution is to read the EOS flash Bible at www.photonotes.org, then read it again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phule Posted November 1, 2005 Share Posted November 1, 2005 And then read it a third time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tom_musselman Posted November 2, 2005 Share Posted November 2, 2005 Hi James. This is pretty simple. It's best to use your 580EX and set the 20D to one of the creative modes. I prefer Av. Keep the shutter speed slower than 1/200, unless the flash is set to high-speed sync. With the flash turned on, take a picture. The camera will set the exposure for the overall scene, and the flash will light the subject using ETTL. You can control the flash output using the flash exposure compensation. For outdoor fill, I generally set the FEC to -1 or -1.5 stops. Experiment. Have fun. Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woodbyte Posted November 2, 2005 Author Share Posted November 2, 2005 Thanks all for your replies. First time I've seen the photonotes websites. Looks pretty infromational. I'll come back in about three months when I've read the flash bible three times!. Judging by the change in weather today, it'll be spring anyway before we see the sun again over here. cheers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tom_musselman Posted November 3, 2005 Share Posted November 3, 2005 James, for Canon-specific questions like this, you will get more answers in the Canon EOS forum. Good luck with photonotes! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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