Speedlite 430 EX Help

[cyclefitness]

I have the Speedlite 430 EX and am so confused by how to properly use it. I was

shooting in a gym and would expect when you seat the flash and change the WB on

the camera to "flash" that it would automatically increase the shutter speed

when shooting. I was using my 50mm 1.4 lens and the shutter speed stayed too

low for hand holding. All the pictures came out blurry. I figure I must be

doing something wrong. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks!

[rainer_t]

WB setting has nothing to do with shutter speed.

 

A very common mistake is to shoot in Av mode and expect fast shutter speeds. Have a look at ...

 

http://photonotes.org/articles/eos-flash/

 

... especially "EOS flash photography confusion"

[brian_coy]

The settings on the camera will determine what the shutter speed is set to. In program mode or the Green easy mode the camera should automatically set the camera to a shutter speed of at least 1/60th or faster. If you are in shutter priority or manual, it will not change the shutter speed unless the custom function has been set that way. This info is for a 20D. You did not specify what camera you have.

[cyclefitness]

I have the Digital Rebel XT and was shooting in AV mode.

[beauh44]

Hi Debbie, you might try avoiding Av mode for indoor flash shots and instead try either manual mode (You set both shutter speed and aperture) or Tv mode where you set the shutter speed and the camera sets the aperture. Good luck!

[mike_smith2]

In AV mode the flash is automatically configured to act as fill in, not main flash, so the shutter speed is set by the ambient light source for teh aperture selected, it does not default to the X sync speed.

 

Shoot in Tv or fully manual at the X sunc speed, set a highish aperture (ie just above ambient light reading) to let the flash act as the main light source

[glenn_s]

On the XT, you can use Av with the flash if you set Custom Function 3 to 1/200. This will force the shutter speed to 1/200 and allow you to manually set the aperture.

 

Glenn

[mark u]

With flash, the best advice is to learn to shoot in M mode. There are lots of reasons for picking M mode, not the least of which is that you then have the maximum amount of control over the balance between flash and ambient light in your images as well as depth of field, and you won't forget that you made some setting you forgot about. Shooting M reminds you to check both your shutter speed and your aperture, and the level of underexposure you are asking the flash to make up with its output. It's then your choice as to whether you set the High Speed sync mode on the flash for providing fill at shutter speeds faster than X sync in brightly lit conditions.