40D settings and 580EX II settings

[todd_torfin]

I am shooting racing at night using a 580EX II. What mode is it best to shoot in ETTL, M, Multi? I also want a quick

refresh rate is there a setting better for that. What settings should I use in the 40D? I do have an external battery

pack for the 580 so that does help with refresh rate. Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks,

Todd

[mark u]

What kind of racing? horses? cars? snails?

[chrisjb]

Cars if I remeber right, personally I would use `M` mode, with flash and camera, pick a spot on the circuit and at 3200ISO set it up so the flash is fill problably about 1/4 power. This should allow reasonable recycle time and once setup speed the caamera as the only change is focus. light should be constant. Use custom modes to quicly change setting if something happens else where. HTH :)

[jimstrutz]

If you are using a 300mm lens or longer, a Better Beamer will concentrate the flash light tighter, and that will allow lower power and a correspondingly faster recycle. Also, some external batteries are quicker than others. Canon's CP-E3/4 does a full power recycle in about 1.2 seconds, but a Quantum Turbo will do it in less than 1.0 seconds. 3x the cost, but sometimes it's worth it. Either one can fry older flash units, and/or force the 580EXII into its cool down mode.