Fighting automatic flash compensation in ElanIIE for macro work

[ilia]

I am doing a lot of macro work while hiking. It may sound terrible

but I rarely take my tripod with me. Usually I set my

ElanII/TamronSP90 combo to 125/f16-22 in manual and handhold 380EX on

extension cord to illuminate the scene (letting E-TTL to do the job).

The problem appears on the sunny days when illumination levels reach

10-13EV easily. The flash algorithm of Elan decides to switch to

"fill flash" mode without bothering to inform me in any form. As a

result -- from 0.5 to 1.5 stops underexposed slides (read: "from

unacceptably dark to just totally black frames").

Is there any way to prevent it from happening? The obvious answer is

to use "brute force" and dial in flash compensation manually after

determining illumination level, but it basically screws the whole

idea of this quick&dirty technique of shooting macro in the field.

[bobatkins]

<em>Is there any way to prevent it from happening?</em>

 

<p>

 

In a word, no.

 

<p>

 

You can disable the auto flash compensation on the A2, 1n and EOS-3

but not the ElanII. You can't have everything, and this is one thing

you don't get with a "consumer" level body. Yes, it's a pain.

 

<p>

 

Predicting what ElanII is doing is tricky as it depends on both

foreground and background illumination levels (i.e. the levels

detected by various segments of the metering pattern). I don't think

it's

possible to <em>exactly</em> predict how much flash compensation it

will

dial in for you.

 

<p>

 

You could get a 420EZ, 430EZ, 540EZ or 550EX and use it in manual

mode. Still not

"quick and dirty", but at least you will be sure of what's going

on. The 380EX of course is fully "auto" and has no manual settings.

You also obviously lose TTL flash metering with manual flash setings.