mick johnson

Thank's for the idea's, I will try them tommorrow.

I know the Stofen looses about 2 stops so I can try different bits of plastic etc and use my lightmeter to see what I've got. I might even cancel it and save a few quid now I've seen all your suggestions.

Thank's again,

Mick........

I have ordered a Stofen difuser for my 550 but won't have it in time

for a christening I'm going to at the weekend, or probabaly not.

The reason I wan't to try one is because I'm sure it will give better

results with close-up (people) photo's indoors.

So, my question is, is there anything I can use as a substitute in

case it does'nt come in time. I have seen photographers with some

sort of paper over the flash head so there must be something I'm sure.

Mick.........

Hello Greg,

I had the 170-500 and then bought the 50-500 and compared them both before selling one or the other.

I can tell you that you are right that the 50-500 is much more accurate in focusing, much less noise (like Canon usm) but not that much faster than the 170-500. In poor light I find it not to good at all.

One good thing about the 50-500 is full time manual focus and its also much easier to manual focus cos the 170-500 has a very loose focus ring, well mine had anyway. In fact it was that loose you could almost spin it round.

I can say though the only thing I don't like about the 50-500 is the tripod collar, in a word its crap, no its worse than that, its, well, whoever designed it wants it shoving up his !!!!. I think you know what I mean. I am comparing it to the 170-500 which has a lovely collar, only needing 1/4 of a turn and away you go.

Oh, one other thing I dont like is the hood, but then its only for a 50mm lens.

It is however very sharp @ 300-500mm, wide open, probabaly a bit sharper than the 170-500.

I use this lens primarily for birds and have several 10"x15" prints which I use for competitions and can only say are superb. (Big head)

BTW, I use Eos 3 and it works pretty good with eye control until the light goes a bit.

If you buy a 170-500 make sure it works with your camera as mine had to be returned to Sigma for an updated chip to work with more modern Eos cameras.

Mick................

Thank's Mary,

I do remember when I first had the ste2 and tested it in the garden and it worked at a distance of about 10ft no problem, but it certainly will not now so I'm sending it back next week to be checked out.

Mick.......

Thanks for the replies.

The battery is new, but I have tried another in my 6 months old STE2 so its still under guarantee if I decide to have it checked.

I have two 550's so really I should of tried firing one flash with the other, so I will try it tommorrow.

One thing I did try was putting both 550's on the ground (mowed Lawn)and they seemed to work at a much longer range, so I suppose the beam reflected of the grass, right? It did work much better though if I used one flash not two.

The setup I was using was two 550's mounted on aluminium poles about 3ft off the ground, so nothing to reflect and help the beam I suppose.

BTW, there was no wind and surely a windy day would not make any difference, would it?

Mick............

Further to my previous post I still cannot get the thing to work as I

would like. I tried it again today (outdoors) but had the same

problem, would not fire both 550's unless they were very close. At

times they would not fire when moved to within 3 or 4 inches of STE2.

The max distance I could get them both to fire was about 4ft (STE2 to

flash) Above 4ft and both 550's changed to M from ETTL and then back

again as I moved them closer, is this normal?

Again, indoors they are fine and work perfect.

When the STE2 transmits I see one red rectange of light slightly

offset from centre of its lens, is that all I should see?

I do know that outdoors its range is nowhere near Canons estimate but

I thought it should be 10ft or so.

Mick....

Yesterday I was taking a few test shots with my ste2 and two 550ex

outside in the garden and everything worked ok.

Now today I setup the very same thing in the same place etc and could

not get the flashes to fire all the time. They worked ok if I took

them indoors but when putting outside again they would not fire

properly no matter how close I put them to the STE2.

When pushing the test fire button on STE2 the flash mode would

sometimes change from ETTL to M. Then when I moved closer to the 550

it would fire and then change back to ETTL. When I say move closer I

mean within inches before it would fire.

Anyway after an hour or so playing about everything seemed to work ok

so my question would be, does the weather have any effect on the

wireless transmission as I once had this problem some time ago in

similar, dull, damp conditions. Or, is it the general surroundings

that play a part?

Or is it me?

BTW I have read the manual but can't find any info on this.

Mick...........

I've just had a run of scratched slides, all from dlab7. I rang them and told them about it as I thought I had unmarked slides back from Fuji at around the same time.

They then asked me to send in some samples of the scratched slides which I did and there answer was 'there's dirt in your camera' as the scratches are, as yours running with the film.

They did explain it could not be them as the film surface is never touched at all during processing like it is with some labs.

Anyway I set to and cleaned my Eos3 the best I could, must admit I have never cleaned it in 2 years of almost daily use, including some very dusty motocross events where my camera and lens were red with dust.

The next lot of slides and indeed almost all since were spotless so maybe it was my camera.

If you complain as I did you might get a free processing card, but it does'nt help much especially when you know you have super shots all scratched.

Thanks for the info Chuck.

That was more or less what I intended to do. I shall use my 105mm macro lens although I used a 28-135 at the studio at about 100mm.

I don't have a flash meter so do you think 1 stop over would be a good starting point for slides. I shall have to experiment with exposure I know.

At the studio I used manual mode and set the max sync speed 1/200 on the camera. What would be the ideal shutter speed for this type of work, 1/125?

Mick........

I want to photograph my grandaughter using a 550ex & Eos3. I have a

white/silver umbrella, suitable background, white reflector, & Portra

160. I am baisically copying what I used at a studio a week or so ago

but that was pro equipment.

What I need to know is will I get a decent result & do I need to

compensate as I've been told I need about 1 stop overexposure when

firing into a umbrella. I know the film latitude will cover this but

I want to use slide film as well later.

I do actually have 2 550's, ste2, & off camera cord so if I could do

it better tell me please.

Mick.........

It was just a hot day, and even hotter in a canvas hide in full sun but Iv'e done it many, many times before. Maybe it would be 30'C so I it aint that.

Thought it may of cured itself overnight but no.

I did'nt realise how much difference it would make with no lights so now know why people complained so much about the D30.

Suppose I'll have to take it to my local Canon repair man and get an estimate.

There are only 3 out of 45points that do not light up. I have tried everything, and still they dont work.

I have also pressed the clear button to set all functions to default.

I have just been in a very hot hide photographing birds and noticed 3

focus points (including the centre one) dont illuminate any more.

They all seem to work ok.

They don't work in manual, ecf, one shot, or focus point selection.

I have seen this on this forum before I think, but I can't find

anything.

Cheers, Mick.......

I do feel I understand what is happening now exposure wise but am a little confused when you suggest H/S/Sync as an alternative as I thought this would not freeze any movement at all.

How do I set H/S/Sync using this setup, do I set the camera to AV and set the 550's to H/S/Sync, or just set camera to AV and fire away. I have read the manual (honest) but dont know for sure. It says that you enable H/S/Sync on master unit and need not touch the slaves, but I have no master unit just the STE2.

Thanks, Mick....

Chuck,

I must admit I quite like this sort of shot if the head and eye were sharp. I have had more slides back today and exposure wise there spot-on.

The only thing I did different was to keep the focus point on the subject using ecf and tweaking the focus ring. Also as suggested by Bill Goldman I have moved the 550's back a little to make sure there well within range.

I am going to try again tommorrow if its a bright day but as you say i'll use max sync speed.

BTW, I am doing this in the daytime but its been a bit dull and I was trying to keep the background no more than a stop underexposed but this meant a slow shutter speed which I thought did not matter with full flash.

Cheers, Mick........

Bill,

It was not flash exposure comp but camera comp as I know in manual mode it is the background exposure.

I did not use any flash comp thinking it would be pretty close anyway,and it is my first attempt.

I am using manual mode knowing the background will be a bit dark but wanted to freeze the birds wings which it did not do. I had set shutter speed to 1/60th sec. Its almost frozen the wings but I also have like a shadow effect off the wings, (see image).

I never thought to check distance scale on flash so I am going to have a look now. Would it also help to have focus point over subject and not background as I have to be aware of this with normal phography.

Sorry, I forgot to mention I'm using Eos3.

Mick...

I have just taken my first daytime flash shots on small birds using 2

550ex & ste2. I have used this setup at night with perfect results

using 'manual' mode.

Now after using the same 'manual' mode in daylight under dull

conditions all my slides are overexposed, (ie the bird) the

background looks good.

I set my 550's to slave, ch1, and have left the zoom setting at what

it defaults to when switching on (24mm). With the night shots I set

the zoom to show nothing.

I took all shots with the exposure compensation (on camera) around

1/3 to 1 stop under thinking this would be the background exposure.

and 1/60th sec which has not frozen the birds wings at all.

I am about 2metres away fron subject with 550's just over a metre

away and a metre apart.

I'm obviously doing something very wrong and need help before my

birds fledge the nest.

Cheers, Mick...

I want an extension for the RS80 remote switch (Eos3) but see it is

about £40 quid or more for a bit of cable.

My mate has made one for his F100 but I dont really fancy cutting

mine until I know what's in the cable.

I have seen somewhere that you can make one yourself so can someone

point me to this info or has anyone made one.

Will the ef 1.4 converter work with my Sigma 50-500 and Eos3.

Mick....

As I'm new to flash photography I'm not that sure what I need.

I did'nt know that there was no manual flash with the 420.

I will be using it only for birds, with 1 flash either side of the bird and the third flash to illuminate the background.

Maybe I should just buy 2 more 550ex and have no worries about what I might want to do in the future.

I am buying a ste2 and need another 2 flashguns. I already have a

550ex and will buy another but for the third I would not mind a

cheaper unit. What other canon flashguns are compatible with the ste2

I want to use 2 550ex flash to photograph birds from a hide.

I'm also thinking of buying the STE2 which I would like to use on the

camera, but it will be behind a cloth screen.

Will it work like this or do I have to use off camera shoe cord 2 so

I can then place the STE2 outside the hide.

Cheers Mick.....

I posted this a while ago and thought it had not appeared as I could

not find it in the forum.

Anyway Ive just had an email with all the replies and it seems I

caused a bit of confusion.

Well, Steve Dunn got it right. What I should of said was if you take

for example a 300mm F2.8 why is the minimum focus distance, greater,

than a 300mm F4.