Starting out on the learning curve - Flash

[Colin Southern]

From a flash perspective, I think you'll find it doesn't make much difference, so long as the plane isn't changing significantly. For studio shooting I always move the active AF point to one closer to the closest eye; there just isn't time for recomposing once the shoot gets into full swing.

Might be a good thing for you to practice - shouldn't be hard to get used to.

[john w revie]

Hi Donald

First let me congratulate you on your new toys
And also thank you for re-sparking my enthusiasm for photography
Below are 2 photos the first is the set up used to take the second?



As can be seen from this photo the photo was taken in normal house lighting
The second photo was taken in the same light the difference is the camera and flash are set to manual at f-stop 22 and the flash –3ev . The high f-stop was used to drive the background to black and the –3ev on the flash was to hold the exposure in the cellophane wrapper of the bread roll




The case for the flash is in that position to act as a baffle and stop the light from the flash spilling onto the wall behind. The onboard flash is used only to transmit data to the main flash and does not contribute to the exposure.

John

[Donald]

John

Wonderful to see you posting again. I'd seen you were still looking in on the site, but have missed seeing your spectacular work.

I think I'm beginning to make sense of the 580 EX II. Certainly the test results on my partner and all sorts of household objects are now starting to yield some sort of reasonable consistency of quality. I'm starting to get some sort of sense of what sort of settings give me what and what sort of impact the diffusers make when fitted.

Now I've just got to get that consistency ratcheted up up few gears.

I'm intrigued by your set up. You say the on-board flash was used to trigger the off-camera unit. I didn't think that was possible. I thought you had to have cords or wireless units.

[john w revie]

Donald
on the EOS7D the built in flash can be used as a e-ttl flash trigger ( about time canon put this into a camera) I think All the Nikon cameras can do this.

john

[Markvetnz]

I was looking at a few options for a wireless ETTL trigger. I could either get 2 more 580 ex II's and use one as an on camera master, get the new PW ETTL triggers (a bit pricey for me at this stage) or get a ST-E2 transmitter and one more 580 EXII. I ended up with the last option, but I bought the Yongnuo equivalent ST-E2 and it works a treat. Very easy to set up, communicated with the 580's seamlessly and it also has some extra functions over the Canon product, like flash exposure bracketing and FEC. It can only control 2 groups which you can set either on the unit or on the camera's menu system. High speed sync works a treat too. I normally buy name brand camera gear but I'm really happy with this unit. Obviously it doesn't have the range of the PW units and outdoors it needs reasonable line of sight but bang for buck it's great.

And how easy does ETTL make it all? Just set up your background exposure with however much light you want and then ETTL sorts the flashes out. Never having used it or wireless flash at all, within 30 minutes I was clicking away.

Colin keeps referring to Nik Guy's book, which I bought and read before I even thought about flash photography. I highly recommend this book. It goes into detail about all the equipment and how it works, so you kind of know what you want to do before you even start. Assuming you shoot Canon of course.

[inkista]

Donald
on the EOS7D the built in flash can be used as a e-ttl flash trigger ( about time canon put this into a camera) I think All the Nikon cameras can do this.

Slight clarification. There are now three Canon bodies with "master" capability in the pop-up: the 7D, the 60D, and the 1D Mark IV. [Remember, the 5Ds have never had a pop-up flash.]

With the Nikon cameras, it's all but the entry-level bodies. Essentially, if the body has a focus motor in it, there's a CLS commander in the pop-up. If it doesn't (e.g., the D3100, D5000), it does not.