Canon Speedlite 600rt help
Jul 2, 2021 13:58:35 #
There are a couple of settings that I'm not understanding what might be their appropriate use - Ext-A & Ext-M?
I also figure I should be using a little fill flash on a sunny day to remove the shadows & perhaps add a little catch light. There's really no time (or interest) to set up lighting for a quick team shot when the tournament is over
soooo using f-8 or f-11 and 160>200 sp , group back to the sun (if possible)
with on camera flash, (24-70 lens) and not much time to do some chimping, what might be the best mode for the fill - ETTL? Ext-A? Ext-M? M?
- should the diffuser panel be put to use?
- white panel up?
I've also wondered if there is any mode on the 600 (or 580 for that matter) that has automatic fill.
I have taking some decent shots in the past where I've had the flash in manual & the output dialed down but I figure it was mostly luck.
I also figure I should be using a little fill flash on a sunny day to remove the shadows & perhaps add a little catch light. There's really no time (or interest) to set up lighting for a quick team shot when the tournament is over
soooo using f-8 or f-11 and 160>200 sp , group back to the sun (if possible)
with on camera flash, (24-70 lens) and not much time to do some chimping, what might be the best mode for the fill - ETTL? Ext-A? Ext-M? M?
- should the diffuser panel be put to use?
- white panel up?
I've also wondered if there is any mode on the 600 (or 580 for that matter) that has automatic fill.
I have taking some decent shots in the past where I've had the flash in manual & the output dialed down but I figure it was mostly luck.
Jul 5, 2021 02:06:28 #
amfoto1
Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA
Yes, there is automatic fill on your Canon flash.
Set the flash to ETTL and select any of the auto exposure modes on the camera. That will cause the camera and flash to work as you want... as fill.
You will probably want to use Tv mode (shutter priority auto exposure). Generally speaking, keep to your camera's flash sync speed or slower. If it's one of the higher end APS-C cameras (80D, 90D, 7D-series) or 1D-series, the sync is probably 1/250. If the camera is a Rebel series or one of the non-1D-series full frame models, the sync speed is probably 1/200. A couple models have 1/160 or 1/180 flash sync.
The sync speed is the fastest you can use without enabling "High Speed Sync" on the flash (HSS). That allows you to use any of the camera's faster shutter speeds... HOWEVER, it also reduces the distance the flash can reach. The faster the speed, the shorter the duration of the flash and the less distance it will reach.
I would use direct flash (not bounce) WITH the wide angle diffusion panel. Do not pull out the little white reflector, since it will serve no purpose.
When in "Fill" mode, the flash will be reduced from "Full" by 1-2/3 stops. You can change this if you wish and I'll tell you how below.
It is a popular trick when shooting teams and individual players in the later afternoon to pose them with the sun behind them. Do a couple test shots because you may want to adjust Exposure Compensation. It's natural for the camera to want to under-expose when shooting toward the sun. This can be corrected by dialing in some + Exposure Compensation.
Once you've got the camera set up as you want, then you can do the same with flash. When in ETTL mode the dial on the rear allows you to adjust Flash Exposure Compensation. It's the same as E.C. on the camera, but it only affects the flash.
Do a couple more test shots just to be sure the results are what you want.
Using an AE mode, you won't need to worry about the lens aperture. Just keep an eye on what aperture the camera is choosing. If it's larger than you like (if, for example, you want greater depth of field), adjust your ISO a little higher. If the aperture is too small (try not to go smaller than f/11 to avoid diffraction), adjust the ISO a little lower to cause the camera to open the aperture a bit more. Obviously, you don't want to be using Auto ISO while doing this (I normally recommend not using Auto ISO with any of the auto exposure modes... doing so sort of creates a "double auto" situation that can be unpredictable).
Personally I prefer to mount my flash off the camera, non a flash bracket. I have several of them... a small one for use with wider lenses to short "portrait" telephotos and a larger one for use with longer telephotos. Moving the flash off to the side and a little higher up usually makes for a little better lighting effect, includingless chance of "redeye" and nicer shadows. An off-camera shoe cord is necessary to attach the flash to the camera's hot shoe, when using a bracket. My second bracket is much taller, which is necessary when using a flash with 300mm and longer telephotos, to move the flash farther from the lens' optical axis. My other brackets are more "specialized" (such as when shooting macro or to mount on certain lenses' tripod collars), so I won't get into those.
When using it in ETTL mode, the flash should automatically "zoom" to match your lens focal length (from about 16mm to 105mm). However, if you have engaged the wide angle diffusion panel as I suggested, it might not want to zoom... might be "fixed" at the wide end. See if you can override it manually, if needed. But even that may not be necessary if you aren't too far from your subjects. Even the wide setting will have enough power to reach 15 or 20 feet at reduced "fill" power levels.
When the camera and flash are in this fill mode (ETTL and Tv), the camera will meter the ambient light and set the aperture accordingly, as if the flash weren't there. The flash is then fired at the reduced power level, as mentioned. So it will only contribute a smaller portion of the illumination. But, again, you can adjust both the camera (E.C.) and the flash (FEC) as you see fit to change the balance of ambient vs flash illumination in the image. Try the defaults first with a test shot, then see if you want to change it.
Oh, any you probably should set your camera to single shot... not to the burst exposure mode. The flash needs time to recharge in between shots. Actually in a lower power fill mode when it's sometimes possible to get 2 or even 3 consecutive shots. But don't assume this will be the case. When shooting this way, I will usually tell people I'm going to take "X" number of shots. Otherwise they might wander off after the first shot, when you pause for the flash recycling.
I don't have a 600EX RT... so I am not certain what Ext-A and Ext-M modes are (I use several 550EX and 580EX, as well as the two Canon macro flashes). Those are probably "External Auto" and "External Manual" modes, when using the flash remotely and controlled by the ST-E3-RT or by another on-camera flash. "M" is surely "Manual" flash settings.
Finally, if you want "Full" but automatic flash, that's easy to set up too. Simply set the flash to ETTL (same as above) and the camera to M (Manual) exposure mode (no Auto ISO). This will make the flash fire full powered and the flash will be the only thing the camera meters (it ignores ambient light, though some of it can still play a role in images, depending upon the manual exposure settings of the camera). The actual power of the flash will be controlled to give what the camera thinks is a "correct" exposure. But, just like with the above fill method, you can use Flash Exposure Compensation to tweak the exposure as you see fit (when in manual exposure mode, the camera doesn't have Exposure Compensation... E.C. only applies to auto exposure modes... however, even with "full flash" you can still tweak the ambient light portion of the image by adjusting your manual exposure settings).
Set the flash to ETTL and select any of the auto exposure modes on the camera. That will cause the camera and flash to work as you want... as fill.
You will probably want to use Tv mode (shutter priority auto exposure). Generally speaking, keep to your camera's flash sync speed or slower. If it's one of the higher end APS-C cameras (80D, 90D, 7D-series) or 1D-series, the sync is probably 1/250. If the camera is a Rebel series or one of the non-1D-series full frame models, the sync speed is probably 1/200. A couple models have 1/160 or 1/180 flash sync.
The sync speed is the fastest you can use without enabling "High Speed Sync" on the flash (HSS). That allows you to use any of the camera's faster shutter speeds... HOWEVER, it also reduces the distance the flash can reach. The faster the speed, the shorter the duration of the flash and the less distance it will reach.
I would use direct flash (not bounce) WITH the wide angle diffusion panel. Do not pull out the little white reflector, since it will serve no purpose.
When in "Fill" mode, the flash will be reduced from "Full" by 1-2/3 stops. You can change this if you wish and I'll tell you how below.
It is a popular trick when shooting teams and individual players in the later afternoon to pose them with the sun behind them. Do a couple test shots because you may want to adjust Exposure Compensation. It's natural for the camera to want to under-expose when shooting toward the sun. This can be corrected by dialing in some + Exposure Compensation.
Once you've got the camera set up as you want, then you can do the same with flash. When in ETTL mode the dial on the rear allows you to adjust Flash Exposure Compensation. It's the same as E.C. on the camera, but it only affects the flash.
Do a couple more test shots just to be sure the results are what you want.
Using an AE mode, you won't need to worry about the lens aperture. Just keep an eye on what aperture the camera is choosing. If it's larger than you like (if, for example, you want greater depth of field), adjust your ISO a little higher. If the aperture is too small (try not to go smaller than f/11 to avoid diffraction), adjust the ISO a little lower to cause the camera to open the aperture a bit more. Obviously, you don't want to be using Auto ISO while doing this (I normally recommend not using Auto ISO with any of the auto exposure modes... doing so sort of creates a "double auto" situation that can be unpredictable).
Personally I prefer to mount my flash off the camera, non a flash bracket. I have several of them... a small one for use with wider lenses to short "portrait" telephotos and a larger one for use with longer telephotos. Moving the flash off to the side and a little higher up usually makes for a little better lighting effect, includingless chance of "redeye" and nicer shadows. An off-camera shoe cord is necessary to attach the flash to the camera's hot shoe, when using a bracket. My second bracket is much taller, which is necessary when using a flash with 300mm and longer telephotos, to move the flash farther from the lens' optical axis. My other brackets are more "specialized" (such as when shooting macro or to mount on certain lenses' tripod collars), so I won't get into those.
When using it in ETTL mode, the flash should automatically "zoom" to match your lens focal length (from about 16mm to 105mm). However, if you have engaged the wide angle diffusion panel as I suggested, it might not want to zoom... might be "fixed" at the wide end. See if you can override it manually, if needed. But even that may not be necessary if you aren't too far from your subjects. Even the wide setting will have enough power to reach 15 or 20 feet at reduced "fill" power levels.
When the camera and flash are in this fill mode (ETTL and Tv), the camera will meter the ambient light and set the aperture accordingly, as if the flash weren't there. The flash is then fired at the reduced power level, as mentioned. So it will only contribute a smaller portion of the illumination. But, again, you can adjust both the camera (E.C.) and the flash (FEC) as you see fit to change the balance of ambient vs flash illumination in the image. Try the defaults first with a test shot, then see if you want to change it.
Oh, any you probably should set your camera to single shot... not to the burst exposure mode. The flash needs time to recharge in between shots. Actually in a lower power fill mode when it's sometimes possible to get 2 or even 3 consecutive shots. But don't assume this will be the case. When shooting this way, I will usually tell people I'm going to take "X" number of shots. Otherwise they might wander off after the first shot, when you pause for the flash recycling.
I don't have a 600EX RT... so I am not certain what Ext-A and Ext-M modes are (I use several 550EX and 580EX, as well as the two Canon macro flashes). Those are probably "External Auto" and "External Manual" modes, when using the flash remotely and controlled by the ST-E3-RT or by another on-camera flash. "M" is surely "Manual" flash settings.
Finally, if you want "Full" but automatic flash, that's easy to set up too. Simply set the flash to ETTL (same as above) and the camera to M (Manual) exposure mode (no Auto ISO). This will make the flash fire full powered and the flash will be the only thing the camera meters (it ignores ambient light, though some of it can still play a role in images, depending upon the manual exposure settings of the camera). The actual power of the flash will be controlled to give what the camera thinks is a "correct" exposure. But, just like with the above fill method, you can use Flash Exposure Compensation to tweak the exposure as you see fit (when in manual exposure mode, the camera doesn't have Exposure Compensation... E.C. only applies to auto exposure modes... however, even with "full flash" you can still tweak the ambient light portion of the image by adjusting your manual exposure settings).
Jul 9, 2021 18:56:57 #
If you want to reply, then register here. Registration is free and your account is created instantly, so you can post right away.