wegriffin8642 wrote:
I finally decided that the built-in flash on my 77D and my 80D just don't do my pictures justice, so I took my 430 out of the box and decided to learn to use it. With the camera selector in Auto, it seems that, between the camera brain and the 430 brain, there is nothing left for me to do but to compose and press the button. Is it really that simple or am I overlooking something?
First, get the camera out of Auto ("point n shoot" mode)... That puts all kinds of restrictions on what you can do... far more than just auto exposure.
Next, set the flash to ETTL mode.
Now use any of the camera's auto exposure modes (Av, Tv or P), and the flash will act as FILL.... The camera will set exposure according to the ambient light condition, and use the flash to supplement it. The flash will fire at approx. -1.66 EV.... enough to open up shadows, add catchlights, etc. This is great when shooting outdoors midday or backlit subjects.
Or, switch the camera to manual mode (M
with Auto ISO off), and the flash will fire FULL... You actually still get an auto exposure, even though the camera is set to M. But in this case it's the flash being measured, not the ambient light (though depending upon your camera settings, ambient light can be part of the image and can influence overall exposure).
With either FILL or FULL flash you can dial in more or less flash if you wish, using Flash Exposure Compensation via dial or buttons on the flash, or in some cases, with the camera's controls.
ETTL flash mode is auto exposure.... it works by firing a low power (about 1/64) burst that's used to determine a "correct" exposure,
On your 80D you can use any shutter speed up to 1/250 with the flash. On 77D it's up to 1/200.
However, with either camera you can set the flash in High Speed Sync (HSS) mode and it will fire a longer duration that allows it to work with faster shutter speeds. Using HSS does significantly reduce the distance the flash can reach, though. (I think the 430EX series have an LCD panel on the back that will display the range possible with the current camera & flash settings. (Change the lens apreture and ISO to change the range fof distance the flash covers).
There's a lot more... But those are the basics you need to know to use the flash pretty well.
P.S. I recommend you learn to work with direct flash... diffuse it with a light modifier of some sort, if you prefer. Putting the flash on a bracket that's off to the side and higher up also can improve it's appearance a lot. Personally I do all I can to avoid using bounce flash... it wastes a great deal of the flash's output, forcing the flash to fire much more fully and take a lot longer to recycle. There also can be all sorts of problems related to the color of the bounce surface, texture, etc. Using bounce introduces a lot of variables out of your control.
An exception is using a bounce card that mounts on the flash... wastes some light, but not as much... and you can control the color etc..... but bounce cards and brackets to hold them tend to be rather large and bulky.