5D2 +Speedlight flash help needed

[narikin]

need some group help on this one:
am trying to use my 5d2 with canon speedlight 580EX in the paparazzi style - low ambient level shots, with direct hard flash - not trying for subtlety or bounce or fill-flash effects, just bang nailed focus direct flash. would prefer to choose the aperture, that's all.

When I simply put the camera to AV, and the speedlight to ETTL, it always tries to hold the shutter open to get fill flash - which I don't want, and in these conditions can be a 10 sec exposure.
am very happy to have the speedlights IR focus assist beam fire, like you see any party/ press photogs doing, but it doesn't seem to happen.

so - what settings should I use - Manual? Program? does the speedlight then still do ETTL? and why don't I see the focus assist bean ever illuminating the subject.

(oh, and: whats the blitz of flash-light when I touch the depth of field preview, and is that of any use except to prevent 'red eye')

[francois]

need some group help on this one:
am trying to use my 5d2 with canon speedlight 580EX in the paparazzi style - low ambient level shots, with direct hard flash - not trying for subtlety or bounce or fill-flash effects, just bang nailed focus direct flash. would prefer to choose the aperture, that's all.

When I simply put the camera to AV, and the speedlight to ETTL, it always tries to hold the shutter open to get fill flash - which I don't want, and in these conditions can be a 10 sec exposure.
am very happy to have the speedlights IR focus assist beam fire, like you see any party/ press photogs doing, but it doesn't seem to happen.

so - what settings should I use - Manual? Program? does the speedlight then still do TTL? and why don't I see the focus assist bean ever illuminating the subject.

oh, and: whats the blitz of light when I touch the depth of field preview, and is that of any use save red eye.

I use manual exposure only. Using Av or Tv will result, as you experienced, in extremely long exposures. Put your camera in M mode, set the wanted parameters (aperture, speed, ISO) and your flash will try to get a correct exposure. If there's not enough power, then increase ISO or open the aperture or reduce speed.

[dwdallam]

Yes, that is because when you are shooting in priority mode, the camera is trying to set a "correct" exposure. Is a dark setting this almost always translates to a longer than you want shutter speed. I would suggest for your type of photography, use ISO 800 to 1600, which will make your flash last huge amounts longer and allow the flash to have a further effective range, use camera manual, as the other posted advised, and simply dial up or down the flash compensation on the back of your flash. You can also use High Speed Synch, which allows you to use shutter speeds over 1/250th. And, since you are using ISO 1600, the flash in High Speed Synch mode will give you a much greater range at speeds over 1/250th than with lower ISOs.

As the other poster stated, just use manual. The flash's auto functions still work when the camera is in manual mode. Use a high ISO.

Please try this and write back.

[Ken Bennett]

Manual exposure mode.

On my 1D2 bodies, the shoe-mounted flash only emits the focus aid when the focus is set to single-shot, not continuous AF. Useful at parties, say, but maybe not as much for street shooting.

[dwdallam]

Manual exposure mode.

On my 1D2 bodies, the shoe-mounted flash only emits the focus aid when the focus is set to single-shot, not continuous AF. Useful at parties, say, but maybe not as much for street shooting.

Oh yes I forgot about that. Quite true.

[narikin]

thanks. that explains why I never see the IR beam working.

manual it must be then though I can't for the life of me see why there isn't a Cfn. option in the flash (or camera) for disabling auto-fill, under A or P. much easier.

[Ken Bennett]

thanks. that explains why I never see the IR beam working.

manual it must be then though I can't for the life of me see why there isn't a Cfn. option in the flash (or camera) for disabling auto-fill, under A or P. much easier.

No offense, but what do you want the camera to do when you have it set to Aperture Priority mode and you are shooting at night? How does it know that you want to massively underexpose the ambient light and use the flash for the main light?

If you use an auto-exposure mode, the camera is going to try to expose for the ambient. That's just how it is.

[dwdallam]

thanks. that explains why I never see the IR beam working.

manual it must be then though I can't for the life of me see why there isn't a Cfn. option in the flash (or camera) for disabling auto-fill, under A or P. much easier.

It's not auto fill really. The way Canon wizardry works is that if the flash thinks you need fill, it will fill, and if the scene is too dark, it will expose for the subject. You see, you're fighting it like we probably all did, and sure, it's not intuitive because you want to "control" the flash. Well, you can. If the camera is saying "fill" you simply dial up the Flash Compensation in thirds until you get the light you want.

But you're confusing the flash with aperture/shutter modes. Let's take the aperture and shutter modes independent of the flash. In both cases, the camera will either try to adjust the aperture or the shutter to get a correct exposure. This has NOTHING to do with flash. The same thing happens with or without a flash installed.

Enter Canon flash. Canon flashes will fire for fill flash when they think you need fill, or they will expose for the subject in very dim light, or whenever they think there isn't sufficient ambient light. Sounds too automatic right? Well, it is unless you change your thinking abut how to use Canon flash guns. This is where you do your thing using the FEC dial on the back of the unit. You can force it to give you a subject flash, no matter what the lighting, by dialing the flash up with the FEC dial.

Now I think if you adjust the camera to whatever manual setting you want, let's say f2.8@1/125th at ISO 800, leave the flash in it's ETTL full auto mode and REAR curtain synch and see what you get. If you want more light,  dial up the FEC, less, dial it down. Go into a dimly lit room and rip off some practice shots of an object. Using a Canon flash is really easy once you get over trying to force it.  By messing with it for 30 minutes you'll have the feel down. Please write back with what you find.