Flash - not too happy with first results

samy bakon said:

Hey I m having the same problem !!!!! I bought 2 sigmas (500 super)
and sometimes they work sometimes everything gets blown out. Its
crazy and driving me insain. Last week only the preflash was firing
not the exposure flash and it only gets worse with 2 used. Stay way
from the sigmas thats what I say. I too saw good reviews but I
broke my first rule never take stock in most things you read on
line.
Ya and I can t return them cause I threw out the boxes. the 550ex
is built way better (did you see how bad the battery door is on the
sigma!?) Id say buy the canon. Plus there are several options
missing on the sigma that the canon has. The canon is also built
tougher the sigma feels like cheap plastic.
BTW I ve used ettl before and know about flash ex comp but this is
nothing systematic. In fact its problematic (hey a joke).

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You certain it's nothing to do with not using FEL? If you like to focus, recompose and shoot, you will get much better results if you fire the evaluative flash at the point when you focus (using the * button) than if you leave it to be done just before the shot is taken.

Peter Gregg said:

Another part is I need to get out of the P mode and get into other
stuff. This stuff is what I am needing a hand with.

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For your exposure problem, try using FEL when you focus on your subject, particularly if you then recompose. If you don't do this, the flash will expose for whatever is under the focus point when you release the shutter, which will typically be the background. This is a big cause of the flash "bleaching" portrait subjects.

yes it has nothing to do with FEL...it seems to work and then it doesn t (same shot).

Chris Brown said:

You certain it's nothing to do with not using FEL? If you like to
focus, recompose and shoot, you will get much better results if you
fire the evaluative flash at the point when you focus (using the *
button) than if you leave it to be done just before the shot is
taken.

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I have the 550EX, 420EX, and a Sigma 500 Super. I am happy to say that the Sigma does everything that the 550EX does and does it just as well. I think that you will find that your problem is in your technique and not the Flash.

Regards,
Greg

I can t speak for the original poster but I know my sigmas aren t working properly. On one even the test firing button will not work too

Greg R said:

I have the 550EX, 420EX, and a Sigma 500 Super. I am happy to say
that the Sigma does everything that the 550EX does and does it just
as well. I think that you will find that your problem is in your
technique and not the Flash.

Regards,
Greg

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samy bakon26129 said:

Greg R said:

I have the 550EX, 420EX, and a Sigma 500 Super. I am happy to say
that the Sigma does everything that the 550EX does and does it just
as well. I think that you will find that your problem is in your
technique and not the Flash.

Regards,
Greg

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Thanks Greg, That is what I have been trying to say.

Anyway, I went by my favorite camera shop on the way home tonight and came home with both the Stofen Bouncer and the Lumiquest Pro Kit. Oh, and they had this cool case that says "Canon" on it that looks like a laptop computer case and zips open like one too. I got that too. I'm surprised I never saw it before, seems very functional. It's green and saddle tan.

Pete

Hi Peter,

Correct me if I'm wrong, but after reading this entire thread, it appears to me that you have asked for advice, gotten it, and now you are arguing with the advice. A lot of folks have told you that they get great shots using the D30/550EX combo without having to do any other "stuff". You insist that you must be doing something wrong (the "stuff"), even though a number of folks have assured you that the only difference between what you are doing and what they are doing is the brand of strobe you are using. That's all I'll say about that, but you might want to ponder it.

Looking through your album of George's Birthday 2001, I find many of your shots appear overexposed (although many look quite nice). I find my 550EX will usually go a little under rather than over, as I think other folks have mentioned, so perhaps the Sigma strobe is not so indentical as some would believe.

A lot of those shots are tough candidates for good strobe in that they are close in and have a wide range of lights and darks, with multiple main subjects who vary in distance from the camera. In this situation, I would probably be shooting with the strobe bounced off the ceiling. Looks like you have a good low to average ceiling there, so that would probably work nicely. I especially like the ceiling bounce for that same kind of close in work. Try some shots with your strobe pointing straight up and see if you like the effect. When your main subject is slightly further away, you'll probably want to lean the strobe forward to the first or second notch. You can also work straight on with the Sto-Fen, which is a nice device, but I don't think it's going to change your exposure much. Theoretically it won't, although I suspect you'll see a small drop. The Sto-Fen is really for diffusing shadows and works pretty well for that.

Hope that helps some. The biggest thing is practice; this photo thing is just as much art as science. (So perhaps there's something to the "stuff" idea after all.)

Regards,

Peter B.

Peter Gregg said:

Peter Gregg said:

Greg R said:

I have the 550EX, 420EX, and a Sigma 500 Super. I am happy to say
that the Sigma does everything that the 550EX does and does it just
as well. I think that you will find that your problem is in your
technique and not the Flash.

Regards,
Greg

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Click to expand...

Thanks Greg, That is what I have been trying to say.

Anyway, I went by my favorite camera shop on the way home tonight
and came home with both the Stofen Bouncer and the Lumiquest Pro
Kit. Oh, and they had this cool case that says "Canon" on it that
looks like a laptop computer case and zips open like one too. I got
that too. I'm surprised I never saw it before, seems very
functional. It's green and saddle tan.

Pete

Click to expand...

Peter Jones said:

Hi Peter,

Correct me if I'm wrong, but after reading this entire thread, it
appears to me that you have asked for advice, gotten it, and now
you are arguing with the advice. A lot of folks have told you that
they get great shots using the D30/550EX combo without having to do
any other "stuff". You insist that you must be doing something
wrong (the "stuff"), even though a number of folks have assured you
that the only difference between what you are doing and what they
are doing is the brand of strobe you are using. That's all I'll
say about that, but you might want to ponder it.

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Hi Peter,

Yes, you are right, I am not accepting on that one point.

You also point out the diffuculty of the shots and your suggestion was to use bounce flash. I like that suggestion and it proved itself out.

That night I was sitting there on the couch reviewing the shots and slowly getting a mind set that I didn't like the way they looked. The harshness looked like in your face flash shots. It was at that moment that I swung the head up and fired a test shot. It is the very last picture on the 4th page with my dad scratching his head. That was an immediate improvement and the look I wanted. It was also the last shot (img_0166) of the evening. I had to find another shot to delete in order to take it because the CF card was full.

From my question here, I learned of the StoFen and Limiquest products and I now have both. I also learned that other folks have similar concerns even with the 550EX and it might be pointing to the sensor readings on the camera. But I have discarded the idea of changing the Sigma for the 550EX. I will be trying some different approaches at the next gathering, which will be MY birthday!

Thanks,
Pete

PS LumiQuest just came out with something similar (Ultra-Bounce) to the Sto-fen and it has an opaque piece on the bottom to shield flashing directly onto the sensor. When facing the flash forward or in the normal position, I have to adjust the setting to an additional stop and I think it is because it fires the flash on the sensor. I will be trying this Ultra-Bounce and maybe giving the Sto-fen back.

I recently bought two of the Sigma 500 Super flashes for my D30. I was originally thinking of getting the Canon unit and the wireless transmitter, but found out I could get two actual flashes and the same wireless capability for less $.

I got my wife to sit still for an hour or so and model for me while I played with my new toys. Had a lot of fun experimenting with flash ratios in slave mode.

The user interface on the Sigma 500 seems a little clunky. One thing that annoyed me is that it would always seem to come up in manual zoom mode requiring me to cycle it through the settings to get to automatic. I'll have to practice with the thing to avoid too much fumbling in the future.

Most of my shots worked well. At least, the flash did what I told it to do and when I asked for something weird, it gave me weird. Bouncing the on-camera unit off the ceiling with a Sto-Fen and having the remote at 45 degrees to the subject made for some very nice light. It looked like sunlight even though the room was near dark.

The high-speed sync in conjunction with Av mode made it pretty easy to either include or exclude the background. Using a longer exposure (i.e., no high-speed sync) would pick up more background. Turning on high-speed sync let me exclude the background and have the flash provide essentially all the light in the shot. Very flexible.

I did run into one of the problems described previously: totally blown out shots. I had a handful of these, but not too many. I'm not really sure what caused them. Everything was working just fine (for 50+ shots) and then all of a sudden I started getting blown exposures. I mean like 5 or 6 stops over-exposed--not something you could fix with flash exposure compensation. I fiddled with various settings to try to understand what was happening.

Right about then the battery in my D30 ran out of juice. I switched to a fresh one, and after that, flash exposures were correct. Perhaps this points to some sort of battery sensitivity for the metering of the D30, or maybe a software glitch that got reset when I pulled the battery out.

In any event, I've been happy with the Sigmas so far.

Hello Peter

I'm glad you started this thread. It has brought out some good info.

Keep us posted on your upcoming shots at your birthday, and let us know how the accessories are working out.

I've decided to get the Sigma soon.

---TBoyd

Peter Gregg said:

Hi,

Settings this weekend were family. Using the only lens I have, the
28-135, the flash pictures were rather harsh......

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