cheap, nice little camera - beware of higher ISO

007peter wrote:

nnowak wrote:

007peter......Before I bought into EOS-M + 22mm f/2 prime, my old walk-about was a Sony NEX C3 + Sigma 30/2.8 DN without flash (broken external flash attachment, horrible design). The noise handling @high iso 1600/3200 is good enough that I never feel I need a flash. In fact, I much prefer low-light image without flash as it preserve the facial skin-tone without annoying blue cast from flash.

You need to gel your flash to match the ambient light. When done correctly, it won't be immediately apparent that a flash was used in your photos.

How do you do that, can you show me. What do you mean by "GEL"? Is that like an aftermarket yellow filter?

Flashes have that "blue" look because they are balanced for daylight around 5500K to 6500K.  To match incandescent light, you need to gel the flash to match the orangish 2700K to 3000K range.

Bigger and higher end flashes often come with an orange gel, or they are available as an accessory. My 430EX III-RT came with this orange clip on filter...

For my little 270EX II, I had to improvise. I purchased a giant sheet of gel material in the correct color...http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/163130-REG/Rosco_102302042124_E_Colour_204_Full_CT.html

With a little origami and gaffer tape I fashioned a crude box that slips over the head of the flash.

If you were shooting under fluorescent light, you would gel with a different color.

The other key thing is to get out of the full auto modes when using flash as they lead to blown out subjects and black backgrounds.  Most importantly, you need to bump ISO and get your exposure close to correct without the flash.  By default, your camera will use ISO 400 when shooting flash.  I will often shoot at ISO 1600 or 3200 with flash.