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Phil's MkII Review, why no flash review?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Peter Dysert
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Peter Dysert

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I was hoping that Phil would do some tests using the Mark II and the 550EX vs the 1Ds/ 550EX. It seems that this is a much talked about area and debate as to whether there has been an improvment or not. Did I miss something?
 
There is a portion of the review that explains the flash technology briefly. He also recognizes that it is more accurate

"The Mark II is the first Canon digital SLR to feature an updated flash algorithm called 'E-TTL II'. This system is essentially similar to E-TTL (in that the camera uses th metered value of the scene gained from a short pre-flash) but that the algorithm has been tweaked to ignore very bright specular reflections and to also take into account distance information from the lens (if available) to produce a more accurate flash exposure. E-TTL II works with all Canon lenses (although distance information is only provided by lenses with ring type USM motors)."

I've used the flash myself and find that it is very accurate. In fact, there are many situations that would require use of FEL or moving the main focus point. However, with the ETTL-2 I can just focus, recompose and shoot.
Peter Dysert said:
I was hoping that Phil would do some tests using the Mark II and
the 550EX vs the 1Ds/ 550EX. It seems that this is a much talked
about area and debate as to whether there has been an improvment or
not. Did I miss something?
Click to expand...
 
This might be a stupid question but is there anything special you had to do to use the flash? I borrowed a friend's 550EX and used it with my Mk2. I experienced some strange behavior. In Program mode using evaluative metering with the flash in ETTL the exposure on the camera was setting a value as if there was no flash attached (indoor lights at f2.8 / 1/60 second 70mm focal length) using my 24-70 2.8 lens. My friend doesn't use his flash much and said that it "behaved strangely" when he tried to use it on his 10D. Also, I couldn't use Tv with a shutter speed of 1/125 without the f2.8 blinking indicating underexposure. So, was I doing something wrong or is there a chance I was using a bad flash or there's something wrong with my camera? The viewfinder did have the flash indicator so the camera knew the flash was there. Also, there was no flash exposure correction set.

Thanks,
John Engstrom
Plano, TX

roblumba wrote:
[SNIP]
roblumba said:
I've used the flash myself and find that it is very accurate. In
fact, there are many situations that would require use of FEL or
moving the main focus point. However, with the ETTL-2 I can just
focus, recompose and shoot.
Click to expand...
 
It is coming.
Peter Dysert said:
I was hoping that Phil would do some tests using the Mark II and
the 550EX vs the 1Ds/ 550EX. It seems that this is a much talked
about area and debate as to whether there has been an improvment or
not. Did I miss something?
Click to expand...
--
Phil Askey
Editor / Owner, dpreview.com
 
engstrom said:
Thanks,
John Engstrom
Plano, TX

roblumba wrote:
[SNIP]
engstrom said:
I've used the flash myself and find that it is very accurate. In
fact, there are many situations that would require use of FEL or
moving the main focus point. However, with the ETTL-2 I can just
focus, recompose and shoot.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Study that article. Also, I shoot in manual camera mode. Just choose an aperture for the situation and set a shutter speed between 1/60-250th unless you want to drag the shutter at slower shutters. I find with the mkII that I need to set +2/3 on the 550EX. Av flash is for fill outdoors. Program mode will always set 1/60th if it's like the 10D. I'm not sure with the mk II because I haven't tried anything except manual camera mode with flash.

A must read: You want to read this: http://photonotes.org/articles/eos-flash/
 
Juli,

I agree - very well written and exhuastive (exhausting?) article. One day I will read it all ! :-)

I too seem to always get under-exposed shots using my 420EX unless I dial in a fair amount of flash compensation. I often wonder why this should be, given ETTL-2 supposedly working out everything for you.

I use Tv mode for flash mostly, as it is camera-shake that I dread most. Theoretically, I could opt for 1/250 sec. on the MkII and let the ETTL figure out the aperture and flash output. In your dreams!!

One niggling thought that I'd like someone to dispel:

My C.Fn 4 is set to '1', which means that the first pressure of the shutter release locks the exposure. When using flash, I assume that this does NOT happen, since the whole process of exposure calculation kicks in as soon as the shutter button is fully depressed and the pre-flash is emitted. Or not? What got me thinking about this is the fact that the * still appears in the viewfinder with flashgun attached.

Ian
Juli Valley said:
Juli Valley wrote:
Study that article. Also, I shoot in manual camera mode. Just
choose an aperture for the situation and set a shutter speed
between 1/60-250th unless you want to drag the shutter at slower
shutters. I find with the mkII that I need to set +2/3 on the
550EX. Av flash is for fill outdoors. Program mode will always
set 1/60th if it's like the 10D. I'm not sure with the mk II
because I haven't tried anything except manual camera mode with
flash.

A must read: You want to read this:
http://photonotes.org/articles/eos-flash/
Click to expand...
 
Igas said:
I use Tv mode for flash mostly, as it is camera-shake that I dread
most. Theoretically, I could opt for 1/250 sec. on the MkII and
let the ETTL figure out the aperture and flash output. In your
dreams!!
Click to expand...
But why?!

When you set aperture and shutter speed, it's up to the flash to make sure it pumps out enough juice.

If it should also pick your aperture, how do you propose it should do this? Try to pick e.g. an aperture where it only needs to use half-power output to illuminate the subject?

--
Rune, http://runesbike.com/
 
I have always used Minolta SLR and checked Nikon SLR manual. I found this "problem" is just what Canon designed to be. I found it's very akward to use Av/Tv mode with flash under Canon's design.

In Nikon's term, there are three mode of sync with flash: normal, slow and high speed. With Nikon/Minolta Design, normal sync is default under A mode, that means Camera automatically set the speed according to the flash. However, Canon set slow sync as default, that the shutter speed is set according to the background lighting. With Nikon/Minolta, you can change the default to slow sync, but with Canon, you can NOT change from default to normal sync. Personally I think Canon's design is almost stupid. (With 10D, you can set up Customer settings to have fixed shutter speed of 1/200 sec under Av mode).

So with Canon, you just have to use M mode to set up aperture and shutter, and it kinda work the same as Nikon/Minolta's A mode.
engstrom said:
Thanks,
John Engstrom
Plano, TX

roblumba wrote:
[SNIP]
engstrom said:
I've used the flash myself and find that it is very accurate. In
fact, there are many situations that would require use of FEL or
moving the main focus point. However, with the ETTL-2 I can just
focus, recompose and shoot.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
The built-in bias of flash in Program Mode is to allow as much ambient exposure as possible but still be hand-holdable -- the 1/60 is probably a default setting in low light dating back to the older film (A1, etc..) cameras. In bright light, you would probably see the shutter speed get faster, and apertures smaller.

Tv and Av modes are basically both Fill-flash modes. Shooting flash in either mode, the camera will expose for the ambient light (as if there is no flash attached) and the flash output set to act as just fill. So you're blinking f-stop just meant that the camera at 1/125 could not expose the non-subject areas well enough at the max aperture of your lens (I think you could have still taken the picture, but the non-subject areas would have been underexposed).

As others have suggested, use manual mode, set whatever shutter and aperture you want and the flash will output to expose your subject correctly -- although realize that the faster the shutter speeed and smaller the aperture, the more your non-subject areas will be underexposed or even black.
engstrom said:
Thanks,
John Engstrom
Plano, TX

roblumba wrote:
[SNIP]
engstrom said:
I've used the flash myself and find that it is very accurate. In
fact, there are many situations that would require use of FEL or
moving the main focus point. However, with the ETTL-2 I can just
focus, recompose and shoot.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Here is what works best for me using a 550EX, MK II and Omnibounce.

I need flash in two situations, 1. when ambient light is too low or 2. when ambient light is bright (direct sunlight) and I want fill flash to reduce harsh shadows.

For situation 1 (low light), the most consistent results were obtained using Evaluative metering, P mode and FEL. Pre-focus by pressing the shutter button halfway and releasing once focus is achieved, press the FEL button next to the shutter release with your focus point over what you want to meter from (face for example), then recompose and take the shot within 15 seconds. When you press FEL it will flash at low power and measure the exposure to determine how much flash is needed. This works best with lenses that report the focusing distance as that is also taken into account for the camera to determine how strong of a flash to use. There is a list of lenses which report focusing distance, the 24-70L does but the 50 1.4 does not. Your shot may be slightly underexposed but that is better than blown highlights. Check your histogram and adjust exposure slightly if necessary. Also be aware to use one shot focus and not ai focus as one shot will use the infared focus assist in the 550EX but ai focus will not and in a low light situation it might be needed. If I did not use FEL in low light, the flash fired too strong and gave unnatural results that looked like flash.

For situation 2 (fill flash), I got the most consistent results using Evaluative metering, P mode, and NO FEL. When I used FEL, it did not fire the flash strong enough to effectively remove most of the shadows. If you only want to remove about half the shadows for a more natural look, use FEL, but I prefer to remove more of the shadows. Be sure to enable high speed sync on your flash or you will overexpose when light is too bright for 1/250 sec shutter speed.

Shooting manual gave me a tendency to overexpose as the shutter speed may not be fast enough outdoors and led to dark backgrounds indoors as shutter speed was too fast for backgrounds to lighten up. I know that in manual mode the flash is supposed to adjust its strength, but if you are too slow shutter speed on your manual settings you will get overexposure every time and too fast on your shutter speed you will get dark backgrounds every time.

My recommended KISS (keep it super simple) method for a 550EX and MK II: Evaluative metering, P mode, one shot focus, low light use FEL and for fill flash do not use FEL. Set 550 for ETTL, high speed sync, auto zoom and use a lens that reports focusing distance. No need to bounce if using an Omnibounce. My method is for relatively stationary objects, not high speed sports. Am sure others get consistent / better results using other methods, but this worked the best for me, a flash rookie. Experiment with different methods to figure out what works best for you.

Regards,
John
 
Your comment makes sense Rune. I should have left out the word 'aperture,' given that this is set for the background. You are right, it is up to the flash to pump out as much light as is necessary to illuminate the main subject.

I was just expressing my annoyance at the fact that I get under-exposed main subjects most of the time unless I dial in some compensation. Probably need more practice as I do not shoot flash very often.

Thanks,

Ian

Nice bicycle BTW ;-)
Rune Moberg said:
Igas said:
I use Tv mode for flash mostly, as it is camera-shake that I dread
most. Theoretically, I could opt for 1/250 sec. on the MkII and
let the ETTL figure out the aperture and flash output. In your
dreams!!
Click to expand...
But why?!

When you set aperture and shutter speed, it's up to the flash to
make sure it pumps out enough juice.

If it should also pick your aperture, how do you propose it should
do this? Try to pick e.g. an aperture where it only needs to use
half-power output to illuminate the subject?

--
Rune, http://runesbike.com/
Click to expand...
 
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