getting my flash to work

[demarco36]

Hey, I shoot with the canon 20d and have a canon 430ex flash. My question is that when I put my flash on to use inside or even outside it does not seem all that powerful. And when It does seem to work it makes things to bright. I thought You did not have to fool with the flash, that the camera told it how much light to produce, etc. I usually shoot in apeture priority mode. Should I be manually setting the flash as well? All I do is put the flash on and turn it on, and start taking pictures. Help please. Thanks

[ssim]

I have found that the best way to use these are to shoot in manual, I usually go at about 1/80th at f/8 and then let the flash calculate how much light to output. This works best for me indoors. If outdoors and using it as fill, I will dial in some -fec and use it just as fill. This is in AV mode

[cmM]

I always use M mode, regardless of light source.
I almost always use flash exposure compensation as well, in one direction or the other. Can't comment too much on the 430 because I've never had one (I use 2 550EX flashes), but if you use FEC and go by the histogram you can get desirable results

cmM

[demarco36]

what is this (FEC) you are talking about?

[René Damkot]

flash exposure compensation
May I suggest the manual? ;)
Don't know the exact page number, but it probabely is under 'Advanced Flash Photography'..
It's a way of controlling the light output of the flash, by telling the ETTL system to under/over expose.