Flash with Small Aperture and Hand Holdable Shutter Speed

[robertcjones]

I have a 10D and was trying my flash with a Canon 50mm 1.8 lens. The system kept forcing F4.0 which resulted in a very small depth of field. I then moved to Av and set F5.6, then it increased the shutter speed to 1/10 sec. This killed the ability to hand hold the camera.

How do you stop down with the flash function and still be able to hand hold (~1/60 sec)? The 10D manual says Av with flash forces a long shutter speed and you will need to use a tripod.

BTW on my zoom lens that doesn't go down to F4.0 it works just fine at 1/60 and F5.6 so I doubt its a problem with getting enough light to the imager.

Any ideas?

Thx,

RJ

[RichardtheSane]

I think you need to look at Custom Function 3 - flash sync in AV mode. Set that to 1/200th sec and that will mean that in AV your shutter speed with flash will be 1/200th whatever your aperture.

[robertcjones]

Exactly what I needed. Thanks.

RJ

[slin100]

The other option is to switch to M mode on the camera and manually set your aperature and shutter speed.

[robertwgross]

RJ, you could increase the ISO setting. That would effectively do the same thing as widening the aperture, but without affecting DOF.

Why is it necessary to handhold the camera?

---Bob Gross---