Wondering if my 30D / 550 EX are working together

[ust82gopher]

I am getting beyond frustrated and starting to wonder if I have an equipment problem.

2 more photos shot yesterday. 30D (less than 2 months old new from B&H) plus 550 EX (2 months old, but a Canon refurb from B&H). Fully automatic mode. Moderate late afternoon sunlight. The couple and I are in complete shade.

Here they are:

http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m184/ust82gopher/IMG_2651.jpg

http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m184/ust82gopher/IMG_2650.jpg

Exposure: 1/80 at f5.6 ISO 400

Why am I still blowing out the photos? I never had this problem with my Rebel XT using the built in flash. But it seems that 35% of my photos using the 30D with 550 EX are blown out. Is it my technique? Or do I have an equipment problem?

I am sooooo frustrated. Please help!

Tim

[Livinthalife]

First, I would get in to Av or Tv or M modes. Your ISO is 400 which is too high for outside sunlight.

I would also try to reduce the power of the flash I think FEC? Using external flashes can be difficult, so play with the settings untill getting what you want. Does this flash have ETTL? I would try that if it's available. Sorry I don't know much about flashes.

[Curtis N]

When you say automatic mode, do you mean "green box" on the camera and E-TTL on the flash?

[ust82gopher]

When you say automatic mode, do you mean "green box" on the camera and E-TTL on the flash?

Yep! Green Box and E-TTL.

Tim

[Curtis N]

Yep! Green Box and E-TTL.Hmm. Is it possible you have some +FEC dialed in on the flash unit?

I'm afraid I'm short on ideas here. Even the background looks a bit overexposed, and FEC wouldn't have caused that.

As mentioned, lots of people use the creative modes to control their cameras better, but this is the kind of shot that "green box" should be able to do with pretty good results.

[PacAce]

Hmm. Is it possible you have some +FEC dialed in on the flash unit?

I'm afraid I'm short on ideas here. Even the background looks a bit overexposed, and FEC wouldn't have caused that.

As mentioned, lots of people use the creative modes to control their cameras better, but this is the kind of shot that "green box" should be able to do with pretty good results.

Yes, these pictures had me stumped, too. And no FEC was used according to the EXIF info. I would have thought that the camera in Auto mode would have been smart enough to take a decently exposed picture but, since I don't really have any experience using Auto mode, I can't vouch for its behavior. But I do remember getting similar results when I first had my film EOS Elan camera many, many years ago when I used the internal flash for fill. It overexposed the shots similary to the two examples here.

[Curtis N]

Well then, I don't know what else to advise, other than switch to the creative mode side of the dial, where you can dial down the exposure.

For outdoor fill flash during the day, I usually start in Tv mode at 1/250 and use an ISO setting that gets the aperture in the range I want. Then you can test, chimp (look at the histogram) and adjust your EC and FEC as needed.