S400 flash issue

[nsxpower]

Hi,

I just got a Canon IXUS/ELPH S400 recently, which has been great except for a couple of aspects:

1. The flash is way to strong in most indoor/across the table situations, like at a dinner etc. There is no way to adjust since there is no flash compensation, so I am stuck on this one.
Luckly, the information is there 90% of the time (histograms are great) and can be easily recovered with levels/curves in Photoshop.

2. Red eyes ...

Have you experienced similar problems? Has anyone found a viable solution to these problems?

Thanks.

[Tom W]

I haven't found a hard-and-fast rule with regard to the flash strength, other than shooting in manual and playing around a little with the ISO setting. It may seem logical to set it at 50 ASA since the flash seems strong, but you may find 100 or even 200 ASA to be a better setting for flash pictures, since this will bring out the background a bit and reduce the contrast. The camera will adjust accordingly.

BTW, I'd avoid 400 on the S-400 as it is a little noisy - unless you absolutely need it for a particular picture.

Also, experiment a little with different metering modes - Centered metering will tend to ignore background lighting and the camera will meter more on the center subject, but this may or may not be the best route. Since the flash/exposure control works with the metering, this could help you to get the proper exposure on your subject.

I wish I could tell you more - I have some very nice flash pictures, but I also have some pretty bad ones. I'm still in the learning stages myself to a certain extent (of course, it doesn't help that I keep bouncing back and forth between the S-400 and my 35 mm). :)

As for the red-eye, its a common problem with smaller cameras when the flash unit is very close to the lens. You can reduce the amount of redeye by not relying too much on the telephoto when shooting indoor flash. I have found that closer subjects tend to show little or no redeye. So get in closer if you can and use only modest telephoto or even wider angle zoom settings. Also, use the redeye reduction setting - it helps, though it isn't a cure-all.

[AndreyD]

2. Red eyes ...

Have you experienced similar problems? Has anyone found a viable solution to these problems?

Thanks.

It seems that red eye reduction works only on close images and when pupil looks directly to camera. Otherwise I have to fix it in photoshop which is easy.