New 580EX, yippee! Thanks Kerso!

[rammy]

My new 580EX from Kerso (Ian Kerr) was delivered this morning! Thanks Ian! (Sorry for all the queries - I have your ebay site to refer to now :) )

Ok, so I had the day off (using up my annual leave days) and I''ve played with it for a few hours. Isn't the battery compartment flimsy and difficult to open? I read the EOS Flash sticky and the EOS bible yesterday evening in anticipation!

I do have a decent learning curve and got the basics but find it a lot quicker if examples are included. It helps to compare and contrast my own output to examples and then learn and move on. So I've got through the ambient vs flash light learning; flash exposure, pre-flash and why it happens, distance metering and zooming; sync speed and whole host of other technical things! :D

BTW - My 300d doesn't do second curtain (even with the firmware upgrade) but my new flash does! Yippee! Another thing to play with!

What I found most interesting was bounce flash! I have included four pics (two on this post and another two on the next post) that should hopefully help people review the indoor difference.

The EXIF is on the images and I should say that my TV room has spotlights in each corner, not a main source in the middle of the room; the ceiling is white and walls are a steel-blue colour. Oh, and the lights have a dimmer and was on about 40% intensity. The WB is on the flash setting and everthing else is manual. I also noticed from the direct flash that I need to tell the cleaner to move the TV and table and clean under them! :D

The name of each image ends in the angle of the flash head (to clear any confusion - as listed on the back of its head - 00 is straight ahead, 45 is that much going up, 75 is going up further and 90 is pointing straight up). I would have prefered that 0 degrees is straight up but I guess I understand now why it is scaled thus.

[rammy]

And the last two - The 75 looks nice but the 90 straight up shot is more like the ambience of the room, as I sit here :-)

Now all I need is a person I can bounce the light around them. Does anyone else have a series like this BUT including a person in the scene?

[TMR Design]

Congratulations on your new flash!!

[Curtis N]

Take a closer look at the 45 degree shot.

Notice that the top part of the frame is brighter than the bottom. Compare the brightness of the stuff on top of the speaker cabinet to the off-white baseboard under the curtain, as opposed to their relative brightness in the other shots. Also notice the clearly defined shadow from the curtain on the baseboard.

From this you can draw two conclusions: 1) The image is receiving significant light directly from the flash (which creates harsh shadows), and 2) The top of the image is receiving more light than the bottom.

This is the inherent danger with an angled flash head. Depending on how you zoom the flash head and your lens focal length, this technique can sometimes give you uneven illumination.

Food for thought. :)

Have fun with it!

[rammy]

Take a closer look at the 45 degree shot.

You can draw two conclusions: 1) The image is receiving significant light directly from the flash (which creates harsh shadows), and 2) The top of the image is receiving more light than the bottom.

Have fun with it!

Thank you for the feedback Curtis, very much appreciated! I get it! I forgot to think about the harsh shadows, I was thinking about the overall lighting!

Look at these two. The first one is four shots put into a single image (very sorry all, for the quality, gotta keep below 100Kb). My head height, sitting down looking straight ahead through the lens, with my "subject" of a speaker on top of the TV!. Do you see how I can see the speaker grills straight ahead and the lighting then gets better, the more I angle the flash higher?

The second one, four shots with the same settings on camera but with the flash zoomed into 105mm, with the lens at 24mm. I am now going to do 105mm lens with 105mm flash at the same scene.....

I have tried to give you as much techie info on the camera settings in the pictures :D

I do hope other people can learn from this series of test shots. I've turned down the room lights a little BTW - probably 30% lighting now.

[rammy]

Congratulations on your new flash!!

Thanks Robert! I am having fun understanding, learning and getting the best.

Cheers!

[rammy]

So with a 105mm lens and 105mm zoomed flash, I seem to get the same results?

[Littlenose]

an interesting study showing the basic effects you can quickly produce... thanks for documenting it rammy

[kerso]

Hi Mike, Website coming soon with cheaper than Ebay prices. Regards Ian.


an interesting study showing the basic effects you can quickly produce... thanks for documenting it rammy

[Littlenose]

Hi Mike, Website coming soon with cheaper than Ebay prices. Regards Ian.

looking forward to it :D