10D with 550EX

[forrest64]

:cry:

The default settings of the 550EX are not satisfactory for me so I often use a flash compensation of +1 1/3. Most of the time the compensation number remains the constant. I can shut down the camera, the flash or both or allow both to shutdown automatically and when they are turned back on the +1 1/3 compensation is still present. Once in while the compensation resets itself back to 0 without explanation. I have experimented and haven't been able to produce this phenomenon however it has occurred in the middle of shoots making several of my pictures too dark before I realize it has happened. Any ideas? Thanks in advance.


Mark

[robertwgross]

Mark, it might be helpful if you state what mode you have the 10D in. For example, if you had it initially in Tv mode and then switched it to Green Box mode, I could understand some of this.

---Bob Gross---

[dpanicc1]

Mark,

I have the same combination. Bob is right, what mode are you in. I'll give you my experience in a nutshell but you may know this already. I would never use full auto for two reasons: first, I want to know my focus point is where I want it to be, and second, if the camera picks the wrong focus point chances are exposure will be wrong because Canon's 10D biases exposure (heavily) off of the "active focus point."

Anyway, I always use the center focus point and reframe the shot; that helped my exposure problems. I also became familiar with FE and FEL which helps me too; on the other hand, a lot of people don't like to use FE and FEL because it slows them down--which is true.

Hope that helps.

Dan

[forrest64]

:D

Forgive me but I believe you misunderstood my question. My question wasn't why do I have to use a + 1 1/3 flash compensation, which is a personal preference. My question was why does the preset + 1 1/3 compensation occasionally reset itself back to zero?

By the way I never shoot in the green mode.


Thanks,

Mark

[forrest64]

Bob you were right, dragging the camera mode through green mode does reset the flash compensation to zero.

Mark

[robertwgross]

Therefore, we still don't know what mode the camera was in.

---Bob Gross---

[forrest64]

Knowing the mode doesn't help answer the question

[forrest64]

Let me rephrase my answer. I have already stated I don't use the green mode. Depending on the situation I shoot in all of the creative modes. The phenomenon has happened in all of the creative modes therefore the mode is irrelevant to the answer.

[robertwgross]

Well then... it sounds like you are on top of this already. If my solutions are irrelevant, then I'll shut up.

---Bob Gross---

[forrest64]

What solution?

[robertwgross]

I don't intend to argue.

If my solutions are irrelevant to you, then I will keep them to myself. It's only fair.

---Bob Gross---

[robertwgross]

Camera troubleshooting is an inexact science. Sometimes there will be a person with a camera problem (the "user") who is asking advice of another person (the "troubleshooter"). Once in a great while, the problem will be so obvious that the troubleshooter will blurt out, "Oh, set your frammis switch to 99, and then it will go." More typically, it is not the obvious, even if the user and the troubleshooter have read the manual thoroughly. I'm afraid that there are small details with EOS digital operations that the manual cannot be 100% complete. If it were, then it would be twenty times as large.

So, if there is some subtle procedure that leads to inconsistent operation, the troubleshooter has to be able to visualize the exact steps that the user did to get into this inconsistency. Of course, it is possible that it is not user error. It may be some widget that is loose inside the camera. More typically, however, it is something that only one Canon engineer understands, and the rest of us just have to practice until we know what works and what doesn't. For years, I have found it difficult to be able to visualize the problem isolation without asking a few basic questions. I will admit, sometimes a question is intended to simply gauge the user and whether they really know details of what they did or not. Typically, however, the troubleshooter has to go through some basic steps until the "mind meld" is working. In a perfect virtual world, the troubleshooter could mentally "hold" the camera and twist the controls himself. Alas, we don't get that feature through the Internet quite yet. When we don't know what operational mode a camera is in, then it does not allow us to narrow down the field of possibilities much, and the whole troubleshooting process takes more time.
Back when my camera was brand new, I was mystified why AEB would be set one minute, and then a minute later it had disappeared. In some respects Exposure Compensation has similarites. Flash Exposure Compensation too, except that it gets tied into the flash unit, and then there are some custom functions involved.

---Bob Gross---