need flash photo help - 10d & 550ex

[abel]

i have a 10d and a 550ex, i havent read the flash manual yet but i thought id ask this real quick question.

when im in a low light environment, how do i meter correctly in order to get the image properly exposed when the 550ex goes off. i have the flash set to ETTL but the meter in the viewfinder continues to reads in the negative while im composing the shot.

thanks for your patience.

[robertwgross]

First of all, read the 550EX manual and the camera manual part about flash photography.

Second, set the 550EX to E-TTL and get it hooked via hot shoe on the camera.

Third, set the camera to "Green Box" (full automatic) and shoot. Without doing any special thinking, you should get a halfway decent exposure.

Now, try out Av mode and P and the other modes that are mentioned in the manual. Each one will give you just slightly different results.

Once you get past all of that, then you can explore M mode, but you always have the Green Box and Av to fall back on to get quick results.

Then go re-read the 550EX manual and the camera manual again. I'm not joking. For most of us, it takes several readings of it to really sink in.

---Bob Gross---

[timmyquest]

ETTL M 1/80 f/(whatever DOF you need) the flash/camera will do the rest.

[toddb]

I have this same setup. I'm not an expert by any means, but here is some of the stuff I found out by playing around.

For indoor shots (where I have a nice white ceiling), I usually point the flash up and slightly toward the subject (I also use an defuser on it to through some of the light more forward). I've notice that depending on the distance I set my ISO accordingly. So I've notice that when the subject is farther away, I bump the iso up to like 400 and for closer shots I use ISO 100. Also, when I use a smaller aperture to try and get better DOF, like F8, I use the faster ISO setting as well.

Also, when I want to try and do better stop action flash, I set the custom action mode to 1/200 instead of the auto. I've recently read a post on this forum talk about how using the flash will actually give better stop motion then say higher shutter speed. I haven't experimented too much yet but plan to some day.

Again, not an expert here.

[robertwgross]

Assuming normal flash mode, the actual light lasts only about 1/1000th of a second. If your shutter were 1/200th of a second, the flash of light contributes most of the light for the sensor. The other shutter time will grab only a tiny bit of unilluminated scene, so the net result can look better than just 1/200th with no flash (sometimes).

---Bob Gross---