Speedlite 550EX - How To Use?

[int0xicatedxluv]

hey guys... I rented a 550EX at my local camera store today and I"m doing a day shoot tomorrow morning and I was hoping to use the flash during the day.

Only problem: I can't figure out how to use the flash.

Does anyone know of a manual that may be online somewhere?
Or can someone give me some pointers?


but most of all....

Is there a way to FORCE flash the flasH?

THANK YOU!!:)

[Mr. Clean]

http://www.pbase.com/canon550ex/550ex_manual
http://www.popphoto.com/assets/download/821200311318.pdf

Then put the flash on the camera and start experimenting ASAP.

Also, check the stickies on top of the forum.

MOst notably
http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=138907

[Titus213]

Force the flash to flash? Put it on the camera, turn it on, make sure it's in ETTL mode, fire the camera. That should do it. Try manual mode on the camera, select your f-stop, keep your shutter below max sync for your camera, shoot pictures

[Raymond Lin]

when you saw below max sync? the 30D is 1/125? so is that never faster or never slower that that?

[Curtis N]

Max. flash sync shutter speed on the 20D and 30D is 1/250.
On the Rebel series bodies and the 5D, it's 1/200.

You can go slower than that, but not faster, unless you have a flash unit with high speed sync capability.

[Titus213]

And the 550EX has high speed sync - just push in the + and - buttons at the same time.

[amfoto1]

Hi,

Perhaps by "force the flash" you mean make it use full power, rather than just act as fill?

If so, I use M settings and adjust the shutter and aperture so that the flash becomes the primary light source, when that's the effect I want. (Darker background is one reason to do this.)

If using any of the auto settings, the flash tends to act as a fill, a bit below the ambient light levels.

Read online tutorials about the 550EX and ETTL flash. It's really pretty easy to use.

Yes, it can do High Speed Sync up to even 1/4000 or faster (depends on the camera). However, be warned that as you use speeds faster than the camera's sync capability (as mentioned, 1/200 on many, 1/250 on 30D, 1/300 on some 1-series), the distance the flash can reach falls off very dramatically.

I'm a little surprised the local camera store that rented you the flash didn't at least have a simplified, one page guideline sheet to provide with it. On the other hand, I've rented studio lighting and gotten little or no info out of the shop, too. So, nice as it would be for them to give you a little guidance, it probably shouldn't surprise me.

p.s. Rereading your original question, I notice you are using the flash during the day. As such, you might be more interested in using as a fill, not a full flash. If that's the case, it's pretty well set up if you just use either Tv or Av mode. You can adjust the strength of the fill by first pressing the "Sel" button, then using the + and - buttons individually to increase or decrease the flash's fill strength. Takes a bit of experimenting to learn what to expect from this, so you might want to bracket exposures a little.

Also, it occured to me that maybe what you meant by "force the flash" was just how to test fire it. If so, just press the red/green indicator LED when it lights up. (Green when sufficiently charged, red when fully charged). This will fire the flash for a test.

Oh, and I always put the power button on my 550EX on the "SE" setting. This lets the flash go into a sleep mode when not in use for a while, to conserve battery power. It will wake up the moment you touch the camera's shutter button, or turn the camera on, etc.