Zoom setting on 580ex

[wayne33]

When shooting portraits using the 580ex in a softbox or through an umbrella should you set the zoom on the 580 to the focal length of the lens.
Cheers Wayne

[Jim G]

Funnily enough, this question was asked on Strobist yesterday or so...

http://strobist.blogspot.com/2008/02/reader-question-what-zoom-setting-for.html

Answers it more fully than I could.

But for a direct answer to your question, no, you shouldn't set it according to which lens you're using directly - more for what effect you want, how soft you want the light. Read the link for more explanation.

[TomPierce]

Set the 580 to the widest angle (35mm?). The purpose of a softbox or umbrella is to make the apparent light source larger. The zoom on the flash to 200MM focuses the light hoping to illuminate far away objects by concentrating the light.

[epatt250]

Just set your camera to ISO100 and f11 or so, then put your flash on its lowest power setting and then take pictures of the umbrella when the flash fires at diff zoom ranges. You find your best setting that fills the umbrella.

[wayne33]

Cheers for your comments,i'll try today.

[asysin2leads]

Funnily enough, this question was asked on Strobist yesterday or so...

http://strobist.blogspot.com/2008/02/reader-question-what-zoom-setting-for.html

Answers it more fully than I could.

But for a direct answer to your question, no, you shouldn't set it according to which lens you're using directly - more for what effect you want, how soft you want the light. Read the link for more explanation.

Thanks for the link. Very informative!