Red Eye Reduction

[Brianbar]

Apart from the obvious (Red eye reduction) is there any advantages or disadvantages in leaving the Red Eye Reduction switched on or off?

Brian

[edsarkiss]

one disadvantage is that it shortens your battery life, to what degree i don't know.

some subjects may think the redeye flash burst is the actual photo, so they may move before the "real" picture is taken.

my advice -- use a diffuser or bounce the flash whenever possible. not only does it give a better quality of light, the distance from the "hot spot" of the flash will nearly always be a sufficient distance from the lens so that redeye doesn't happen at all.

[tim]

You need an external flash to do bounce flash or a diffuser effectively.

I don't use red eye reduction, I fix it in photoshop.

[scottbergerphoto]

The best way to deal with Red Eye is to prevent it, but not by using the red eye reduction feature. From the EOS Flash Sticky:
"Red Eye" occurs when light from a flash, usually camera mounted, is reflected off the back of the subjects eyes and back to the camera. The red is the color of the blood filled vessels at the back of the eye or Retina. The smaller the angle between the flash and the subject, the more likely you will get "red eye". The best way to deal with this phenomenon is to prevent it. You do that by getting the flash off the camera on a bracket or in your hand and connected to the camera with a Canon "Off the Shoe Cord 2". That way you still have ETTL. You place the flash about 12 inches above the lens and pointed at the subject. It will also give some more depth to the picture. You might also try increasing the ambient light in the room if possible to reduce the size of the subject's pupils. Some cameras have a "red eye" reduction feature. The camera fires a flash before the flash (not to be confused with the pre-flash of the ETTL) to cause the subject's pupils to contract. The problem with this is that it makes your subjects look like their squinting and does nothing for that "headlights in the eyes" look.
In a pinch, most photo editing software has some method of removing "red eye" after the fact.

Scott

[xrunner123]

Sorry to jump in, but does the Drebel have the flash bursts? I only see a light (not the flash) go off before I take the picture.

[robertwgross]

If the internal flash head is not up, then the red eye reduction lamp is to the side of the flash head, and it will or will not fire (white lamp) before your shot, depending on how you have it set.

If the internal flash head is up, then the flash head may put out some faint flashes for autofocus assisting. Then, just a tiny fraction of a second before the main flash pop, the pre-flash happens for metering purposes.

So, these are two different things.

---Bob Gross---

[elwood58]

The first menu tab has the Red Eye setting. By default "OFF" is selected. If you want it, you must turn it on.

[PacAce]

if we are talking about the 300D, the 10D and the 20D, red-eye reduction is done with the white lamp that is on the front of the camera near th shutter release button. It's like a miniature flashlight. The multiple burst of flash that some are referring to is not used for red-eye reduction but for focus assist when using the internal flash. And, obviously, they only work when the internal flash is popped up and not disabled via custom functions.

[robertwgross]

That applies to D60 as well.

Now, suppose the internal flash head is popped up, but then you switch the camera (e.g. 300D) to some non-flash mode. I wonder if the focus assist blinking still happens in dim light.

---Bob Gross---

[PacAce]

That applies to D60 as well.

Now, suppose the internal flash head is popped up, but then you switch the camera (e.g. 300D) to some non-flash mode. I wonder if the focus assist blinking still happens in dim light.

---Bob Gross---

I set my 10D to P mode and popped up the flash. I next set the camera to Landscape mode with the flash still up (camera won't let me pop up the flash in Landscape mode). When I tried taking a picture of a dark object, the focus assist burst did not come on (I dimmed the light when I did this). I then switched to Portrait mode and sure enough, the FA burst came on. So, to answer your question (at least for the 10D camera), if the flash is not required or is not going to be used, even if it's up, FA burst will not come on, even in very dim light.