Good results with 10D and 580EX

[poke]

Just incase anyone else is looking for a flash for their 10D, I thought you might like to know that I've had the 580EX for a week now... Its absolutely fantastic. The flash reduction technology works a treat, and being able to control other slave flash units is excellent.

I definately recommend the 580EX.

[superman123]

Totally agree with you.... I had the same experience also... :cool:

[L Pagan]

same here

[VonClev]

Just had the opportunity to use a 20D and 580EX for an extended indoor event - not a single picture missed as a consequence of mis-exposure (of course, composition is a very different matter - think the Digic chip will ever get smart enough to help us out on that one!?!?!!?

I'm a really big fan of the 580 (and also have a 550 and 420) - spot on exposures, and a much friendlier interface, too boot.

Chuck

[Kostyanych]

I bought 580EX 5 days ago. It's fantastic.
I have 20D.
But today I was really confused trying to shot friend's car at night.
All shots in P mode came out underexposured. Probably the reflective surface just confuses ETTL system....

[poke]

I bought 580EX 5 days ago. It's fantastic.
I have 20D.
But today I was really confused trying to shot friend's car at night.
All shots in P mode came out underexposured. Probably the reflective surface just confuses ETTL system....

If you shoot raw, you can easily recover the underexposed shots. I did one tonight where I upped the exposure by 2 stops to get it right.... reflective surface again too. But it turned out pretty decent in the end.

[Kostyanych]

If you shoot raw, you can easily recover the underexposed shots. I did one tonight where I upped the exposure by 2 stops to get it right.... reflective surface again too. But it turned out pretty decent in the end.

Yes, sure...
But I still wanna shot it proprely first. It makes all the rest much easier. :)
And I am just trying to find the sollution...
Probably, I will try again tomorrow... :) Just for practice. ;)

[poke]

Your up late for a Sydneyite... PhotoShop bug got you too?? Its a nasty one, keeps you up all hours of the night :p

[RJSorensen]

Is there not a night shot mode that will perhaps help with items that do not move, i.e. the car? Might be worth a try just for the experience.

[VonClev]

In terms of difficult lighting situations, the best bet is to go from P mode to M mode and adjust both the flash (affecting foreground exposure) and aperture exposure (affecting background exposure) compensations - you may need to use a tripod. You can get great exposures this way......

Chuck

20D, 10D, 580/550/420 EX, and way too much L glass.....

[Kostyanych]

In terms of difficult lighting situations, the best bet is to go from P mode to M mode and adjust both the flash (affecting foreground exposure) and aperture exposure (affecting background exposure) compensations - you may need to use a tripod. You can get great exposures this way......

You are right. But when you try to shoot "on-the-fly".... :)
I was just suprised getting so underexposured images...

[Kostyanych]

Your up late for a Sydneyite... PhotoShop bug got you too?? Its a nasty one, keeps you up all hours of the night :p

Yes, a little bit.... I am suprised but I can't get to the bed before 3 am...
Unfortunately my wife starts complaining...
And the worst thing is ALARM CLOCK in teh MORNING :evil:

[Mike Panic]

In terms of difficult lighting situations, the best bet is to go from P mode to M mode and adjust both the flash (affecting foreground exposure) and aperture exposure (affecting background exposure) compensations - you may need to use a tripod. You can get great exposures this way......

Chuck

20D, 10D, 580/550/420 EX, and way too much L glass.....

this is great if you have time... but often times there is no second chance to bracket and expierment... which is why e-ttl flashes are so popular...its a smame that the e-ttl2 technology in the 580ex doesnt work on the 10d though

[PacAce]

this is great if you have time... but often times there is no second chance to bracket and expierment... which is why e-ttl flashes are so popular...its a smame that the e-ttl2 technology in the 580ex doesnt work on the 10d though
Actually, there is no ETTL-II technology in the 580EX or any EX series flash, for that matter. The ETTL-II technology is built into the camera itself (the cameras that have it, that is, such as the 20D, 1D2 and 1Ds2). :)

[Mike Panic]

sorry - should be more clear - its a shame that the 580ex can't activly use the e-ttl-II technology that the 20d, etc can push thru to it

[Kostyanych]

That's right. :) I was expecting better results.... :)
But, I have already learned there is no magic in the world. :)

Well, just another question about zoom of 580EX.
Manual says that the flash "automatically recognizes the EOS digital camera's image size and automatically sets flash coverage foe lens focal length from 24 mm to 105 mm."
The question is:
When I zoom my lens to 70 mm ( the 35 mm equiv focal length should be about 110 mm at this point)
My flash is showing 70 on the screen. Actually, I was expecting it will show me the real zoom for the flash.

I wanna make sure the flash recognizes the camera. :)

[Jon]

It only recognizes the sensor size on cameras that pass that info along - the 10D didn't, because they didn't have any flashes that wanted that info. The 20D (and 1Dx Mk IIS?) and now, presumably, the new DR, will be able to do this.

[Kostyanych]

Well, how can I check that...?
I have 20D and 580EX. It should recognizes... :)

[Jon]

I don't think the flash zoom setting's recorded anywhere in the EXIF data. You might be able to get an idea by putting a wide angle lens ( wider than 24 mm) and see what it does. The only other way, short of some fairly sophisticated test set-up, that I could think of would be to use two cameras in a dark room. With the flash on one, and a wider lens on the other, line the two up on the same wall area (the second camera would need to take in more area than the first, say use a 28 or wider while using a 50 on the camera with flash) from the same distance (as close together as possible), take a time or bulb exposure with the second and fire the first with flash. If the flash is adjusting properly, you'll see the entire flash area in the exposure from the second camera.

[mdude85]

No offense, but I think it's pretty obvious that the top-of-the-line flash is recommended .....

[VonClev]

Jon + Kost

You raise interesting points; however, I was specifically told by a Canon rep that the 580EX does recognize the 10D sensor size, and that this was reason for 10D owners with a 550EX to upgrade (albeit a pretty minor reason).

However, I should note that on my 20D, my 580EX reflects only the focal length of lens and does not add the 1.6 sensor crop factor on the readout on the back of the flash.

Regardless, the 20D and 580 combo give me some of the most remarkable indoor flash exposures I've had - and I've used a D30/60/10D with a 420EX and 550EX.

Just curious then, has anybody else say using a 50mm lens on a 20D with a 580, seen the 580 actually read the focal length as 80 (i.e. displaying the sensor crop factor), instead of 50 (as has been my experience.....my guess is that its factored in but not displayed)?

chuck

[Jon]

I don't think that I said that the reading displayed would be that of the crop-equivalent focal length; you will notice that the 580 shows an icon for sub-35 mm formats on the display, however.

[Kostyanych]

I played a little bit with the flash and camera...

I just found that when I set the lens to 70 mm the flash goes to the last zoom position (but still showing 70 mm on LCD).
That's the way this system works.