430 EX II - Completely lost; Help would be appreciated ...

[snyderman]

Telling you, I'm neither the smartest or dumbest person on this planet, but using the 430 EX II via the manual isn't working for me.

Here's what kind of makes sense so far, and some areas of complete confusion. Please offer your helpful experience if you can.

When the camera iteself, (30D) has the WB set to flash (the lightning bolt) pictures are sharp, color balance appears very correct and flash exposure, (ETTL Mode) seems to be correctly chosen. Green light on flash lights. Impressive indoor shots achieved.
I have the flash power down to 1/16 or even 1/32 and the brightness doesn't appear to be affected--just the duration? Is this correct?
Flash in Manual mode: I'm able to see the effective flash range (distance) when the camera shutter is half depressed. Ok, but other than that, I'm not seeing much benefit yet.
I'm reading how to get the flash to fire the exposure lock preflash and it's not working. What settings, flash or camera, can achieve this? Following the instruction manual isn't working.While I appreciate the overly abundant features packed into such a small device, the manual is poorly written and doesn't relate well. Just to temper my assertion, our resident 16 y.o. Einstein of Electronic devices was completely frustrated when attempting to apply the instructions to the device as well.

Please clue me in. Offer some direction if you can. Point me to practical application information if available. The manual isn't helping.

Thanks in advance.

dave

[40Dude6aedyk]

I am confused as well. What do you mean by "brightness"? What do you mean by "duration"? What mode is your camera in? Manual, Av, Tv? Or are you switching things around alot. When you say you are in ETTL mode, then say 1/16 ... 1/32 that doesn't make sense. When you say Manual, do you mean Manual mode or do you mean "the hardcopy manual that you can read."

The way I think of the flash is as follows: The flash unit is a stupid device. It can only output light and that's about it. You can change the zoom lens of the flash unit to make light more spread out or less spread out. You can change the flash duration in ETTL mode by the FEC control, or in manual (on the flash) mode by 1/1, 1/2, .... That's about it as far as the flash goes. It can't do anything else. (OK, I'm ignoring HSS and modelling light for now.)

Why do you wish to do an exposure lock with a flash? I'm just curious. I know the camera has this function, but I have never used it. Pressing the shutter half-way doesn't help me. I just take a photo with flash, look at the result on the LCD, make adjustments and repeat.

[snyderman]

I am confused as well. What do you mean by "brightness"? What do you mean by "duration"? What mode is your camera in? Manual, Av, Tv? Or are you switching things around alot. When you say you are in ETTL mode, then say 1/16 ... 1/32 that doesn't make sense. When you say Manual, do you mean Manual mode or do you mean "the hardcopy manual that you can read."

The way I think of the flash is as follows: The flash unit is a stupid device. It can only output light and that's about it. You can change the zoom lens of the flash unit to make light more spread out or less spread out. You can change the flash duration in ETTL mode by the FEC control, or in manual (on the flash) mode by 1/1, 1/2, .... That's about it as far as the flash goes. It can't do anything else. (OK, I'm ignoring HSS and modelling light for now.)

Why do you wish to do an exposure lock with a flash? I'm just curious. I know the camera has this function, but I have never used it. Pressing the shutter half-way doesn't help me. I just take a photo with flash, look at the result on the LCD, make adjustments and repeat.

Thanks for trying to help. More info based on your request for more info:

My camera is usually in manual mode. The intended use of the flash is for better output shooting HS basketball in not-so-good light. Having that pre-flash fire to set the flash exposure would be valuable ... I think.

I can change the settings on the flash from 1:1 to 1:64 by choosing to put the 430 EX II in M (manual) mode. To get that 'pre-flash' metering from the flash to the camera is where the paper book of instruction, aka user manual comes up woefully short. I've followed the instructions several times and the 430 EX II does not fire any sort of pre-flash to assess and set the proper flash exposure for me.

Maybe the above two paragraphs indicate that yes, I might want to use 'exposure-lock' as you stated. However, and like you said, I can always just take the flash pic and adjust on the fly based on the results I see in the LCD. What puzzles me most, is the user manual says this flash will do this for me when properly setup. This is where the confusion comes into play.

Thanks again for trying to help. Really appreciate your time and effort!

dave

[bohdank]

Putting the flash in Manual... there is no need for a preflash because you've already set it to 1/2, 1/4, whatever.

Leave the flash in ETTL and the camera in manual. Set the flash to HSS, then try different shutter aperture combinations to make sure you are getting enought light. Kepp in mind, in high speed synch, your effective flash distance will get shorter.

[40Dude6aedyk]

For basketball (and I shoot almost ALL BB nowadays), you should simply use manual flash mode. Set camera to sync speed (SS = 1/250th), aperture to f/2 to start with, flash to 1/2 (or maybe 1/1) and just adjust ISO to get the exposure that you want. You really don't have time for the camera to think about exposure and the camera can be fooled by light and dark jerseys and the background.

If you use 1/1 manual flash output, the flash duration is too long to "freeze" or stop action. So that's why I suggest 1/2. Also you will get faster recycle times with 1/2 (or 1/4). If you need more depth of field, then go to f/3.5 if you have enough light.

There are some benefits to getting the flash off-camera with radio triggers as well.

Here's a flash photo taken as I described:
http://twsp.zenfolio.com/img/v6/p864432028-4.jpg

[40Dude6aedyk]

Furthermore, if your camera is in manual mode, then the exposure without flash is set. The only thing you can do is change the flash output which is done differently in ETTL flash mode and manual flash mode.

As for flash exposure lock, I will investigate that after shooting a game this evening when I can get to my manual booklet. However, I will write again, that FEL is a red-herring and you will not want to use it once you get going. What camera body do you have?

[40Dude6aedyk]

If your camera is in manual mode, and your flash is in manual mode as well (i.e. you've set it to 1/2 or 1/4 or ....), then exposure lock and flash-exposure-lock do not make any sense at all. You have ALREADY LOCKED EXPOSURE by going to total manual mode.

[XterraJohn]

I think I see where your confusion is. The pre-flash that you have read about is NOT used to set the camera's exposure (shutter/aperture/ISO), but instead, it is used to set the FLASH exposure (duration) when the flash is in automatic mode (ETTL). This is why you do not see the pre-flash when the flash is in "manual" mode.

It may be easier to think of the flash duration and the flash brightness as being the same thing. Basicly, the longer the flash light is on, the more light the sensor picks up, and the brighter the picture.

[snyderman]

40dude and XterraJohn - thanks for your time and input. Much appreciated. Again, the user manual is woefully short on how settings on the 430 actually control and affect output of the unit. Horrible manual.

I'm going to try 40dude's advice setting SS to max (1/250) and raise ISO until it looks good on the LCD screen. I'll post some shots after the next game.

Thanks again to all who attempted to bring some 'science' to my shortcomings with a new flash.

dave

[40Dude6aedyk]

OK, I tried FEL on my 40D. It works exactly like the manual says it works. It works only when the flash is in ETTL flash mode. It does not work when the flash is in manual flash mode (but why should it then since in manual flash mode, the flash output is already locked in). This is what XterraJohn, bohdank et al were telling us as well.

If in doubt, try it with your pop-up flash which does not have a manual flash mode. Also make sure your * button is not programmed to do something else via a custom function.