Softball w/flash ?

[lauderdalems]

I was shooting a small college softball game Saturday (I am school photographer) and notices a fan shooting from the fence with a Canon (looks like an XTi). She was also using a Canon 430 flash during the game. No one said anything to her and I only saw her take 10-15 pictures (but that flash really stood out).

But using a flash. It was a cloudy day(sun never broke) - no fill in needed.

I was shooting 5000ss f2.8.

Hope she got some good action shots with he flash ...

[JeffreyG]

Like gymnastics, flash is typically frowned upon in all baseball / softball sports. We could all debate whether an athelete is ever really going to be distracted by flash and take a ball to the face, but in general most of the governing bodies prefer to err on the side of caution and make the photographers deal with ambient.

In any case, it sounds as though the woman you saw was probably clueless. From your settings there was plenty of light - without knowing your ISO level I'm guessing you were at ISO400 shooting in EV 13 light or so. Given that much light and the synch speed of the camera would create a serious blur problem. And HSS is useless for sports.

[lauderdalems]

Oh, I was shooting at 200 ISO

She appeared to be only shooting one player. Had she asked, I would have been glad to have help.

[Bkolowski111]

Yep, sounds like this lady had no idea what she was doing. IMO even if flash was allowed, it has extremely limited usefulness in a baseball/softball situation.