Learning to use a flash

Hi,

I just made my way through all the 'starting out' tutorials concerning flash. Now I'm not only really tempted to buy a flash, but I still don't understand everything I think (this might be due to my lack of understanding the English language).

There's just some things I'd like to say how I feel things work, just answer with a simple 'yes' if it works like that, and a 'no' if it doesn't (and explain me how it does work if you feel like it).

1: The difference between manual and ETTL flashes is that manuals you have to set yourself (speed+power) and ETTL's use a system that determines how much light the camera THINKS it will need to expose the subject right. Now, what I'm wondering is if you can just buy a flash, slap it on your camera, put it in ETTL and fire away? Because the 'auto' mode on any camera isn't really good, so I figured, does ETTL work well? If there's a moment you don't wanna miss, how do you know it won't under/over exposure? I reckon manually lighting a scene would be best, but if you don't have time to do so (and the skills, I reckon it's haaard), would ETTL do the job?

2: The master (either a flash with master capabilities or a sender) sends a signal to the slaves (elsewhere). Now let's say this master is a flash with ETTL, how does this work? Let's say I have a 580ex (master) and a 430ex (slave) set up. The 580 is on the camera, both are in ETTL mode. It meters (the 'pre-flash') how much light it think it needs, now what happens to the 430? Does the ETTL ALSO go of on the 430, send the data back to the 580? Or does the 580 meter and send the data to the 430?
Or doesn't it do either? Because they would have to work together to get a good exposure right?


I'm really looking into the Yongnuo 468/560 as my first flash (3rd party stuff ftw!), but I'm not sure as to which one to get? What would be the best one to get to learn how to use a flash and learn artificial lighting in the first place? The 468 has ETTL, the 560 doesn't but is more powerful (which doesn't really matter that much to me).
I reckon the 468 would be better because I could put that one in manual mode as well and it'd be more versatile, I'm just afraid I wouldn't even touch manual mode when it turns out ETTL works fine.

3: If I would understand both manual and ETTL modes on a Yongnuo flash, would I understand it for Canon, or whatever other brand, as well? I mean, they all sorta look the same right? I'm not a big fan of indoor photography, but getting a flash might be handy and I feel obliged to learn how to use one.

Thanks for your time,

Regards from Holland!

1. Yes. Your thoughts are pretty much on target with regard to automatic exposure systems. They are great at calculating 'averages' and are for the most part limited to just that, but they can set an exposure quicker than you can when time is crucial. They do have great algorithms to help decide when 'average' is not good but they are not infallible. The more you use ETTL or the more you learn how to inc/dec flash exposure based on the subject just like you can with the camera auto modes, to a degree.

2. As near as I can figure out based on my 550EX's, when using ETTL mode with master/slave setup, the master triggers the slave to fire and the camera decides exposure from the combined effect of the master and slave. The master and slave output ratio is adjustable via the master to bias the output of both flashes up or down. So, if for example both flashes were setup at equal distances from the subject, with a 1:1 ratio, the pre flash fires, the camera decides what the exposure should be, then both flashes fire with the same power settings. If the ratio was changed to 1:2, a one stop difference, the same thing happens only the camera knows to instruct the master to send twice the power to one side,. Resulting in one side lit with more light.

I can't comment on the Yongnuo flash, never used one but would imagine it would work similar to most others. I would definitely encourage you to buy a flash that is capable of an auto mode like ETTL, as well as full manual control, and Master/Slave capability. I love my 550ex's, they work great and can be bought on Ebay very reasonably.

There is no magic pill to all of a sudden learn flash.
Most photographers never master it, get the flash and study practice practice practice, study practice practice practice.

gmbun wrote in post #11987261
1. Yes. Your thoughts are pretty much on target with regard to automatic exposure systems. They are great at calculating 'averages' and are for the most part limited to just that, but they can set an exposure quicker than you can when time is crucial. They do have great algorithms to help decide when 'average' is not good but they are not infallible. The more you use ETTL or the more you learn how to inc/dec flash exposure based on the subject just like you can with the camera auto modes, to a degree.

2. As near as I can figure out based on my 550EX's, when using ETTL mode with master/slave setup, the master triggers the slave to fire and the camera decides exposure from the combined effect of the master and slave. The master and slave output ratio is adjustable via the master to bias the output of both flashes up or down. So, if for example both flashes were setup at equal distances from the subject, with a 1:1 ratio, the pre flash fires, the camera decides what the exposure should be, then both flashes fire with the same power settings. If the ratio was changed to 1:2, a one stop difference, the same thing happens only the camera knows to instruct the master to send twice the power to one side,. Resulting in one side lit with more light.

I can't comment on the Yongnuo flash, never used one but would imagine it would work similar to most others. I would definitely encourage you to buy a flash that is capable of an auto mode like ETTL, as well as full manual control, and Master/Slave capability. I love my 550ex's, they work great and can be bought on Ebay very reasonably.

Thanks for the response! Is the 550ex a master as well? Are there any other reasons apart from better recycle time/stronger flash why I would want a 580ex or 580exII? Or is it just those things?
Not that I'd be getting a 550ex (or a higher model), it's just too expensive.

I'll probably get a 468 (or 565?), because they're much cheaper. I simply cannot spend more because I need to eat too