Creative Zone (High Iso) & Canon Speedlite 430EXII

I usually have my camera on AV and have a high iso when I shoot at night. But now that I have a flash, what iso should I have when I shoot at night?

All depends how much you want ambient light to affect the exposure.

Regardless of ISO, Av mode will attempt to expose the background the same. The higher the ISO, the more reach you'll get with your flash.

oldvultureface wrote in post #12616576
Regardless of ISO, Av mode will attempt to expose the background the same. The higher the ISO, the more reach you'll get with your flash.

Depending on your custom function settings

oldvultureface wrote in post #12616576
Regardless of ISO, Av mode will attempt to expose the background the same. The higher the ISO, the more reach you'll get with your flash.

Thanks.

Sdiver2489 wrote in post #12616731
Depending on your custom function settings

Good point. Page 130 and 131 of the manual explains the custom function exceptions and varying effective flash distances with different ISOs.

After using my flash for the first time last night, I noticed that the flash "lagged" after pressing my flash button. How do I keep those in sync? Also, how do I have my flash on the whole time?

fvsurfer wrote in post #12623872
After using my flash for the first time last night, I noticed that the flash "lagged" after pressing my flash button. How do I keep those in sync? Also, how do I have my flash on the whole time?

Delay after pressing the shutter button or pressing the flash release button? There is a short delay after pressing the release before the flash pops up. If you meant the shutter button, the delay would be the preflash fired to set exposure before the shutter opens and the main flash fires.

If you're in the creative zone, leave the flash up if you want it to fire every time the shutter is released.

That is how AV mode works by default. It tries to expose as much of the background as possible using ambient light, then fires the flash to expose the subject. You can change this action, or do what I do, which is shoot manual when using the flash at night. If you want to make it easier on yourself set the ISO to Auto.

You cannot "leave the flash on the whole time" - the flash is an impulse light, it isn't designed to be fired at full power for an extended period.

To use flash effectively, set the camera to manual exposure. Set an aperture and shutter speed (keep shutter speed under your sync speed, but fast enough to stop shake and movement)to give you the level of ambient light exposure you want, and the DOF you need. Set ISO to give your flash as much reach as you think you need. Shoot. If you don't like the results, change aperture or ISO to suit

Av mode and flash are a very odd combination. Av mode will always try to expose the image properly without the flash, and the flash will end up as "fill". You will get very long exposures that create lots of "issues" with movement of camera and subjects. Manual exposure will give you the most control with flash.

My sister is getting married in a few months and I just started trying to learn to use flash. I'm finding the same thing the above posters have stated.

I'm practicing indoors so I'm bouncing, but I wasn't getting very good results with AV mode. I couldn't get the shutter speed fast enough to avoid ghosting. Changing to TV mode wasn't really working either, with my limited experience.

I figured that shooting this way, most of my light was coming from the flash rather than ambient light, so I switched to manual mode and set the shutter speed to 250 (max sync on my 50D).

Doing it this way, the shutter speed is generally fast enough to freeze the action. Also, I have some control over the depth of field since I can vary the aperture from 2.8 to 5.6, which has been fine for what I'm playing with right now.

I'm also guessing that I can raise the ISO, and that will probably allow me to increase the DOF a little more, bumping the aperture to possibly 8.

Unfortunately, I think the wedding is going to be held outside in the early evening. Also, the reception is being held in a party barn, which probably has a 20+ foot ceiling (which is probably not white. So, bouncing will probably not be possible.

We're going to see the locations of the wedding and reception next weekend, which should help me know what I need to practice on.

By the way, no, I'm not the "official" photographer. I just want to take my own for fun, learning, and hopefully to actually get a few keepers. That said, I will stay out of the pro photog's way, and respect her space.

Jason

oldvultureface wrote in post #12624524
Delay after pressing the shutter button or pressing the flash release button? There is a short delay after pressing the release before the flash pops up. If you meant the shutter button, the delay would be the preflash fired to set exposure before the shutter opens and the main flash fires.

If you're in the creative zone, leave the flash up if you want it to fire every time the shutter is released.

Thanks.

Keyan wrote in post #12624628
That is how AV mode works by default. It tries to expose as much of the background as possible using ambient light, then fires the flash to expose the subject. You can change this action, or do what I do, which is shoot manual when using the flash at night. If you want to make it easier on yourself set the ISO to Auto.

You cannot "leave the flash on the whole time" - the flash is an impulse light, it isn't designed to be fired at full power for an extended period.

Thanks.

rral22 wrote in post #12624759
To use flash effectively, set the camera to manual exposure. Set an aperture and shutter speed (keep shutter speed under your sync speed, but fast enough to stop shake and movement)to give you the level of ambient light exposure you want, and the DOF you need. Set ISO to give your flash as much reach as you think you need. Shoot. If you don't like the results, change aperture or ISO to suit

Av mode and flash are a very odd combination. Av mode will always try to expose the image properly without the flash, and the flash will end up as "fill". You will get very long exposures that create lots of "issues" with movement of camera and subjects. Manual exposure will give you the most control with flash.

Thanks, I'll give manual exposure a try.