580EX ll Question..

mikewinburn wrote in post #13173103
heavens, if cf 5 III could rightly be titled, "Automatic External Manual Flash", what could they call cf5 II? Automatic External Manual Auto Flash mode

The 580EXII owner's manual does a fine job of labelling the functions controlled by CFn-5

ETTL
TTL
External metering: Auto
External metering: manual

and also explicitly referring owners to the page which further explains what that selection does.
External metering: Auto is explained on p.30, depicted here

can argue with that! one of the reason i was anxious to get my hands on a 580exii was i read it had a "thyristor mode"... or course, research exactly what they meant.... but, despite that, i just see sooooooooo many inquiries on external metering that belay the point that a good number of inquires have assumed its a manual mode...

personally, i prefer cfn 5 iii with anything within 5 or 6 ft... just seems to balance so much more naturally in reviewing the results...

good post Wilt... ( i haven't read that manual in quite a while) valuable info herein

Ok guys thanks evidentially I am not getting emails for the replies even though I have selected instant email, this is what I mean I see cliff Mautner and even Bryan Peterson doing it in his new book with the SB-900 (Nikon)
he states that in manual mode on flash he will set his ISO aperture and when needed he would dial down the ratio for a closer flash to subject distance, well say his camera is at f/11 and then he would use a diffuser and a filter gel, he then loses about 2 stops of light and he would dial the flash aperture to f/5.6 and keep his camera set to f/11 to give him his 2 stops back, Still I have no Idea why Canon has not put that option of ratio in custom Fn 05 3, matter of fact they should already have that in manual mode instead of only ratio, try one shot in ETTL then one in Manual and then set custom to 05 3 and try that with your ISO and aperture set on flash and you will see that you get better results, but only wish it had the ratio added.