Slow flash sync on 6D?

One of my friend has asked me to shoot some pictures for him at dance hall and I did some reading and came upon slow flash sync. How exactly do we setup slow flash sync on the 6D?


Thanks in advance

Hey! Are you asking what's the 6D's flash sync speed? It's 1/180 which isn't considered to be very fast but is doable for a lot of things. If you have a speedlight attached to your 6D that has high speed sync, you'll be able to achieve significantly faster shutter speeds while using flash. It's usually just a button that you have to press to activate, like on the 430 EX II.

If one is accustomed to flash X-sync speed on FF dSLRs, most of them use 1/200 for the X-sync speed. The top-of-line 1Dx bodies use an even faster X-sync, but Canon decided to make the 6D seem 'less for professionals' by crippling it and forcing 1/180 as the X-sync. So the 6D is NOT 'SLOW' (especially compared to film SLRs from the 1960s with 1/60 X-sync, and only a few had 1/125 X-sync!) but they are indeed 'slow' when compared to FF dSLRs.

"How exactly do we setup slow flash sync on the 6D?"

I'm kinda thinking this question is about second curtain sync.

"Dragging the shutter" type thing.

Maybe.

Left Handed Brisket wrote in post #18467960
"How exactly do we setup slow flash sync on the 6D?"

I'm kinda thinking this question is about second curtain sync.

"Dragging the shutter" type thing.

Maybe.

Yes that.

Left Handed Brisket wrote in post #18467960
"How exactly do we setup slow flash sync on the 6D?"

I'm kinda thinking this question is about second curtain sync.

"Dragging the shutter" type thing.

Maybe.

Eel Noob wrote in post #18468391
Yes that.

'Dragging the shutter' is absolutely NOT directly related to 'second curtain sync'...which do you want to do?

1. 'dragging the shutter' is merely selecting a slow enough shutter speed to capture low ambient
   
2. 'second curtain sync' does not fire the flash until a moment before the shutter starts to close (when the second curtain moves across the frame opening)
   

https://neilvn.com …ues/dragging-the-shutter/

digital paradise wrote in post #18468398
https://neilvn.com …ues/dragging-the-shutter/

Didn't read this, but probably agree.

To me, dragging the shutter is the proper mix of flash and ambient in low light ... typically using longer shutter times to capture ambient.

Second curtain sync may or may not play a part in achieving that mix.

Setting it up on the camera is extremely easy

Second red camera set up list
External speed light control
Flash function settings

You have to have a flash on the camera to set it up.

Av mode, used with eTTL flash, will always try to do the following two things...

1. For the chosen aperture, Av selects a slow enough shutter speed to record a 'proper exposure' with ambient light only...it does NOT behave differently when flash is turned on!
   
2. For the chosen aperture, eTTL fires preflash and then pre-commands the eTTL flash to output a predetermined amount of light to 'properly flash expose' the subject
   

Yeah basically just getting the ambient the way you want it and then just add flash. Best way is to set camera on manual. Only issue is if the shutter speed is too slow then you may not freeze the subject with the flash. This depends on how far the subject is.

Here I pre-focused, then swept the flash and pressed the shutter. The t shirt was about 6 ft away and the tree was about 12.

HUh.....???? It depends on what is the look you are going for. You can create stop action blur shots using a much slower shutter speed...1/60s or slower while using your speedlite. You have to experiment to see if you like the results. The trick here is that you have to keep the exposure to the right, instead of the left...underexposing to the ambient. Once you are underexposing to the ambient light by more than 1 stop or 2 stops, you are going to get that harsh flash look with less blur or no motion blur at all....

As above, need to get the camera into manual - first or rear sync and then get that shutter speed right down and your aperture up f8 + and then it's just a balancing act to get the right amount of ambient you'd like. Not much more to it!

ammo wrote in post #18468784
As above, need to get the camera into manual - first or rear sync and then get that shutter speed right down and your aperture up f8 + and then it's just a balancing act to get the right amount of ambient you'd like. Not much more to it!

As Wilt said though if you set the camera to Av mode it will pretty much do this for you automatically. You can even alter the balance between the flash and ambient by adjusting the EC and FEC controls, by at least +-2 stops in both cases. In a situation where there may be variable ambient lighting, such as in a dance studio, using Av mode can be very useful as the dancers move from area to area. IMO this would actually be one time that the cameras automation is likely to do a better job controlling exposure, and I'm all for shooting fully manual most of the time.

Alan

BigAl007 wrote in post #18468922
As Wilt said though if you set the camera to Av mode it will pretty much do this for you automatically. You can even alter the balance between the flash and ambient by adjusting the EC and FEC controls, by at least +-2 stops in both cases. In a situation where there may be variable ambient lighting, such as in a dance studio, using Av mode can be very useful as the dancers move from area to area. IMO this would actually be one time that the cameras automation is likely to do a better job controlling exposure, and I'm all for shooting fully manual most of the time.

Alan

I have read about people get into trouble using Av if the ambient is darker more than once. It won't care about the shutter speed to maintain the aperture you have selected wanted. As in my example image the shutter was 1/10 thus anything beyond where the flash can no longer freeze the subject will be blurred. It is OK if you have fast glass and/or are prepared to crank up the ISO to get an appropriate shutter speed.

digital paradise wrote in post #18468928
I have read about people get into trouble using Av if the ambient is darker more than once. It won't care about the shutter speed to maintain the aperture you have selected wanted. As in my example image the shutter was 1/10 thus anything beyond where the flash can no longer freeze the subject will be blurred. It is OK if you have fast glass and/or are prepared to crank up the ISO to get an appropriate shutter speed.

Guess I should have been clearer, my post was strictly in relation to the situation where you want to have a longer shutter speed. I see no point in going to manual and "get that shutter speed right down and your aperture up f8" when Av mode will do exactly that automatically.

Av is great in that situation since, as long as you stay within the power range of the flash, it will manage the ambient while matching the flash output at the same time. The use of EC will allow you to control the brightness of the ambient, with FEC controling the flash exposure. Of course you still have to pay attention to what you are doing, checking that the settings are within your requirements.

I agree that when you want to fix the shutter speed to control subject movement, then going manual will be better. Go with the best aperture for the required DoF and use the flash as the main light source if you are using ETTL flashes. At that point I would just use my manual studio strobes, and control everything manually.

Alan