I just bought a 430ex

Curtis - I have read your Flash Photog 101 before, but I can see I need to go through it again. I just reread chapter 1 and saw that most of this thread is covered there.

lhoney2 wrote in post #2688727
More questions:
1.In E-TTL mode on your flash, what information does the flash use to determine how much power it needs to output? Is it solely based on focal length and angle of attack?

2. When shooting in dark handheld conditions like the OP was...your ambient light meter becomes useless, right? With your camera in manual mode, do you just use a f-stop/shutter speed that you have found, through experience, to be good in this setup?

3. How does your flash allow for being bounced...or does it? Does it automatically put out more power when used at different angles?

Thanks,
Lonnie

1.) It is based on focal length, ISO, and distance to the subject.

2.) Your ambient light meter becomes useless UNLESS you are using the flash as fill. For the shootong conditions the OP was using, M was the best choice. No set aperture or shutter speed to use, base it on experience. I usually have good results using 1/200 and f/5.6-f/8. I'll chimp using the histo and add some +FEC if the shot is too dark. He could have used the flash as fill, using Av mode or even exposing for ambient light in M- providing he cranked the ISO up enough to get a sufficient shutter speed. For posed shots like the one posted here, this would be fine. For people moving around the club and dancing, I doubt he would have gotten a fast enough shutter speed to stop action- UNLESS blurred motion is what he wanted.

3.) When flash is bounced, ETTL-2 automatically compensates. When using the omni-bounce properly, you don't lose flash power, you lose distance. I'd get rid of the Omni-bounce and use a bounce card instead.

How in the world does it do this? It doesn't know what it's being bounced off of, or how far the bounce is in advance...

ChrisBlaze wrote in post #2688012
So now the questions, first of all, I did read the book, it was short and just went over what the controls where, but not really how to use them.

So, Im using the 430ex in a club tonite (Hard Rock Cafe) I was in a bar the other nite and tried the following settings and failed:

Lens: 18-55mm Kit Lens
Mode: M
Appeture: f/6.7-8
Shutter: 1/60
ISO: 200
Diffuser: Sto-Fen Omni Bounce

I had the flash set on what I thought was manual. Please help me out.

I would have used these setting for the Hard Rock Cafe:

Mode: M
Aperture: f/4-5.6
Shutter: 1/200
ISO: 400
Diffuser: None. I doubt the ceiling is low or white. If it's a dance floor, the ceiling is probably dark or black with lights/light brackets all over the ceiling.

lhoney2 wrote in post #2688835
How in the world does it do this? It doesn't know what it's being bounced off of, or how far the bounce is in advance...

It's smart! Seriously though, the bounce conditions must be within a certain parameter for bounce flash to work. ie- bouncing off a cathefdral ceiling that's 50 feet high won't work. Bouncing off a black ceiling won't work.

For a subject that is 0-about 6 feet in front of me, I'll angle the flash straight up. For further subjects, I'll use a 45 degree bounce.

So, when you bounce the flash, it doesn't actually evaluate anything and do it automatically...it just increases the power by X depending on the angle. Is that what you are trying to say? Or do you know?

ChrisBlaze wrote in post #2688714
So I should be shooting with the diffuser off and it should only be used when bouncing?

Yes.

Manual is best if you intend to use flash to illuminate the shot and the ambient light is insignificant.

Av or Tv can be useful if you want to include some ambient light, but in nightclub conditions it would require wide apertures and relatively high ISO to get enough ambient to influence the shot.

lhoney2 wrote in post #2688727
In E-TTL mode on your flash, what information does the flash use to determine how much power it needs to output? Is it solely based on focal length and angle of attack?

It's based mainly on its evaluation of the pre-flash. It measures light from the pre-flash reflecting off the subject, then calculates flash power, accounting for aperture, ISO and ambient light. Distance is part of the equation only if the flash head is pointed straight ahead and you're using one of the few lenses that reports distance to the camera. If you're bouncing or using one of the many lenses that does not report distance, then distance is not part of the equation.

The meter is useless unless you want to include some ambient light in the image. If you're relying solely on the flash, you can set the shutter at flash sync speed, set the aperture for the depth-of-field you want, and boost the ISO as necessary if the conditions require a lot of flash power (such as bouncing).