Settings for fill-in flash

What settings should i be using when wanting to use fill in flash say in a paddock using 1D mk 2 N with 550 flash unit and 24-70 2.8 or 70-200 2.8 .Any help please.

What's your beef with simply using ETTL?
Granted it's not foolproof, but if you find it's consistently over/under filling, you can always dial in compensation

Hi gandi, welcome to POTN!

Tell us about the lighting conditions, and your subjects. Are you shooting some sort of equestrian event?

All will be in a motorbike paddock with varying weather conditions , i just need some basic info to start with.
Thanks

First, welcome to POTN!

Second, like Chris mentioned, start with ETTL. Unless you have an issue with ETTL.... if that's the case though, can you tell us what that issue is?

I would first try ETTL with -2/3 FEC. This is my default and works for me 85% of the time.

I'm going to start with a few assumptions and we can go from there.

I'm going to assume you'll be shooting moving subjects at some distance, perhaps 20 feet or more. I'll further assume you want to minimize the recycle time of the flash so you won't miss too many shots. In conditions like this you'll want to maximize the effective distance and efficiency of the flash. Minimizing motion blur will also be a consideration.

The best way to do this is to use Tv mode with the shutter speed set to 1/250 (maximum flash sync speed). This will keep your aperture as wide as possible (maximizing the flash range and efficiency) and keep motion blur to a minimum.

Start with both EC and FEC at 0 (flash in E-TTL mode) and go from there. Watch your histogram and adjust as you go. Adjust EC to change the background exposure and adjust FEC to change the subject exposure.

On overcast days when the light is pretty even in all directions, you could also use Manual mode on the camera, adjusting the aperture to get the desired background exposure.

Perhaps i misled you but all my subjects will be stationary , either stood in the paddock or sat on a still bike.

...you still haven't explained why you mistrust/won't use the obvious opption; ETTL

My previous post is still applicable to stationary subjects, unless there are other assumptions I made that are also incorrect.

gandi wrote in post #2811371
What settings should i be using when wanting to use fill in flash say in a paddock using 1D mk 2 N with 550 flash unit and 24-70 2.8 or 70-200 2.8 .Any help please.

Hi Gandi,

Putting your camera in Aperture or shutter priority, or manual mode will put the camera/flash combo into fill flash mode. Canon doesn't have an actual fill-flash setting. You have the choice of using ETTL and applying flash exposure compensation +-3 stops OR you can use the flash in manual mode and dial in the output as low as 1/128th power. Keep in mind you can use camera exposure compensation at the same time. What you are basically doing is adding flash to the ambient light exposure. So, settings all depend on how you want your images to look with regards to exposure. Maybe you want the subjects to pop out a bit more from the background so you could use a negative value of camera exposure compensation with or without a positive flash exposure compensation. My suggestioon would be to give yourself ample time to do some test shots so that you can do a bit of on location experimenting. Without knowing the look you are after it's kind of hard to suggest settings other than what would give you so called proper exposure for the ambient light and the fill flash. Theoretically (and in most cases accurately) your camera's meter will give you that info with your flash set to ETTL. You can of course rely on the camera's meter or use a handheld meter. Practice, practice, practice. The best way to learn and it's free. Remember ... flash is my friend! Hope this helps, even in a small way. Good luck with your shoot. Maybe we'll get to see some interesting shots after all is said and done.