580exII - auto zoom

Hi,
proud owner of a new Speedlite 580exII - just wondering something about the auto zoom.
How come, when I have my 100mm mounted on my 1.6x crop body, the flash zooms to 80mm? (instead of trying to get to 160mm and stopping at the max, which iirc is 105mm)
Other than that, wow. Manual is massive. I've got lots to learn

The adjustment for the crop body is internal so you won't be able to tell that it's doing it just by looking at the zoom setting that's specified on the LCD screen. There is an icon that's also displayed on the screen (it looks like a small rectangle) that tells you that the crop adjustment is in effect, though.

Yeah, I've got the crop icon showing.
I've tried with my kit lens too, and it also doesn't seem to match the lens's focal length, either 1x or 1.6x - so whether it's adjusting internally or not. Just doesn't match up.

I have the same thing with my 17-40, it doesnt match up. but when i use my 24-105 it matches up fine....

Odd. I'm fairly sure the image metadata correctly records the focal length, so the caemra must know what it is... Maybe the flash knows something we don't

Rawling wrote in post #3672065
Yeah, I've got the crop icon showing.
I've tried with my kit lens too, and it also doesn't seem to match the lens's focal length, either 1x or 1.6x - so whether it's adjusting internally or not. Just doesn't match up.

What exactly do you mean by it doesn't match up? If you have a 100mm lens, then it makes sense for the LCD to show that it's at 80mm instead of 105 because 80mm gives you the narrowest beam of light that can cover the entire 100mm VOF. Setting the zoom to 105 would not. In other words, if you have a lens that does not exactly match the zoom settings on the flash, what the flash is going to set the head position to is the zoom setting that is just shorter than the lens you have on, or is zoomed to for a zoom lens.

Aah. That would make sense - if the zoom control is only in large "jumps", that would explain why it sets to 80mm rather than 100mm

The 105mm figure I gave wasn't meant for a pure 100mm lens - it was for the hypothetical 160mm of the lens + crop combination.

Rawling wrote in post #3672145
Aah. That would make sense - if the zoom control is only in large "jumps", that would explain why it sets to 80mm rather than 100mm

The 105mm figure I gave wasn't meant for a pure 100mm lens - it was for the hypothetical 160mm of the lens + crop combination.

I don't think thats it. I'm pretty sure my 580ex says 80mm when I have my 100mm Macro on it. It's fixed length. I can confirm when I get home.

Not to bump this, but I think we (I?) need to bump this back into the discussion.

If the manual says "The Speedlite automatically recognizes the EOS DIGITAL camera's image size and automatically sets the flash coverage for lens focal lengths from 24mm to 105mm", does that mean effective focal lengths from 24 to 105, or actual focal lengths from 24-105? It doesn't go wide enough with the kit 18-55 at <24mm unless I pull the diffuser out. It seems to be wide enough with the 24-105, but I don't know how to easily determine if it's too wide. *shrug*

Sense I am stuck between getting a II and a Metz I am wondering too ?

r.morales wrote in post #3809449
Sense I am stuck between getting a II and a Metz I am wondering too ?

Frankly, if you are thinking of getting the Metz 58, I would hold off, unless you plan to use only in manual mode and you love that secondary reflector. The ETTL issues with Canon cameras are too numerous at this point. I use the Metz only for off camera manual use and it works great, but ETTL II is undependable.

CP

Thank you . For the $100 less , it's not worth it - but no one has stated it that way which is what I am always looking for .
An honest opinion that says it's good for this but not that .
My 380 was a replacement for a stolen Metz , but then I was using an AE-1 with a power winder .