550EX/Digital Rebel Problem Please Help??

Please help. I need some major help here. I have a new digital rebel and I use it with a 550EX external flash. I shoot most of my pictures inside my living room which has high ceiling. I need to know what is the best settings to use when shooting inside. I would like to capture a clear background as well. Auto mode does not work well at all. The pictures are very dark. I even hacked the camera to put out a +1 flash exposure compensation to help with this problem. This helped a little but not much. Should I point the flash at the subject or at the ceiling? Should I bump up the ISO to 400? Should I can the aperture setting? What shutter speed should I use? I would like to find some general settings that work well. I have a 1 1/2 year old that won't sit still very long so I don't have all the time in the world to mess with different settings when taking pictures of her. I had a G2 with the 550EX on auto mode and the pictureswere pretty good. I know that this Digital rebel is a better camera. I just haven't much luck with it. I am a newbie and would appreciate any help I can get. Thank you in advance.

If you increase the ISO setting, that should allow the light to seem to "reach" farther into the background. You didn't say what settings you are currently using in the camera and also in the 550EX. I don't know how high your ceiling is, or what color it is, but you might try bounce flash.

---Bob Gross---

I have been shooting in various modes. M, TV, AV and auto. My ceiling is about twenty feet high which I am not sure if that is too high to bounce or not.

I have used the 550 on the 10D and the 1D MKII. In both cases I found that, in general, the exposures were underexposed. I simply dial in +1 on the flash and everything comes out fine. I shoot predominantly in AV mode and always shoot RAW so that if something is slightly underexposed you can always recover it without any noticeable diversions in quality.

When evaluating the resulting image from a flash picture, you need to evaluate two things:
1. The flash exposure of the subject in the foreground. This is controlled by the flash and the cameras flash metering. In ETTL, use FEC to get what you want. If you are bouncing flash off the ceiling, make sure that the total distance to the ceiling and from the ceiling to the subject doesn't exceed the max distance for the flash. Max distance at ISO 100 = Guide Number (55M for 550EX)/f stop. Multiply by 1.4 for ISO 200 and by 2 for ISO 400. Diffusers like a StoFen Omnibounce will reduce flash disatnce.
2. The ambient/background exposure is controlled by the shutter speed and aperture. If you want to capture the ambient light in a dim room you need to get out of P or Auto Mode and use a tripod. P and Auto only allow the shutter to get to 1/60 and no slower. That will result in a dark background in low ambient light.
The flash picture is a combination of 1 and 2.
Regards,
Scott

Yes, twenty feet is a bit on the high side to bounce flash from. Possible, but unlikely.

---Bob Gross---

The 550EX has flash compensation built into it, unless it's a feature added recently. My 550EX that I bought 3 months ago will go up to +3.

Plus with the Drebel and the 550EX the actual focal length is not compensated for. You need to put the 550EX into manual zoom to dial in the corrected magnified focal length that the camera is actually in, which should help the flash effect. If you buy the new 580EX that will compensate for the 1.6x magnification of these small sensor cameras.

Scott gave you an excellent run down on how the 550EX works. But if you still cannot translate that to a camera setting that works (it took me a while and alot of trials & errors!), try this:

- Set the DR in M (manual) mode.
- Dial the DR's setting to ISO 200, aperture at f5.6, shutter at 1/60
- Set the 550EX in E-TTL mode.
- Adjust the 550EX's FEC level to +2/3.
- Take a test shot and look at the histogram.
- To capture more ambiance light, lower the shutter speed.
- To increase contrast and get more flash on the subject, increase the shutter speed.

A couple of notes:
- In a high contrast scene, you get a better exposure by throwing the lens' AF switch to manual before the shot. The DR will use the center-weighted metering rather than evaluative. Many shooter found CW metering to be better than E-TTL on the DR. The DR hack allowes you to use a button to get this mode.
- Do NOT lock focus/ recompose/ shoot in AF mode. Use the FEL before recomposing.
- I bounce the flash only if the ceilings/ walls are in the near proximity and have neutral color. Otherwise, I shoot with the flash straight forward for most of the time.
- Take a couple of test shot W/O the flash to determine the best setting for the background, then turn on the flash (the DR in M mode, of course)
- As your experience grows, play with the FEC/ aperture/ ISO to find a setting that works for you. Most likely, you'll remember a few for different situations.

I also have a 1.5YO toddler and found that the DR could barely keep up to him. The 10D did not fare much better. When you throw in the temperament of the E-TTl system, you HAVE to get the knowledge of how things (DR & 550EX) work down pat to get a good shot. I recently got the 20D and found the E-TTL II quite spot on. The camera is fast enough for my son also.

Good Luck & Happy Shooting,