Shooting in Manual ?'s

OK, so I'm a newbie to manual! I'm a lover of Av, and sometimes P if my lighting conditions are constantly changing.

So when I set my shutter and apeture, does the exposure reading on the camera count if I'm using my flash? I know it can't be that easy--just set your shutter to what you want it to be and your apeture and your picture turns out perfect.....or is it?

Help, help, help!!!

I like to use M when using my flash indoors. I set my shutter to an acceptable hand-held speed (ie 1/60 or faster with my 24-60) ISO400 or 800 depending how dark it is, and whatever desired aperture for DOF. With consideration for bouncing the light, the flash pretty much takes care of the rest. If it's too dark/bright I adjust the FEC on my camera. I'm definatly not an advanced flash user but I'm getting good results.

Have a look at the tutorial linked to in my signature about using P, A, S and M modes on your camera as well as the shutter speed, aperture and ISOand basic exposure settings tutorials. They will give you the basics about using manual mode.

My approach to using the flash is also to shoot in M mode. I simply set the aperture for a reasonable DOF (like f/5.6 to start) and a fast enough shutter speed (say 1/100). Use ISO400 and take some shots. The flash will automatically expose the shot. If you don't like the results, you can fine tune the flash exposure by adjusting the Flash Exposure Compensation. If the background is too dark, you need to adjust your combinations (ISO, SS, Aperture) to get more ambient light into the shot. The 580exi that you're using is a great flash that will help make all this correct.

I tend to adjust flash power on the flash unit (in manual) rather than FEC on the camera. Any advantages of one over the other?

What setting do I put the flash on? ETTL?

Yes ... start with that setting, ETTL. (Your manual explains that setting fairly well.)

Cody21 wrote in post #5515356
Yes ... start with that setting, ETTL. (Your manual explains that setting fairly well.)

Ahhhh! That is so awesome! It worked great! So the little meter on the camera is only if you aren't using a flash. Ok, totally great! This solves my problem greatly of shooting my formals for the wedding I'm doing as a favor this week. When shooting it in the AV mode my shutters were so low even in ISO 1600!

You can also adjust the Flash Exposure Compensation (EC) on your camera if after looking at the results you need to tweak it a bit ... lighter or darker...

Robyn,

It's great when it clicks isn't it!

The camera is always ignorant of the flash. It does not care if it's on or not. The camera will always try and expose for ambient when you are in any kind of mode other than manual. This is why it is best to switch to manual when you are using flash as the main light source. Once you do that you are relying on the flash as a system to now make the proper exposure by regulating the amount it outputs.

But, remember that the flash is only able to deliver up to a max amount of power.
once you hit that limit it can't do any more. So you can run into a shot where you can't get enough.

Two things can help or hurt the range of the flash. Aperture and ISO. A higher ISO will make it so the flash is effective for more distance. A larger aperture (smaller number) also will give you more effective distance.

With ETTL this is the flashes equivalent of full auto mode. So it is important to know that the flash can and will be fooled and therefore not deliver a proper amount of light in certain situations. Very light scenes or highly reflective objects in a scene can cause it to shut down too soon and under deliver. In these situations you can use FEC to dial it up, or use manual flash settings to lock in a power so it conistantly delivers the same amount of light with every shot. Of course it will then be up to you to make the exposure correct by either stopping the aperture up or down, dialing the ISO up or down, or dialing the flash power up or down.

Make sure you try that experiment I talked about in one of your other posts, it will show you exactly how flash mixed with ambient looks and how you can control things better when you add a falsh.

Thanks Ron!! You have been so much help. Yes, it has clicked! I feel so much more confident!

lilpacheco wrote in post #5516377
Thanks Ron!! You have been so much help. Yes, it has clicked! I feel so much more confident!

No problem. But make sure you try it enough times to make it stick. Getting it straight in your head is only half the battle. You may think you got it all figured out and then when you go shoot it can all fall apart. You have to have everything down good enough to immediately recognize what is going wrong when it does (and it will) and how to counteract it. Practice, practice, practice. Then while practicing always play, dial in different things and see the effect, and understand what is causing the effect.

bwolford wrote in post #5515087
I tend to adjust flash power on the flash unit (in manual) rather than FEC on the camera. Any advantages of one over the other?

In the custom settings for my XTi, I changed the "set" button to FEC (instead of picture styles). That way I don't have to go through the menu, very fast and easy. I have no idea about other Canon models though...

Try adjusting your manual settings so that the camera is shooting one stop to dark for the ambient conditions. Now try your flash with power set to zero to start. If there is a lot of white in the scene go +1 if a lot of black go -1.