430 AND F-STOP QUESTION

been using the 430 in manual mode,,,,working pretty good,,,setting shutter speed at 125 and playing with the f-stops. f/3.5--5.6 is generally where its set. when setting it for FILL FLASH purposes should i stay in ETTL OR POSSIBLY GO TO MANUAL. reason i ask is it sometimes looks a tad overexposed and i was thinking i could reduce flash output and possibly get better control

When in ETTL mode, the camera controls the flash output for proper balance between ambient part of the exposure and the flash part of the exposure. When your flash is in M, it is YOU who must control the balance! Either thru use of a different f/stop + shutter speed combination, or via use of one of the fractional flash power settings (or both)

Wilt wrote in post #5555899
When in ETTL mode, the camera controls the flash output for proper balance between ambient part of the exposure and the flash part of the exposure. When your flash is in M, it is YOU who must control the balance! Either thru use of a different f/stop + shutter speed combination, or via use of one of the fractional flash power settings (or both)

so--continue as i have,,leave the camera setting in manual mode,set the flash on ETTL MODE and put the f/stop at 5.6 like i say,,its been working. but if i put the f stop at different settings,,the camera and flash continue to control output
its the f/stop factor that throws me at times,,,,and i refuse to go to P mode:o

You have to know what the ambient light intensity is, so that a suitable exposure for ambient and the ISO setting of your camera will result in a proper exposure. You cannot simply set f/5.6 because maybe your shutter speed at f/5.6 results in overexposure even without any flash at all!

Wilt wrote in post #5556312
You have to know what the ambient light intensity is, so that a suitable exposure for ambient and the ISO setting of your camera will result in a proper exposure. You cannot simply set f/5.6 because maybe your shutter speed at f/5.6 results in overexposure even without any flash at all!

ok i got it. the darn lightmeter doesnt lie does it?? took the lightmeter outside,and,,low and behold,,it actually measured 5.6 ambient light at 400 iso,,what a fricken coincidence,,played with the f-stops and got my answers. kind of feel REALLY STUPID.,,,,4.0 WAS OVEREXPOSED AND LOOKED IT. 5.6 was perfect especially at 125 and 100. heck it even looked good at 250. anyway,,my lightmeter is now a permanent fixture in my bag. not only does it work tots with the strobes,,it make my fill flash shots look really good.

A few things to ruminate on:
1) Ambient exposure is affected by changes in shutter speed. Flash exposure is not (at X-sync speed or slower). So changing your shutter speed is one way to adjust the ambient exposure without changing the flash exposure.

2) With manual flash, changing the aperture will change the flash exposure. With E-TTL flash, the camera will automatically account for the aperture to keep the flash exposure the same (within its limits of power). Don't get stuck on a certain aperture setting. It's a valuable tool to control ambient exposure and depth of field. There are very good reasons why it's adjustable.

3) With manual flash, changing the distance from flash to subject will change the flash exposure. The closer you get, the brighter it gets. With E-TTL flash, the camera will automatically adjust the flash power to properly expose the subject, regardless of distance (within its limits of power).

Manual flash is for situations that you can control, or at least predict. There are many factors that affect the amount of flash power required for a shot, and you need to account for all of them.

E-TTL is for dynamic situations where you don't have time to account for all of those factors (including distance) before taking the shot. The camera figures it all out in a few milliseconds. The downside of E-TTL is that it relies on light reflecting back from the scene and doesn't always interpret that correctly.