I was going to post this as a response to one of the other threads but thought that maybe it should be a discussion thread by itself.
This is not directed at anybody in particular so plesse don't anybody take it the wrong way or take offense from it. It's just an observation that I have made whenever flash topics come up. It seems as if a lot of us are gang-ho about having total control over the functions of the camera so that they can pick their own shutter speeds, aperture and ISO. The settings of choice are Av, Pv or Manual. The thought of using using any of the auto modes, especially the those settings that have those little pretty pictures of mountains, flowers, etc., would be totally unacceptable, if not repulsive. When the lighting calls for it, we'll dial in some EC value to make the exposure just right and we''ll do this without complaint or hesitation because, after all, that's what total control over the shot is all about.
When it comes to flash photography, however, we'll slap on the flash and shoot away, expecting the flash to take perfectly exposed pictures and when the pictures don't come out as we would expect, we complain about the inadequacies of ETTL.
So, why is that? Why wouldn't one want to have the same degree of control over own flash pictures as they do over their non-flash pictures? Grant it, some camera/flash combinations (namely the 300D with the 420EX) don't really give you any control but this is the only exception I can think of. Just wondering.
When it comes to flash photography, however, we'll slap on the flash and shoot away, expecting the flash to take perfectly exposed pictures and when the pictures don't come out as we would expect, we complain about the inadequacies of ETTL.
So, why is that? Why wouldn't one want to have the same degree of control over own flash pictures as they do over their non-flash pictures? Grant it, some camera/flash combinations (namely the 300D with the 420EX) don't really give you any control but this is the only exception I can think of. Just wondering.
