Learning flash....anything out there for onboard flash?

Ive been reading the stickies on flash, as well as the stuff on strobist. The thing is, I cant make heads or tails of any of it because all I have is onboard flash. When I do use my flash its very hit and miss. Ive been playing with manual to try to get more consistent exposure but it seems that if the subject is anymore, or any less than 6-8 feet away my flash is useless... especially for fill.

So how do you guys use your onboard flash? Ive been trying P mode to check how accurate my exposure is compared to the cameras, but still I would like to learn the formula so that I have a better idea of what I need for a given situation rather than taking test shots and hoping for the best.

I would much prefer to master my onboard flash and move up to something better once Ive reached my limits. Ive tried varying ISO, shutter speed and aperature to try to learn this but its no go. Is flash something you can only learn with a flash unit, since I dont have access to guide numbers and such?

Also is there a way that I can use FEC to only adjust the power of my flash? My biggest problem is once I do have the correct exposure, the flash is either too strong or not strong enough but when I adjust FEC it throws everything out of whack.

In my opinion, the built-in flash is a waste of hardware in my 20D, thus I have never used it and probably never will.

Light from the built-in flash cannot reach across my lenses (large diameter "L" zooms with large hoods) without casting shadows of the lenses (or hoods).

Using the built-in flash for shots of people is a recipe for horrible-looking red-eye.

You cannot aim the built-in flash anywhere but straight ahead (and the stupid "diffusers" for them don't do much at all).

There's not enough light produced by the built-in flash to be useful to me.

You really need a separate flah unit to get good results. You have little control over a built in flash. Most high end cameras don't have a built in flash for this reason. If you use an external flash you will soon see the advantages, especially if it's a dedicated unit.

Let's talk about what the built-in flash can do, and what it can't.

This girl on her pony was shot with the 580EX but the built-in would have worked just fine. With a guide number of 43 feet, it would have a range of just over 10 feet at f/4 (GN / aperture = distance). I was close enough for that to work here.

If you are going to use the onboard flash, or advance your photography, you must use Manual, in Program the camera will set itself for an ugly onboard flash picture. In Manual you can use it for fill, shooting at your meter reading or as flash dominate, setting your camera 1 to 1 1/2 steps underexposing than the meter reading. To do this set the shutter speed to something around 1/30 to 1/60 then say you meter this at f/4.0 set the camera to f/5.6 and shoot away, playing with the flash compensation as you wish. With a couple of other hands you could even bounce the onboard off say a white plate, held in front of the flash at some nice angle, about 45 degree works good, into a white (a colored one could add a neat effect) napkin that is stretch out to bounce onto your subject. This bounce would have to be done rather close as there isn't much power in the onboard flashes. The onboard isn't as evil as it is made out to be, I'd much rather use something else, but in a pinch it can be made to work.

Jack

AB8ND wrote in post #5781382
If you are going to use the onboard flash, or advance your photography, you must use Manual, in Program the camera will set itself for an ugly onboard flash picture. In Manual you can use it for fill, shooting at your meter reading or as flash dominate, setting your camera 1 to 1 1/2 steps underexposing than the meter reading. To do this set the shutter speed to something around 1/30 to 1/60 then say you meter this at f/4.0 set the camera to f/5.6 and shoot away, playing with the flash compensation as you wish. With a couple of other hands you could even bounce the onboard off say a white plate, held in front of the flash at some nice angle, about 45 degree works good, into a white (a colored one could add a neat effect) napkin that is stretch out to bounce onto your subject. This bounce would have to be done rather close as there isn't much power in the onboard flashes. The onboard isn't as evil as it is made out to be, I'd much rather use something else, but in a pinch it can be made to work.

Jack

I dont shoot in P mode, I only use it while learning flash to see how close my M settings are if Im having exposure problems

Thanks for the advice everyone, I guess that Ill look into an onboard flash