430 EX in Manual Mode

I have shot with flashes in manual before and it was pretty easy. Well I looked at my 430 EX and WOW its a lot different. It looks like the only way to accurately use it is with a flash meter. I mainly use flash outdoors as fill. Any tips ?

Do you mean the camera is in manual? or the flash is in manual? or both in manual?

The 430EX in manual mode behaves just like any other flash in manual. You just set the power (1/1, 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, etc) Of course there is no metering, it just fires a set amount of light.

Can you explain what is different?

msowsun wrote in post #5936290
Do you mean the camera is in manual? or the flash is in manual? or both in manual?

The 430EX in manual mode behaves just like any other flash in manual. You just set the power (1/1, 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, etc) Of course there is no metering, it just fires a set amount of light.

Can you explain what is different?

Thanks for asking I shoot in manual mode all of the time on the Camera.

I had an old Metz 45CT. If you were shooting 400 speed film. You would dial 400 into the flash. Here is where it gets al little fuzzy. (It was a long time ago). I belive reference the guide numbers on the flash with the F stop and then dialed in the distance you were from your subject. Which was actually prety easy because you referenced distance on you camera when it was focused.


When I looked at the 430, as you indicated you have to adjust the power of the flash. So how so you base the power of the flash? I am assuming you need a flash meter and there is not other solution.

Page 19 of th 430EX manual describes how to shoot with the flash in manual mode. It will display the effective flash range for the selected ISO and f stop.

What complicates the manual computation for flash today is the flash zoom. You don't really know what your guide number is unless you know what the zoom head is set to. If you lock the zoom head into a set position you can just compute the f-stop as you always did.

But ETTL and FEC is so easy that's what I use now.

Thanks for everyones help. Look like I need to dust off the meter

The zoom head position shouldn't change the amount of light output by much. It only changes the angle of coverage.

You don't have to have a flash meter. Just adjust the flash power until the distance of your subject and the flash range distance in the flash display are the same. (or close)
Take a photo and then make small adjustments to the power output until you like what you see.

The unit’s guide number (provided in metres, not feet, for ISO 100) varies depending on the zoom head settings.
# At 14mm (with the flip-down diffuser in place) the guide number is 11.
# At 24mm the guide number is 25.
# At 28mm the guide number is 27.
# At 35mm the guide number is 31.
# At 50mm the guide number is 34.
# At 70mm the guide number is 37.
# At 80mm the guide number is 40.
# At 105mm the guide number is 43.