Help with using 430 EX

I'm very new at using my 430 EX. I bounced the straight up at a white 8 foot ceiling. I used my my new 055xprob tripod. I also used my kits lens <not a great choice I know>. And the image is still a bit soft. Can you help me as to why its soft? exif data is intact.

HOSTED PHOTO
please log in to view hosted photos in full size.

you werent focused on the people.. everything behind them is in focus.. look at the cabinet...

I also would have bumped up the ISO to make sure you werent shooting with a .8" SS but thats just me..

You are at f3.5 and you may have focused on the wood cabinet in the background. Try it at f5.6 or f.8 and pay attention to focus points. Also, not a whole lot of need for tripod with these flash shots, but it rarely hurts.

Edit: I just noticed your shutter speed was almost 1 second. That's where most of the softness came from. Try these settings and see if it works better:

Manual mode
1/80 shutter speed
F5.6
ISO 200

watson10 wrote in post #7205385
I'm very new at using my 430 EX. I bounced the straight up at a white 8 foot ceiling. I used my my new 055xprob tripod. I also used my kits lens <not a great choice I know>. And the image is still a bit soft. Can you help me as to why its soft? exif data is intact.

Your shutter speed is too slow to be photographing people with. Instead of using Av mode, set the camera to manual mode and then set the shutter speed to 1/60 or faster.

Thanks for the replies. a couple of questions about your replies. According to DPP the focus point is on the woman's green blouse <should've been the eyes, but certainly not the cabinet> so could the lens not be focusing properly? Though I've not had trouble before.

Also, tkblsc, yes, the SS was .8, but I figured since I was on the tripod it would still be sharp. is the blur from subject movement rather than camera movement?

Thanks again

ok PacAce, thanks I will try that.

watson10 wrote in post #7205495
Thanks for the replies. a couple of questions about your replies. According to DPP the focus point is on the woman's green blouse <should've been the eyes, but certainly not the cabinet> so could the lens not be focusing properly? Though I've not had trouble before.

Also, tkblsc, yes, the SS was .8, but I figured since I was on the tripod it would still be sharp. is the blur from subject movement rather than camera movement?

Thanks again

Did you focus and recompose (I know you were tripod mounted)? If so, you might have been trying to focus on the woman's face/eyes and missed focus so that you actually focused on the cabinet. DPP is showing where the focus point was at the time of focusing, not at the time of shooting.

Since the blinds, the cabinet, the plant and other parts of the phot are sharp, the blur is not from camera movement.

runninmann wrote in post #7205605
Did you focus and recompose (I know you were tripod mounted)?

I can't remember but probably. I do use the focus and recompose method, even though it doesn't seem to always work. Thanks.

Ok I tried setting my camera to manual and SS to 1/60 and the image was sharp. That's good. But, since I use mostly av when shooting I'm used to the exposure meter being in the center. With using the above settings the meter shows way underexposed but the image is more or less properly exposed. Is the meter unreliable when using my flash?

In manual, the meter is telling you thatt, without flash you will be underexposed. The Ettl flash is controlling the actual exposure.

Just shoot in manual mode when using flash. You'll learn more that way.

And with flash, you don't need a tripod, thats the point of flash. You can shoot at 1/200th with an f/3.5 and you'll be fine.

Make sure the focus is correct, stop using a tripod, shoot in manual mode.

watson10 wrote in post #7205647
Ok I tried setting my camera to manual and SS to 1/60 and the image was sharp. That's good. But, since I use mostly av when shooting I'm used to the exposure meter being in the center. With using the above settings the meter shows way underexposed but the image is more or less properly exposed. Is the meter unreliable when using my flash?

Don't use AV for flash under most circumstances. The camera picks settings for ambient light and proceeds like you have no flash. The flash is then dialed down for fill light. It will pick really slow shutter speeds indoors. I would use either P mode or manual for flash. P mode will almost always pick 1/60 and ISO 400 so you will usually get good results. Manual settings are preferred so you can control the balance of ambient and flash as you get more expereince. And, yes, the light meter will show under exposed because it is currently metering the light without the flash firing. The ETTL then calculates how far underexposed you are and then controls the output of the flash to make up for it. So really, you can pick any reasonable settings in manual and the flash will make up the rest.

As far as shutter speed, keep it just fast enough to prevent motion blur. The tripod keeps the camera from shaking, but not the people you are photographing. I'd say consider 1/60 a minimum.

tkbslc wrote in post #7206512
Don't use AV for flash under most circumstances. The camera picks settings for ambient light and proceeds like you have no flash. The flash is then dialed down for fill light. It will pick really slow shutter speeds indoors. I would use either P mode or manual for flash. P mode will almost always pick 1/60 and ISO 400 so you will usually get good results. Manual settings are preferred so you can control the balance of ambient and flash as you get more expereince. And, yes, the light meter will show under exposed because it is currently metering the light without the flash firing. The ETTL then calculates how far underexposed you are and then controls the output of the flash to make up for it. So really, you can pick any reasonable settings in manual and the flash will make up the rest.

As far as shutter speed, keep it just fast enough to prevent motion blur. The tripod keeps the camera from shaking, but not the people you are photographing. I'd say consider 1/60 a minimum.

This, as well as GenuineRolla's advice, really makes it easy to understand for this flash newbie. Thanks everyone.

And a little trick with the kit lens - keep the f-stop up a bit. Above f6.3 if you can - and the flash should let you. It should be noticeably sharper up there.

BTW - the software can tell you which AF point was used but not where it was pointed when focus was achieved.