Confused Shots

Hello All,
Could someone take a look at the four photos located at http://www.pbase.com/m​lfrancis/g2questionsho​ts and fill me in as to what is happeninig?

Here is the deal. First, these shots are not of anything expect my light fixture. I was playing around with my 420ex flash on my G2 and came up with a set of shots that when just pressing the shutter does not yield the same result as doing a flash/exposure lock.

It all started because I was playing around with the Av to see what kind of fill flash effect I could get. I put the camera in spot exposure and put the "spot" on one of the light bulbs. Now when I shoot this by just pressing half-way, then recenter the lights, then pressing the rest of the way, I get what looks like a shot with the flash fireing in full power. Now, if I spot the light bulb, then press * (flash/exposure lock), recenter, then I get a shot that looks like the flash actually fired in fill flash mode.

I get the same whether in P or Av. That suprised me as well. I expected to get the "full power" look from both when in P, but I didn't expect to get it at all in Av.

Anyone have any idea why I am getting two different exposures when the only difference is I am using the flash/exposure lock in one?

The shots are:
63 - P half press/recenter, then press
64 - P flash/exposure lock, recenter, then press
65 - Av half press/recenter, then press
66 - Av flash/exposure lock, recenter, then press.

By the way, P gave me an exposure of 1/250 at F4 both times. Then Av I set to F4 to match - sure enough it worked it out to 1/250 each time.

Any help would be appreciated.

Did you give enough time for your 420 flash to recycle and charge fully?

Oh yeah. No problem there.

If the date/time in your EXIF is correct, then I second bfaust's question regarding the flash recycling. If you took those shots only 10 seconds apart, and fired the flash in between (which is what happens when you press the "*" to lock flash exposure) then it is very possible your flash did not even fire for the second shots.

Doesn't look like it fired, anyway, to my novice eyes. The shadow portion of the lighting fixture suggests the only light is coming from the fixture itself.

BTW, does the G2 even use fill-flash in P mode? My G1 only uses it in Av, or so I believe. If this is true, then it makes sense that your second shots look the same - no flash.

Try again but leave more time between shots to ensure the flash is ready. If the batteries in your flash are low, this could be longer than you expect. Hope that helps.

I know the flash fired. If you look at the curved brass under the base of each light bulb, a few inches under the bulb, you will see the reflection of the flash bouncing back off of the brass. There is no way that reflection was caused by the fixture bulbs - the reflection is on the bottom.

I would bet money the flash fired, but just to be safe, I will try it again to see. Thanks for the suggestion.

As far as fill flash in P mode on the G2, no it does not use fill flash in P. In Program mode it assumes the flash is the main source of lighting and therefore, I would have expected the bright overexposed look on both of the P shots. However, that isn't what I got using the flash/exposure lock. The flash/exposuer lock gave more of a fill flash look in P mode - I didn't think that was possible.

The G2 uses fill flash in both Tv and Av. It is supposed to meter the shot and not take the flash into account. Unfortunatly, the Av mode on the G# has a couple of glitches.

First, there is a 1 second max shutter length so if it is slightly dim and you set to a large F-stop where a long shutter should be calculated, the camera will not give a shutter speed longer than 1 sec even though that is what is needed. It will instead, blink the red 1 telling you the shot can't be done. (Switch to Tv and back into it and it will work).

The second problem I see with Av is if you try to use it and want a fill flash in a decently lit room with the flash. The camera will default to a shutter speed of 1/60 sec and the shot you get is not shot with the expected true "fill flash exposure readings.

I know that the 420Ex normally does a double flash on the G2 to get an exposure reading with the first. Using the flash/exposure lock, it fires once when you press the *, but when you take the actual shot it only fires once and uses the calculation it used the flash lock.

I have used the flash lock to take pictures of my 4 month old son who apparantly has eyelids faster than the split second between the 420ex pre and regular flash.

Any more ideas out there? It almost looks like in P when using the flash exposure lock, the camera does treat it as a fill flash. I can't find that in a manual anywhere. I need to play with it some more.

Later,
Michael

Michael

I tried to reproduce your shot using my 380EX shooting as fast as I could. Both the shots appear the same to me. BTW, my recycle time was about 12 - 13 seconds and my shots were faster than that. As Mitch says maybe your batteries are low making your recharge time longer than expected. I have no other ideas.

Jeez, if it will make you feel any better, I was able to recreate your delema. I did the same as you did and got the identical results. (G-2, 420EX, P-mode, spot meter). Placed the spot on a bulb, depressed the shutter halfway, recomposed and shot) These came out fine. Doing the identical process, except using the FE lock, The pics came out way under exposed, as did yours. With the spot meter turned off, all pics came out properly exposed..... Go Figure. By the way.....new batteries in the flash and copious amounts of time in between shots.

Smitty

Thanks for testing it out. On one hand I am glad you got the same results - means my setup is working properly. On the other hand, it doesn't work the way it really should. Oh well, just pass it off as another weirdity of the digital camera.

When I tried the test I did not use the spot metering. Maybe that is why mine all came out OK.