Av mode, G6, and 550EX

I was curious as to why Canon doesn't allow "true" E-TTL when you use the Av mode on the G6 with the 550EX - the shutter speed doesn't go below 1/60th sec. There are times when you need to drag the shutter to get background detail. I can get this effect in the Manual mode and even in Tv.

The 220EX does the same thing.

When using my A2 or any Canon 35mm AF SLR, Av acts the way it should if you need longer exposures to balance the existing-light situation, as it's suppsoed to be with A-TTL or even E-TTL.

I don't know if this is an oversight or maybe I'm doing something wrong.

Someone pointed out to me that you need to set the camera to "slow synchro" mode. This is done via the menu. See page 66 in the instruction manual. This works in the P and Av modes.

I tested it with both the 220EX and 550EX and it's perfect. You can end up with a 1 second shutter speed, meaning a tripod will be almost a must, but you can create some neat effects if you want to experiment.

Have you tried metering your ambient exposure in Manual and the flash in ETTL?

I found out that you need to set the flash setting to "slow synchro" on the G6 menu and it works the way I want. (see page 66)

With film SLR's, this is automatic since there is no such thing as a slow sync setting.

Actually there is. Some camera manufacturers call it Night Portrait. Most camera manufacturers try to idiot proof their program modes. One way they do that is to limit the lowest shutter speed in certain program modes like Auto and P. Canon limits P mode to 1/60.

True. On the EOS 35mm SLR's, Canon doesn't limit the slow synchro in the "creative" modes. I'm just glad that I can override the G6's menu to achieve this effect.