G2 & 420 EX question

I was wondering... is the 420 EX supposed to be fully automatic with the G2 when the camera is on auto? Everytime I take an outdoor shot (of people, for example), and want to use the 420 EX for fill flash with the camera on auto, it badly bleaches out the faces and immediate surroundings, even if I am not standing that close to the subjects.

I know there are things you can do, like get a card taped to the flash and bounce it, or those Omnibounce things, but I am reluctant since the flash itself on the G2 is so top heavy, if I add anything else on there it will look like my camera is ready to take off.

For fill flash, am I only supposed to use P mode or a creative mode, and adjust the Flash Exposure compensation? Is it just not possible in Auto mode?

Thanks,

Jessica

Im still getting around the proper use of a 420ex flash with my G6, but here are some recommendations.

Be sure that the flash is set to High speed synchro. There is a H symbol on the top switch (select this). This will ensure that the flash synchronises with higher camera selected shutter speed and not default to 1/60sec. The other thing and it is purely a precautionary nature to ensure flash operates in fill flash mode is to set your camera to slow synchro.. yes i know this sounds counter intuitive, but this way (as per other articles) the camera meters the surrounding ambient light conditions and sets the shutter and aperture to expose the background correctly (thinking the flash is not there) and your flash exposure level is metered of your foreground subject just before firing the flash.

The only catch is that this will operate in AV & TV modes (slow synchro).

In automatic mode, you shouldnt need to do anything so long as you have high speed synchro on your flash enabled. ( i tend to keep this on all the time, as shutter always defaults back to 1/60 when high speed flash synchro is not needed.

One thing comes to mind. Your flash unit can be fooled. If your subject is primarily wearing dark clothing, as part of the automatic flash metering, your flash may think that the subject is in shadow or dark and hence flash will fire more powerfully than really needed (over exposure). This is true of the reverse where your subject may be primarily wearing white or bright colours and hence the flash metering beleives subject is more illuminated and so fires with less power (under exposure). EVEN THOUGH THE GREEN LED LIGHTS UP TO INDICATE CORRECT EXPOSURE.

This kind of scenarios its better to shoot in AV mode and set FEC (flash exposure compensation accordingly) + for bright subjects and - for dark subjects.

Good points. I recently shot a group photo at a baptism where they were all wearing white clothes, and the files were underexposed..........​Luckily, I could "fix" them, somewhat, but I can tell they're not perfect.

Thank you very much, Nabil-A. I am just a bit confused, however-- I think I read somewhere that the G2 (being a somewhat more primitive version)does not have the capability to do High sync, with the 420 EX? Could this be my problem? Or am I wrong about the G2?

Jessica

Not overly familiar with the G2.. perhaps someone else can clarify.