1st time night soccer with flash

Today I got to try out my monopod with under-the-lens flash at a night soccer game. Since my 70-200mm is still at Canon I had to shoot with my 300mm f/4. I think that lens is a bit too long. It seems like the 580 EX II couldn't properly light the players when they were too far away. With the 70-200mm I can shoot much closer where the flash doesn't have to work that hard.

A few questions:
1) I still got a ton of red-eye even so the flash is mounted upside down 1 segment below the camera on the monopod. Any way to improve this?

2) It was hard for me to tell whether the flash was aimed right. How do you guys check flash aim?

3) ETTL didn't seem to work that great. I dialed in FEC +1 3/4 but it still seemed to little. I later switched the flash to manual power (1/4th) and that seemed to work better. Should I forget about ETTL?

4) When I still did use ETTL, I used center-weighted metering. Does this apply to the flash or is the metering mode only used for the camera itself (I shot in M mode, so it wouldn't matter for the camera)?

Any other tips regarding shutter speed selection, flash positioning or anything that might help?

Some pictures from today:

1. 1/200th, f/4, ISO 1600, ETTL

the only thing that looks focused in the first two shots is the grass??

About the focus. I think you experienced what I have using flash at night on a poorly lit field. The low-light focus capabililities of the camera and lens isn't nearly as good as it would be with better light.

Shot football a couple of weeks back with flash, (my only option) and then high-ISO on a well lit field. No comparison in focus capabilities on the well-lit field to the morbidly dark field where flash had to be used.

This is my biggest road block to using flash for football. If it's so dark on the field that flash has to be used, the camera and lens can't provide accurate focus anyway. So what you end up with is really bright, OOF shots!

dave

Danny had great luck with TTL so hopefully he chimes in here. Personally, I use M at 1/4-1/2 and then adjust my aperture to properly expose (stop down a touch when close, open as they move away). I'll typically leave ISO around 800. Point is, you want it pretty dark. The toughest fields are those in between where its harder to overcome the ambient. Focus does look like an issue on these but they alos seem a bit underexposed to me as well. Perhaps go to 1/2 M and make sure you are giving your camera time to lock on. It may mean missing a few peak shots here and there but if that peak shot is OOF, it doesn't matter much anyway.

lol... oh boy... this could get interesting.. but scott you are right.. good write up..

Maybe I've been staring at these too long, but honestly I didn't think they were really OOF. Though I do have to say, I did a test shot of some unlit trashcans at the field and it didn't focus correctly at all even so the camera's focus confirmation light came on.

Will the 70-200mm f/2.8 make a difference in focusing ability?

I also wanted to add that this may not be a good start for the 7d... if it isnt focusing correctly in bad light...

int2str- It might be a smidge more accurate but who knows..

canonnoob wrote in post #8828074
I also wanted to add that this may not be a good start for the 7d... if it isnt focusing correctly in bad light...

Hey, don't judge a camera by this lousy operator!
I've used it indoors in very low light a few times already and it focused great.

Slap a Better Beamer on that flash, you'll get better results.

If I use the 70-200mm would I still need the better beamer?

int2str wrote in post #8825048
Today I got to try out my monopod with under-the-lens flash at a night soccer game.

I still got a ton of red-eye even so the flash is mounted upside down 1 segment below the camera on the monopod. Any way to improve this?

The rule of thumb that I've seen is that for every 1 inch you raise or lower the flash is good for 1 foot of red-eye prevention. So if your flash was 10" below your lens, then subjects 10' away from you should not be vulnerable to red-eye.

But if you're out of range for your flash, then the players were probably more than 10' away.

Also, did you max out the zoom angle on your flash to 105mm?

The BetterBeamer is supposed to be for over 200mm and the instructions say to set the flash zoom to 50mm... this fills up the fresnel/lenticular magnifier.

int2str wrote in post #8830051
If I use the 70-200mm would I still need the better beamer?

The BB will get you more distance for your power.