Flash newbie - 580EX not as expected

Hi folks,

I have a 1D MKIII. Last night, dim light indoor birthday party was first opportunity to use my 580EX and I must have done a number of things wrong. Could use some help. Some pics came out ok, the vast majority did not.

I figured since this was a first run, I set to P. Used ISO 100 until I thought that was not enough and moved up to ISO 320. But more had to do with the flash itself.

I bought what looked to be a very cool and logical off shoe flash mount - a Custom Brackets CB Mini-RC and a Canon OC-E3 off shoe cord. Bracket is here:

http://www.custombrack​ets.com …Viewnew.asp?idp​roduct=139

I opened up the catch light panel and bounced off ceiling or right wall.

I expected this to work as E-TTL and relatively automatic until I learned more what settings I might wish to change.

First thing I noticed is that everything on the flash was blinking. I thought that might be because it was off shoe, but later read that means the wide panel is out. But it was not, just the catch light panel.

Also, many shots with my sharpest lenses were front or maybe more back focusing. The light was very low, but I missed my chosen plane of focus often.

So, obviously, I did maybe more than one thing wrong. As I said, a few keepers, but more by luck than knowledge.

So, where to start? Any combination of 1D MKIII and flash settings to start with? Preferred angle of head in this situation? Any flash setting I should not have missed?

Appreciate your help.

~Bob

post up some sample pics so we will be able to see what went wrong. We cant help unless we see how the images look...

Best to shoot in M mode on camera when using the flash as the primary light source. Use Av mode for fill light, typically outdoors. I found P to usually give poor results, but I would look into why your flash is blinking as this doesn't seem right.

First which lens you were using on your 1dmk3? Starting with ISO100 for indoors? Typically I would need ISO800 and faster than f2.8 in normal living room at night time. And then add flash. Use camera in manual mode like already mentioned.

Also I would post problem pictures.

Using a 24-70 2.8 and 70-200 2.8.

I had thought, likely in error, that the flash would compensate for the 100 ISO. And would have no idea how to set in M as there is nothing to meter without flash as it was so dark.

I would think there are basic settings for !D functions and flash settings for off shoe, no?

Wil post pics maybe tonight or tomorrow. Have a busy day today.

Thanks.

~Bob

My first guess as to why your flash settings were blinking would be that you didn't completely push the diffuser screen all the way back in. When I first got my 580EX II I had the same frustrations. Not sure why Canon did this. Doesn't make a lot of sense to me. Why cripple the flash when you pop the diffuser screen out? But nonetheless, I have learned that you just really need to make sure it is pushed all the way back in when using the white bounce card. Once you figure that out, you should be on your way. I use my 580EXII off camera with a eTLL cord (CAT5 extended... love it) all the time. It is a great setup.

The 580 isn't going to light up a dark room perfectly all by itself. That's why you can't use ISO 100. All you're doing is making the flash work very hard, and with poor results.

Bump your ISO. 1600 will look fine on your camera. Heck, it looked ok on my XTi. Set the shutter speed lower to gather all possible light, and set the aperture to what you need for the style of photo you want. If you're bouncing the flash up, back, or whatever, I don't see the need for a flash bracket either.

rebop wrote in post #11277235
Hi folks,

I have a 1D MKIII. Last night, dim light indoor birthday party was first opportunity to use my 580EX and I must have done a number of things wrong. Could use some help. Some pics came out ok, the vast majority did not.

Were your photos overexposed or under exposed? Were they in focus or not? As stated by earlier replies, please post sample photos... this would give everyone a visual of your issue(s).

rebop wrote in post #11277235
I bought what looked to be a very cool and logical off shoe flash mount - a Custom Brackets CB Mini-RC and a Canon OC-E3 off shoe cord. Bracket is here:

http://www.custombrack​ets.com …Viewnew.asp?idp​roduct=139

I suggest 1st using the flash mounted to the camera hot shoe. I see no reason to mount it on that sort of bracket for now... especially when you're not familiar with the flash itself. Besides, mounting the flash on that bracket brings the flash closer to the center of the lens, thus bringing in issues of red-eye when shooting in landscape. The only time this bracket might be useful is when shooting in portrait mode.

rebop wrote in post #11277235
Also, many shots with my sharpest lenses were front or maybe more back focusing. The light was very low, but I missed my chosen plane of focus often.

I feel this may have also been due to the use of the bracket. BUT this is just a guess from me... not from experience, as I've never used a bracket of any sort before to mount my flash. My thought is that Canon designed the focus light(s) on the flash to work with it mounted on the camera... with it mounted on the bracket, the flash is offset to one side and lower vs. over the center of the lens. This may have affected the focus light pattern and how the 1D "sees" this pattern. AGAIN... this is just a guess from me.

I usually start with these settings with my 1D/1Ds + 580EX/580EX II combo... set camera to Manual mode, with aperture set for somewhere between f/4-5.6, shutter speed somewhere between 1/60-1/250s, and ISO at 400. Based on the results, I adjust the aperture and/or shutter speed for desired results. I fiddle a little with the flash compensation sometimes, upping it as much as +1. I usually set the flash head to be pointing up and angled behind me vs. pointing up and angled towards the subject... when shooting photos of people, this helps get more light in the subject's faces and prevents raccoon eye's.

rebop wrote in post #11277235
First thing I noticed is that everything on the flash was blinking. I thought that might be because it was off shoe, but later read that means the wide panel is out. But it was not, just the catch light panel.

Appreciate your help.

~Bob

Check it closer. It might 'appear' you that the panel is in, but unless it is all the way in until it CLICKS, it is not in.

Like has been said above .....

Put the camera in Manual Mode

Put the flash in ETTL Mode

Take some shots and see what happens, make adjustments as needed depending on desired results.

I just learned the same "blinking" issue... when the screen is blinking on the 580, the pop up flash panel is not ALL THE WAY DOWN. Just pull it out, and slide it back carefully until it pops down into the case. The blinking goes away.

Whew. Too much to reply to right now, but...

Yep, you were all correct. The wide panel did not click back in. That has cured the blinking problem. Thanks.

So now it is taking the standard horrible looking typical flash picture But I have not played much just yet. I will.

There is also a setting on the 1D to set the flash as off camera automatic. I am not seeing much difference between that and standard TTL.

And one of the reasons for the bracket is ergonomics. It feels much better in my hands like that. Much better balance. I did not like it on the hot shoe.

So, let me play a little, come back and fill in comments and let you know where I am. Appreciate all the advice.

And funny, yesterdays bad pictures had a much nicer and warmer quality to them. I will post some both ways, but need a little time to get around to it. But at least right now the flash is being controlled by the camera.

~Bob

When using M mode with flash, you set the aperture and ISO you want/need for the flash to be able to illuminate the subject.
Obviously, if you are bouncing off something you need higher ISO/larger aperture than when firing the flash straight on.
There's a light on the flash which goes on for a few seconds after taking a picture. That will tell you if the camera's E-TTL II system found the flash light to be sufficient.

So you set the aperture and ISO. Then you select a shutter speed you like, while watching the exposure metering scale in the viewfinder. If it's out of bounds on the dark side, the difference between flash and background will be more than three stops. If you are on the scale, you can vary the shutter speed to control the level of ambient relative to the flash.

In P mode, if it's dark around you, you typically get 1/60s and max aperture all the time. You can just as well set that in M mode, and then you have the ability to start playing with it from there.

If it's very dark when focusing, One Shot AF and the flash in the hotshoe, with AF assist light enabled, may be helpful. Or MF or some external focus light.

You can use FEL to pre-meter the flash, if you want to. Aim center of viewfinder to the important part (this uses spot metering, regardless of all other settings), press FEL and you'll get visual verification in the viewfinder about whether the flash light is strong enough or not.

Great info, thanks. A lot to try out and right now reading the manual cover to cover as well as a Canon tutorial I found online.

Still do not understand the difference (or when to use) ETTL II or the off camera automatic flash setting available through the 1D. Any insight on that one?

~Bob

rebop wrote in post #11282150
Still do not understand the difference (or when to use) ETTL II or the off camera automatic flash setting available through the 1D. Any insight on that one?

Not sure what you talk about here? There is an external metering option for the 580 EX II, but not in the 580 EX, and that's the model you have, right?

When using a bracket, I've noticed that I had to manually override the flash zoom setup to a wider angle, as sometime, because of the increased distance of the flash from the body, the flash was not covering the bottom of the subject (mostly apparent when the subject is close).