Canon 7D + 430 EXII: on camera set-up

Please excuse this really noobie request, but can someone give be a dummy-proof A,B,C set-up and shoot procedure for my 7D + 430EXII, on camera, full auto.

Would it look something like this:
1. Set flash speed to 1/250 sec in Custom Functions menu
2. Set external flash setting to E-TTL, 1st curtain sync...anything else?
3. Not sure what to set on the flash itself...??
4. Put diffuser onto flash, set for bounce at 45 degrees
5. Take a shot
6. Then adjust exposure on-camera or on-flash

I challenge any newcomer to work this out via the 2 respective manuals....thanks.

It all depends on what you are shooting and what environment you are in...

...welcome to the forum!

You should write user-manuals for Canon, thanks Mike. Cold weather getting to you over there?
All I need to do is take a snap indoors of my dear wife.

Right, then that's more info and we can help!

However, this section of the forum might be a good place to start...

Thanks for the link Mike.

For full auto, get started by mounting the flash and turning it on. I think that's enough to get started. The two Canon products work out the details like sync speed, lighting, etc behind the scenes.

I can't set my T2i above 1/200 unless I engage HSS on the 430. But you can just leave HSS on all the time for basic shooting; I think it'll revert to single-flash when the shutter is at or below sync.

I don't think there's anything for you to do. In the auto modes, ETTL simply figures it all out. Now if you want to get OUT of full auto, that's a whole different story.

Set camera to M mode, AWB, single shot, ISO 400.
Select f/5.6 and 1/125s.
Via the flash setup menu, set the flash to E-TTL II, 1st curtain, not bracketing, no exposure compensation and evaluative metering.

If under a white ceiling, set flash to bounce at 45° without any diffuser.

Try it out.

You can adjust the flash strength by the FEC on the camera (ISO/FEC button - turn back dial).
You check the strength of the ambient light on the scale in the viewfinder. The more to the left, the more the flash will provide the main light.

Depending upon the distance to the subject, you may get a better result with a diffuser, but often bouncing the ceiling is enough.

Thanks Anders, exactly what I'm after. I just need to know 'how', no time to work out 'why'.
Appreciated.

I saw another (long) thread using similar to Anders' settings above: Manual mode, ISO1600, f/4 and 1/60s, but cannot find it again. He seemed to get excellent results too, there were seevral images posted for reference.

Yes, if you use f/4 and ISO 1600 instead of f/5.6 and ISO 400, you get three more stops of sensitivity, so your flash will not have to work that hard to illuminate the scene. Whether my settings or this is best depends upon the room. If the room is pretty small and the ceiling not too high, then my setting will work. Otherwise, just open up the lens and/or rise the ISO, until the flash is powerful enough. Note that Canon's flashes have a little lamp which turns on for a few seconds after an exposure, to tell you if the light was strong enough.

The point is that using M mode allows you to easily change these settings, but they don't jump around by themselves, but will remain consistent.
Also note that when using flash, the aperture is more important than the shutter speed. When I use flash with my 7D, I set it up so that the function of the dials are switched in M mode, i.e. aperture at main dial and shutter speed at the quick dial on the back. The 7D is flexible enough to allow you to adjust the aperture with both dials in M mode, if you like. You can still change the shutter speed through the Q button.

My suggestion would be close to Anders' but I would suggest using flash white balance rather than auto.

There's still a lot of information missing....

Dummy-proof?
a)Use Green box
b)Shoot
That's why they put those modes on the camera.
The two suggestions, iso 400 all the way to iso 1600 is a large difference.
If you're asking this question, I'd say your experience is limited so far..so stay away from Manual mode.
Or...how about using Tv mode, set the shutter speed to 60. Then adjust your iso until your aperature stops blinking at f4.0.
Or go with the green box instead.

Suggesting green box for flash photography is rather a bad suggestion, and Tv is even worse.

If you do want the equivalent of green box, but still some ability to get your pictures the way you want, then you are better off in P mode. Then at least you can select your focus point where you want it.
But M mode, combined with E-TTL II, is simply the easiest way to shoot with flash with EOS cameras. It's still automatic, since E-TTL II will take care of that, but M mode allows you to set the aperture, shutter speed and ISO the way you want them before you start shooting away. It provides consistency without complexity.

The difference between ISO 400 and 1600 is just two stops. Like between f/4 and f/8, so that's no big deal.

The OP said full auto. In that case there's nothing to do... turn it on and go; the images will be properly exposed (in some way) as long as the flash has enough reach. It might not be the kind of exposure he wants, but the camera will do its best to match things up. The sequence he outlined in the first post is pretty much the "Fine tune the full auto" approach.

Leaving full auto and starting with manual settings that need to be tuned is a whole different thing.

apersson850 wrote in post #11504862
Suggesting green box for flash photography is rather a bad suggestion, and Tv is even worse.

If you do want the equivalent of green box, but still some ability to get your pictures the way you want, then you are better off in P mode. Then at least you can select your focus point where you want it.
But M mode, combined with E-TTL II, is simply the easiest way to shoot with flash with EOS cameras. It's still automatic, since E-TTL II will take care of that, but M mode allows you to set the aperture, shutter speed and ISO the way you want them before you start shooting away. It provides consistency without complexity.

The difference between ISO 400 and 1600 is just two stops. Like between f/4 and f/8, so that's no big deal.

He asked for dummy-proof suggestions.
You give him a solution that requires him to select shutter speed, aperature, and iso.
AND you say it "provides consistency"
I guess we'll leave it to the OP to decide.