Advice on flash.

Chr1stof

Chr1stof

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Chris
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I have a Canon 550d and I find the resulting images using the pop up flash quite harsh and hard to control. I have just been looking for a tutorial on the basics of using flash, both on and off camera and failed to find anything.
Can someone point me in the right direction for a good basic guide for a new starter on getting to grips with on/off camera flash?

Also, with regards to buying a flash, some advice on the pros/ cons of the Canon flash range and what to go for, alternative makes to Canon (lower end of the range, can't afford several hundred!)

Thanks
Chris
 
Buy the Speedlighters handbook by Syl Arena, look up Yongnuo flashes, the 565ex for a straight ETTL alternative or the 568ex if you think you'll need high speed sync.
 
Have a google for yongnuo flashes,they are pretty good.:)
Phil got there.:eek:
 
a couple of candles would do in your case chris ,the amount of times you use your camera LOL happy new year mate:wave::wave:
 
Thanks for the tips so far

Happy new year to everyone Jeff, thanks for the suggestion- I reckon four should cover it
four_candles_screenshot_1.png


I do use my camera a fair bit but I must resolve to put more on Flickr ;)
 
defo infored chris though oneums a birt yella :jawdrop::jawdrop::runaway:
 
I recently bought a Yongnuo 460-II for less than £30, as my first off-camera flash, it's not the best but it's pretty good for us beginners. It fires as a slave unit by sensing the on-camera flash from my camera & firing within the shutter time you'd use (ie. less than1/250s). As a beginner I wanted to get the best ttl flash I could afford but the more I read on the subject the more I realised that pro photographers use their flashes in manual mode anyway. Using the flash in manual really isn't that much of a challenge. Using an off-camera flash needs a tripod though, you have to be able to position the light where you want it
 
You could use a white bit of card to bounce your flash to check out the effect first.

Set your flash to full power in manual flash mode and adjust your shutter speed, ISO & aperture as required.

I use this cool little technique sometimes myself.
 
Phil V said:
Buy the Speedlighters handbook by Syl Arena, look up Yongnuo flashes, the 565ex for a straight ETTL alternative or the 568ex if you think you'll need high speed sync.
Click to expand...

This is very good advice, excellent book that'll take you right through from the basics to advanced multi-flash set-ups, and it's Canon based. Also check out Lighting 101 here http://strobist.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/annual-road-trip-and-major-site.html You need a bit of basic learning and understanding of how light works to get the most out of OCF.

Cris_L said:
A used 430 ex would also be a good choice
Click to expand...

And so is this good advice. Personally, if a 430EXII is in budget, I'd go for that. It's a very good gun, with high speed sync that not many cheaper guns have (very useful for fill-in flash outdoors) and it's always a good idea to have at least one good quality E-TTL gun. You can add cheaper manual guns any time.

For off-camera E-TTL you need a master controller, which your 550D doesn't have, but manual is usually the preferred option off-camera so get a set of cheap/good Yongnuo radio triggers. For any additional guns, just get another YN receiver-trigger.
 
would an STE2 work on a 550d to control off camera? I see there are non Canon STE2 equivalents too
 
Chr1stof said:
would an STE2 work on a 550d to control off camera? I see there are non Canon STE2 equivalents too
Click to expand...

Yes, if you want off-camera auto-E-TTL remote control, but uses IR-optical communication that's not as reliable as radio, so Yongnuo 622 is better and half the cost.
 
Apologies to everyone making suggestions for my ineptitude on this...thanks for your answers so far!
I didn't think anything wireless was compatible with a 550d, so basically is this correct- this controller (622) sits in the hot shoe and wirelessly controls a flash such as the 430exii (and others if available)?

I would think an IR connection needs to be line of sight too?

I should add that all this aimed at me having a go at producing some nice "keepers" of my 22 month old and some other stuff like my motorbike maybe
 
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Yes, that's spot on. The 602/603/622 trigger can sit in the hotshoe of the camera, and when you fire the shutter it'll wirelessly talk to the gun and trigger it over a fairly huge range. I have to YN 565 mk3 guns which have the corresponding receivers built into them which is great (no ETTL though).
You can also use the trigger as a remote release for your camera using the appropriate cable if you wish.
I got 2 of the YN flashes, a set of stands, the triggers and a shoot-thru umbrella for under £200 brand new which is a pretty reasonable setup!
 
Chr1stof said:
Apologies to everyone making suggestions for my ineptitude on this...thanks for your answers so far!
I didn't think anything wireless was compatible with a 550d, so basically is this correct- this controller (622) sits in the hot shoe and wirelessly controls a flash such as the 430exii (and others if available)?

I would think an IR connection needs to be line of sight too?

I should add that all this aimed at me having a go at producing some nice "keepers" of my 22 month old and some other stuff like my motorbike maybe
Click to expand...

IR works okay indoors, doesn't usually need line of sight, though that's a good idea. Outdoors in daylight though, the IR signals can get washed out, often needing both line of sight and closer distances, and even then unreliable in bright sun.

Radio is much better. Cheap £30-ish for manual radio triggers like the Yongnuo 602 or 603, or if budget's not that tight, go for the YN 622 with E-TTL for about double that. E-TTL radio triggers used to be very expensive, but Yongnuo has changed that. You can also use them in manual.
 
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More questions...
I have sussed (I think?) E-TTL is metering to adjust the flash automatically , so (and this is going to sound stupid) a manual flash has to be fully set manually for the strength of flash, shutter speed etc)?

What sort of shutter speeds can I expect a flash to synchronise with the shutter to with these?
 
Chr1stof said:
More questions...
I have sussed (I think?) E-TTL is metering to adjust the flash automatically , so (and this is going to sound stupid) a manual flash has to be fully set manually for the strength of flash, shutter speed etc)?

What sort of shutter speeds can I expect a flash to synchronise with the shutter to with these?
Click to expand...
E-TTL is pretty much auto mode for the flash. Yes, a fully manual flash has to be set by the user.

The shutter speed (sync speed) depends on the camera. My 6D's sync speed is 1/180th. I wouldn't be surprised if your 550d was 1/250th at a guess (that's the maximum), but you can do a quick search for that. Unless of course you'll be looking at high speed sync. I would suggest you read up a little about flash. This is a link to another forum but it's good stuff. http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=171657

Just as an example. I have a Canon 430 EXii. I can use it on the hotshot of my camera or off camera using an E-TTL cable or these triggers http://www.premier-ink.co.uk/photog...rf602c-wireless-trigger-set-canon-p-4181.html Just so you know these triggers don't allow HSS.
 
Spot on, my 650D has a top sync speed of 1/200th sec. Personally I decided to avoid ETTL as I've found it easier to set it manually, take a few shots, and adjust. ETTL is handy as a full auto but as I could never really predict what it was going to do and wanted to learn to light stuff myself I decided to see what manual is like. So far, so good!
You don't set a manual flash shutter speed, all you do is set the power - e.g. full, half, quarter etc.

The one tip that made things click for me is a flash photo is basically 2 exposures - the one made by ambient light, which will be controlled by shutter speed (e.g. longer exposure "drag the shutter" will let more ambient light in and bring up the background) and the one made by the flash (very short duration, so basically shutter speed makes no difference to capturing the flash as it's incredibly short) - both happening at once.

Have a look at this:
[url]http://strobist.blogspot.co.uk/2006/03/lighting-101.html[/URL]
 
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E-TTL is the name of Canon's flash control system. It's often used as a shorthand for auto flash exposure control, however, you can also set everything manually, but still via E-TTL control, with E-TTL triggers like the YN 622. The guns must be in slave mode for this, with settings made at the camera end.

Or if you only want to use manual, then you only need basic triggers. All they do is fire the flash, not part of E-TTL at all, so the power must be set manually on the gun, with the gun in manual mode.
 
As we've got here, I'll add the usual about ETTL and Manual flash modes.

If you're moving around with your flash, then ETTL will give you fairly consistent results easily. However, if you're setting up a fixed lighting setup, then Manual will make life easier.

The 622 triggers are cheap enough to buy just so you can remotely control the manual power levels of the flashes.
 
Many thanks for taking time to add the replies, I am trying to work my way through the links added and what you have all said. Starting to make sense a bit now (at least in theory), I think a lot of instruction manual reading will also be required when I decide what to go for just to work out the buttons!
 
Cris_L said:
A used 430 ex would also be a good choice
Click to expand...

The used price on here is not that far off the new price given there is a £40 cashback at the moment, thanks for adding to the suggestions though :)
 
Another question regards the 622, just been looking on ebay and so on and they can be bought in multiples. If I have one on the camera I didn't think I needed another on the flash? Reading some of the listings would suggest I do :confused:
 
Chr1stof said:
Another question regards the 622, just been looking on ebay and so on and they can be bought in multiples. If I have one on the camera I didn't think I needed another on the flash? Reading some of the listings would suggest I do :confused:
Click to expand...

Yes, you need a transmitter on-camera and a receiver unit for each flash gun.

With Canon's IR light-code communication, the receiver is built in to the flash. But you're by-passing that system and using an independent radio trigger, so you need both transmitter and receivers.
 
So I half got it right :) Thanks for the patience on this.
So I need 2x622- 1x 622 trigger and 1x 622 receiver or is the trigger/receiver the same unit as I noticed in the Amazon listing it is a "transceiver"?

Either way its 2x 622 using radio wireless like this-
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Yongnuo-YN-...8&qid=1388794664&sr=1-1&keywords=yongnuo+622c

or 1x ST-E2 using IR wireless
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Canon-Speedlite-Wireless-Remote-Transmitter/dp/B0000C4G95

I can't understand why the Canon offering is not radio at that price.
 
YN 662 are transceivers.

Yongnuo has rather changed the game on the cost of E-TTL. Canon is also the only camera maker to offer built-in radio E-TTL, based around the 600EX-RT gun, but the price is scary and apart from neatness and convenience, the 622s are actually better.
 
As I said, when you're using flash, you have to use a fairly low shutter speed. You don't have to be wired or wireless. The flash/flashes can be triggered just by the light from a master flash. Everything will happen fast enough to impact on the one image.
 
I just got Syl Arena's "Speeliters' Handbook" - Fantastic book which covers all of the above really well.

I'm in the same-ish boat as you - I have 2x 430 EXII's, so will be purchasing 3x Youngou 622c's to control these.
At the moment, my 7D can control them via the onboard flash, but this doesn't work well outside on a sunny day or without line-of-sight...
 
Just thought I would do a quick update, I ordered a 430EXii from John Lewis using a price match yesterday and a pair of 622c controllers from Amazon today seeing as I had a £50 voucher :)

Thanks for all the help, just have to learn how to use them now ;)
 
Unless I have missed it, or it is in one of the links, I haven't seen anyone mention using a diffuser when the flash is mounted in the hotshoe? They are great for softening the harsh light from flash. Stofen's are good, but can be expensive for what they are. You can get away with using a piece of tissue over the flash head held with a rubber to soften the light.
 
I use ETTL on camera, but don't miss it when using off camera flash. You can alter the effective flash power at the camera end by changing the aperture anyway and speed isn't normally of the essence if you are spreading flashes about the place.
 
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