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Archive 2004 · Does FEC on slave affect exposure? Go to previous topic Go to next topic
Keith Wong
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p.1 #1 · Does FEC on slave affect exposure?


As we all know, Canon's ETTL2 flash system only allows you to control 3 groups of flash (A, B, C). You can independently set ratios between these flash units (A:B and A:C). What if you want to add a fourth group of flash? I was curious to see if you could fake a fourth group by assigning it to group C, and then set FEC on the slave unit to get a different output from that particular slave unit.

I could not find any answers anywhere on the internet so I decided to do my own experiment.

Method. The test subject (a wonderful example of communist kitsch!) was placed on my loudspeaker. A 580EX was mounted on the camera (EOS-20D, manual mode, 1/100s, ISO100, tripod mounted). A 50/1.4 lens was used, set at F/8. The 580EX was angled so that it would bounce off the wall to the left. A 550EX slave was assigned to group B and placed to the right of the picture. Both flashes were left in ETTL mode. During the experiment, the only variables were the RATIO and FEC settings.

Results

First, I did some test shots with settings which are known to work just to prove that my setup will deliver the experimental results which I am looking for.

1. RATIO set at 1:1, FEC Master:0, Slave:0



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2. RATIO set at 8:1, FEC Master:0, Slave:0



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3. RATIO set at 1:8, FEC Master:0, Slave:0



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At this point I have established that "normal" flash ratio control works with this setup. So I went on and did the experiment:

4. RATIO set at 1:1, FEC Master:-3, Slave:0



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5. RATIO set at 1:1, FEC Master:-3, Slave:+3



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Conclusion FEC cannot be used on slave flash units to fake a fourth group.

Edited by Amfibius on Nov 20, 2004 at 09:22 AM GMT

Nov 20, 2004 at 01:17 AM
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Keith Wong
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p.1 #2 · Does FEC on slave affect exposure?


However, when you set the slave flash to manual mode, you CAN fake a fourth group:

6. RATIO set at 1:1, FEC Master:-3, Slave: manual mode at 1/16 power.



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Nov 20, 2004 at 01:19 AM
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