Hi wizards of the Canon world...

Any of you use an "A" type fill flash? I want the smallest available one (ETTL NOT required) for general use in the park etc. for fill flash. The cameras this will be used on are 1D, 1DIII and 40D; mostly the 1D.

The Sunpak RD-2000 is nice, but not "A", only E-TTL. I am sure it is me, but the E-TTL inconsistency on the Canon flash system has been a nightmare for me. May be my IQ is lower than the average Canon user, but I _never_ got consistent results with the 550EX and my Metzs were _way_ better. I still use the Metzs, but want a "really" small pocketable flash like the Metz 54-MZ4/MZ3/AF1.

Requirements:

1. Must support A mode
   
2. Must be able to do EV compensation
   
3. Nice to have tilt head
   

Auto flash outdoors has a very short range, it works from light reflected back from the subject and that gets diluted very fast outdoors. One of the nice things about ETTL II flash was finally getting both accurate fill outdoors whatever the distance and of course not being tied to X-sync and the resulting ND filters...

The Nikon SB-30 is the smallest Auto-thyristor flash I've seen. It also has full manual power ratios and TTL (Nikon dedicated of course). It folds down and uses small lithium batteries. I've used it on my 5D a few times but found I prefer the E-TTL 220EX, although the Canon is larger.

Thanks Guys...

I will check the Nikon out...

-- V

Metz 20-C2

http://www.metzflash.co.uk/pages/metz1.htm

Although I know you don't like it but the RD2000 is an excellent gun

David

Have you ever used an auto-thyristor flash? I suspect not because of your list of requirements including EV compensation. The way they work is the dial on the flash is set for the f/stop the camera is set on. If the exposure at those settings winds up not being correct you then need to either change camera aperture or the flash power setting. There is no "EV adjustment" on the flash and typically the auto settings are one f/stop apart. So to find tune exposure -- which is just as necessary with auto as any other mode based on scene reflectance - you wind up changing the aperture which affects DOF, an important creative variable.

Having used Auto thyristor Vivitars for 30+ years before switching to Canon I can venture to say that Canon does a far better job once one grasps how the exposure system works. The metering is done by the camera body and I suspect the big part of the problem in your case is the 1D you are using which utilizes the first-generation Canon flash metering called "ETTL" which is based on active AF points. Your other two cameras are ETTL-II bodies which use the evaluate zone method for flash and ambient exposure.

The trick with ETTL-II to the extent there is one is to first adjust shutter speed and aperture so an ambient only exposure keeps everything below clipping. The ambient level is the baseline the evaluative flash metering measures against and it its blown the camera metering will tell the flash to output less power than necessary. When the ambient is correctly exposed (which may take as much as - 2 EC in Av mode) the ETTL-II flash does a very good job of matching a shaded foreground to a sunlit background.

Even more basic technique-wise is realizing fill flash only works when shooting into the shadow side. The point of the exercise is to reduce the contrast of the scene (which may 12 or more stops in backlight) to fit the 7 stop range of detail the sensor can record. The flash can only reduce a scene range if it does not overlap the sunlit highlights. For example, you can't expect flash to fill the dark eye sockets of a sun lit face because the flash also overlaps the sunlit parts of the face and blows the highlights as it tries to raise the shadows. Raising shutter speed will reduce the ambient in both highlights and shadows and simply trades flat sunlight for flat flat. But in a backlight situation when the shutter is set to keep the sunlit hair and clothing under clipping the flash can lift the shadows, effectively reducing the contrast range of the foreground subject, without overlapping the sunlit highlights.

The key to success with flash outdoors is knowing how best to use the ambient light and compose the scene for flash, shooting into the shadows of the ambient light so the flash can work independently of it to lower the contrast range of the scene. Once that it grasped the type of flash used makes very little difference because regardless of what controls flash output the physics remains the same: flash can't do its job to reduce contrast unless it operates independently and does not overlap the sunlit highlights.

All things considered you'd have better consistent control of flash power with a Canon flash in M mode which allows power level adjustment in 1/3 stop increments and takes metering out of the equation. Manual is really no more difficult than ETTL and the workflow is the same: take a shot (which is usually correct about 1/2 the time), then adjust power based on camera playback (use the over exposure warning). The only difference is flash power is controlled directly with the power setting rather that with the FEC dial in ETTL. Both have the same net effect of changing flash duration which changes exposure and once set the manual will be consistent shot-to-shot while ETTL will react to changes in background reflectance of the scene and will be affected by focus / recompose.

Chuck

Chuck

Many thanks...I think I have much better understanding of the flash now. I am still using the Metz in A mode and some times in Manual mode. I will re-read this till I understand the technique well.

Thanks for taking the time to spell out the details. I appreciate it very much.

-- Vivek

if your flash has different level settings for A mode you can leave your aperture where you want it and adjust output by picking the A mode that is either over or under the aperture you have selected... that is kind of like EV correction... as is your ISO setting.

Generally setting your camera to 1/2-1 stop under ambient reading in M and and shooting with flash in A mode usually works nicely.

It's probably is too big for you, but I find the Sunpak 383 to be a great compact unit with way nicer controls than any Vivitar.

cgardner wrote:
Even more basic technique-wise is realizing fill flash only works when shooting into the shadow side. The point of the exercise is to reduce the contrast of the scene (which may 12 or more stops in backlight) to fit the 7 stop range of detail the sensor can record. The flash can only reduce a scene range if it does not overlap the sunlit highlights. For example, you can't expect flash to fill the dark eye sockets of a sun lit face because the flash also overlaps the sunlit parts of the face and blows the highlights as it tries to raise the shadows.

Chuck

Hi, Chuck,

I would not be too concerned with overlapping the sunlit parts with flash and blowing the highlights. For example, fill flash that is 2 stops below ambient will only increase the exposure on the sunlit parts by 1/3 stop. Reducing ambient exposure by 1/3 stop, should one need to, should not flatten the image unreasonably so.

I would not hesitate to use flash to fill in dark eye sockets if I have no other alternative.