Lord Fluff states that Canon\'s pro flash units are a total waste of money in my opinion. You will get a better result from the pop-up flash on a 450D in green square mode.
If like Chuck explains, you bother to learn how the Canon flashes work in either ETTL or Manual you will have very little problems. I also am old school, and when I started in the early seventies as a press photographer we also tried whenever we could to use two flashes, one off camera on a stand or someone holding it, and the other in our left hand angled for fill light, this is because the picture editor would need a photograph with good contrast and shadows for cheap newspaper printing, and we also had 6 grades of paper to print on. We also only used 35mm for sports and only had manual focus and a light meter to do the job, and if you did not come back with the pictures you would have been looking for a job. I have been a Canon man since 1968, and have in all that time used every pro camera Canon made since EOS came out in the late eighties. I have had my 5Dmk11 for about a month now, but it has only been a second body to my 1Dmk111 until I had tested every part of the camera with on and off camera
flashes until I could as Chuck states, look at any scene and think that`s [email protected], a quick look at the histogram make any small adjustment and fire away. I always use Manual setting on the camera with both ETTL and Manual on the flashguns as and when required. As for the OP`s problem of underexposure, had he arrived at the church a few minutes early, he could have done some tests from the positions that the No 1 photographer had told him to work from and started with [email protected] at 800iso in Manual, and he would only have needed one test shot to give him 100% correct exposure for the next. This is the beauty of digital, testing costs nothing other than your time, and all adjustments can be made without taking your eye from the eyepiece. If you are taking money from a client for your photography, then you owe it to your client to be able to deliver the goods, and not blame your equipment, on every job you do.
Mike
Dec 29, 2008 at 01:00 PM
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