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Originally Posted by
Jarhead5811
<span style="font-size: 9pt; color: #000000; font-family: Verdana;"]As a relative beginner I hate to give up that crutch. I may change my mind/get more competentbefore I get an RF system though.
Jarhead,
That's a bad crutch.
Suggestion: Put your flash in manual 1/2 power, set the camera to manual 1/125th, f8 and fire.
Aperture controls flash exposure: turn aperture up or down to increase/decrease exposure. (this is regardless of shutter speed)
Shutter Speed controls ambient: Turn shutter speed up or down to control ambient mix. That's what E-TTL evaluative/average does in Av mode.
Thisis the initial setupfor a simple 3 flash Vivitar285HV scene:
Main: 60" unmbrella 1/2 power (set as close as possible to subject(s))
Fill: 48" umbrella 1/4 power ( move away to lessen amount of fill)
Halo/Rim Light: Honl 8" snoot 1/16 power.
I'll switch the umbrellas if I want harder key and softer more even fill. I'll shoot thru the 60 to really soften it up.
Camera: ISO 200, f8, 1/125th (adjust shutter to increase/decrease shadow) (adjust aperature to increase/decrease dof) (increase/decrease ISO for overall exposure brightness/offfset an aperture adjustment)
Using TTL as a crutch will never help you understand what is going on with your lights. The time it takes to experiment is negligible and costs nothing except time and batteries (unless you use NiMH)
So, I challenge you to try what I just listed with one - three off-camera lights. I find it's a lot easier than predictingwhat E-TTL is going to do and the cost of a few cactus triggers and few manual flash heads is still less than one 580EXII.
Ask, Sean, he'll agree, it's a piece o' cake. And the benefit is that you know how to control it.
Chuck
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