Thread: Another Canon flash issue...

Ugh, I don't have luck with Speedlites... Anyone ever heard of this? I did a quick Google search, but not much came up.

Using either my 580 EX or 420 EX, camera on manual setting will not shoot above 1/200 sec. Camera will display higher values, but when I push the shutter half way, it immediately goes back to 1/200. WTFF?

High Speed Sync.

I reccomend that you read the manual.

RTFM.

When using E-TTL, or Nikon's similar i-ttl, the camera can only be synched to the flash at speeds below a certain point. On many cameras this is 1/250th, on some 1/200th. Certain cameras can sync up to almost infinite speeds due to the use of a electronic shutter, rather that a mechanical one. The original canon 1D and nikon D70 for certain, and the Nikon D60. (I think) See strobist.org for a more complete discussion.

You can (probably) set up your camera to allow the use of high-speed sync. Doing this changes the way the e-ttl metering system works by eliminating the pre-flash that the system uses to measure the amount of flash needed. So you'll gain shutter speed up to 1/500th, but lose the e-ttl capability that you shelled out for. For other ways to deal with this problem I recommend reading strobist, and joe mcnally's blog.

And by the way.... JONG!!!!

Thanks for the info. Hopefully you two geniuses can tell me why it worked one minute, and without me switching ANY settings, it did not work the next. I do see dead people, if that helps.

No but seriously, thanks... and yes, I am a camera JONG. If I weren't, I would not be asking questions about photography in a ski forum.

What exactly do you mean by worked? If by worked you mean that the camera made it's shift without your notice and you still made a good exposure, then you got lucky. And one minute to the next can be a big deal, did you turn around? Walk to somewhere else? Getting a good exposure one minute, and a bad exposure another is not at all uncommon.

However, it remains impossible to sync a e-ttl flash with a canon body at any higher speed than 1/200th of a second without having at some point or another gone into the custom functions and told the camera to do so. Unfortunately Canon changes where everything in the menus is from one camera to the next, but if you're using a 1D classic or a 30D I can tell you how it's done.

Main reason for using high speed sync is to preserve a narrow depth of field caused by a wider aperture. If you really need to do this and your subject won't be badly blurred at 1/200th (remembering that the flash can help you freeze motion if you're careful) then I suggest a ND filter for your lens.

As to asking for advice about photography on a ski board, there are some pretty talented shooters around here! Barker and Grunderson come to mind....

Originally Posted by sixstringski

As to asking for advice about photography on a ski board, there are some pretty talented shooters around here! Barker and Grunderson come to mind....

I couldn't agree more.

Finally figured it out, and mostly due to comments here. One 580 EX was set to high-speed sync and one was not. I mixed them up in between days. Had no idea about the high-speed sync setting on the flash itself--yes, I'm a jong for not knowing and not reading the manual. Regardless, thanks to you guys for the replies.

Hey man, no hate coming from here. I am the guy who didnt know what AF points were, until I recently went through my manual. I dont even really know how to use HSS either. Glad you figured it out.

It seems like the photo section here is making people soft. Not enough jonging going on