24-70 f/2.8L - Best setting for flash?

Joined: 27 Apr 2005 Posts: 179 Location: Lubbock, TX

I'm going to get some snapshots for an upcoming charity auction and was wondering if anyone had suggestions for the best results?

I have a Digital Rebel (300D), 380EX flash, and a Canon 24-70 f/2.8L. The lens seems to be sharpest at f/4.0 so that's where I keep it for general use. Has anyone had better results at another setting when shooting indoors with an accessory flash?

I run full manual on everything so the sky's the limit on most settings. The only caveat ... The camera tends to have an electronic snit in terms of exposure if set to anything except 1/60 shutter when using the shoe-mounted flash. That's where it will stay unless someone has solid experience with another setup.

I really need for these to come out halfway decent. I'd appreciate any advice rendered to be from actual experience and not supposition. I can do enough of that on my own! :)

Thanks in advance!
Brad

Joined: 11 May 2006 Posts: 62 Location: 70802

Well, I have a 20D and a 430EX which I use all the time, and I can tell you, it's just going to depend on the ambient lighting. I always use the flash on manual and adjust the power to balance with whatever lighting is available.

Just get there early and take a few test shots. That's something that's really cool about shooting digital.

Joined: 27 Apr 2005 Posts: 179 Location: Lubbock, TX

Unfortunately I don't have the option of setting the power on the flash. Oh, if only I did...! The 380EX is a holdover from my Elan IIE film body. It works okay as a fill, but sometimes it and the camera seem to get into a fight. Some shots, totally at random, will be severely under- or over-exposed unless the camera is left at 1/60 shutter. There the subject will usually be properly exposed, but I want more creative control so I can do slow- and fast-synch flash shots.

My cursory internet fact-finding seems to confirm that the the combination of Digital Rebel and 380EX simply isn't set up to allow that kind of control. The flash, being totally camera-controlled, is always going to do the camera's bidding. The camera, being mass-consumer oriented, wants to maintain absolute control over the exposure no matter what manual settings you have dialed in (a safety net for the inexperienced casual shutterbug, I suppose).

Brad

Joined: 27 Apr 2005 Posts: 179 Location: Lubbock, TX

My local shop has the last of their 580EX stock on special trying to clear it out for the EX II's so I went ahead and popped for one. SuhWEEET!.

Now if someone would just will me a 1D Mark III...

Brad

Posted: Fri May 11, 2007 11:15 pm

The 580 is a great unit, I actually use mine more outdoors than in though. Maybe I can give you a couple things to consider or think about.

First the advice of test shot is very, very good one. The last event I had to shoot indoors was a retirement party, large enough I had the 70-200mm f/2.8 on the 30D and the 17-40mm f/4 on the XTi with 580 mounted on it.

During the "ceremony" I wasn't allowed access to the front of the room so had to shoot from the rear at about 180mm f/2.8 to get a couple people at the podium in the frame and this was with just the flourescent lighting. Worked great after I got the white balance set up for the lighting. I used the 30D for this because of the better noise control at higher levels and shot at iso 400 averaging shutter speeds around 1/80th to 1/125th.

Later I could wander and used the 17-40mm and bounced the flash from either walls or ceiling, again set the white balance properly or be disappointed unless shooting raw. I couldn't as these images went straight out the camera to DVD and to the participants. As I was bouncing the flash and testing a couple shots I found I could get a nice histogram by adding 2/3rd's of a stop to the FEC.

Read your new flash manual and practice and don't forget extra batteries. have fun, good luck!

Joined: 27 Apr 2005 Posts: 179 Location: Lubbock, TX

Cool, thanks!

I've been playing with it a bit and have a question.

The built-in wide angle diffuser and bounce panel have me curious. I did some test shots at the house trying difference combinations of flash angle, diffuser, and panel. With my 10 ft white ceilings it seems the best combo for soft, unidirectional, shadow-free lighting was with the flash at 90 deg and both the diffuser and bounce panels extended. Is that pretty setup pretty consistant?

Also, I bought an accessory bounce panel and minibox (both LumiQuest). Any experience with those?

Brad

Posted: Sat May 12, 2007 7:57 pm

The bounce panel will move some light forward when the flash is at an angle, it is also designed to help capture some catchlights in the eyes. I have used it at a vertical postion but only for subjects within 6-8', beyond that the light falloff is too much and going to a 45 degree will work better.

I haven't used a flash mounted minibox but rather have studio lighting for that purpose or a couple differing sized umbrellas that I can screen for the flash head. A lot of flash lighting information can be found at http://www.strobist.blogspot.com/

Joined: 27 Apr 2005 Posts: 179 Location: Lubbock, TX

I'm toying with the idea of getting a dedicated setup, but I have an event where I need to shoot some walkarounds of the attendees. Unfortunately it's in a large pavilion, indoors, at night, and I don't have the option of bouncing the flash (the ceiling is dark timbers some 25' high). I picked up the mini-box for that hoping to soften the lighting a little. It looks gosh-awful - like a bulbous tumor growing out the top of my camera - but seems to work as intended.

Brad