I have been using aperture priority setting with my Canon !Ds2 & 5550Ex flash for fill in flash photography. I left my measuring mode on spot metering, which I always use. But I would like clarification please on following point
I just bought this book:-
Wiley Publishing 2007
ISBN 978-0-470-04528-2
Canon Speedlite System; Digital field guide
Author JD Thomas
The book concentrates on the Canon Speedlite 580EX & 430-Ex & not my older 550Ex flash. I assume since they are all ETTL-II based that this does not affect my question below.
On pages 144-147 of the book the author discusses fill-in flash for portrait photography. He uses aperture priority, but with evaluative metering.
Is it "correct" or "preferable" to use evaluative rather than spot metering when using fill-in flash. This was not discussed in other fill-in flash articles for Canon 1D cameras that I have read. I understood that setting the camera in Aperture priority was all that was need to set it up correctly for fill in photography
Posted by Ed Cordes on December 10, 2007 at 10:09 AM
Aperture generally works well, especially in variable light. When I use it I have the meter set to Evaluative, but sometimes center weighted, and usually have the flash set to - 2/3 or -1 EV. However, for birds I try to use manual metering and manual flash to avoid the preflash on my 550 so as not to make the birds jump.
You can get into trouble using spot metering and fill flash with off-center subjects unless you religiously use exposure lock after metering. I don't do much bird photography any more, so I use evaluative metering almost exclusively with fill flash, no matter what my camera mode.
But you need to know that I'm using Nikon again specifically because of the poor performance I was getting with Canon strobes back in the days of the D30 and D60. The strobes would "follow" your focus sensor in picking their spots to measure from, in addition to some other issues. I'm assuming Canon was smart enough to cure those ills, but I don't know. If your book doesn't address that point, I'm going to assume that Canon fixed it.
Discussion
3 repliesI just bought this book:-
Wiley Publishing 2007
ISBN 978-0-470-04528-2
Canon Speedlite System; Digital field guide
Author JD Thomas
The book concentrates on the Canon Speedlite 580EX & 430-Ex & not my older 550Ex flash. I assume since they are all ETTL-II based that this does not affect my question below.
On pages 144-147 of the book the author discusses fill-in flash for portrait photography. He uses aperture priority, but with evaluative metering.
Is it "correct" or "preferable" to use evaluative rather than spot metering when using fill-in flash. This was not discussed in other fill-in flash articles for Canon 1D cameras that I have read. I understood that setting the camera in Aperture priority was all that was need to set it up correctly for fill in photography
But you need to know that I'm using Nikon again specifically because of the poor performance I was getting with Canon strobes back in the days of the D30 and D60. The strobes would "follow" your focus sensor in picking their spots to measure from, in addition to some other issues. I'm assuming Canon was smart enough to cure those ills, but I don't know. If your book doesn't address that point, I'm going to assume that Canon fixed it.