Poll: How do you use your on-camera flash?

[scoundrel1728]

You may vote up to 5 times. Please use these votes to make multiple selections if necessary.

[Wilt]

I use a separate flash as much as possible, when I know I will be using flash a lont. But there are many times when you don't want to lug it around 'just in case' . The built in flash unit makes a nice 'just in case' flash that has no additional bulk and weight.

[scoundrel1728]

I don't even own an external flash. I learned photography as a child back in the days when photographers were still using flashbulbs at ten cents a pop. This did not count batteries, which had to be fresh or the bulb would be a hair late in firing - not enough to notice at the time but enough to ruin the exposure. For someone on an allowance of 50 cents a week, flash photography was a heavy extra expenditure indeed. I did without it except for a few occasions. I would guess my entire lifetime output of flash pictures to be less than 500, of which thirty at most were taken with a flashbulb. I had fired off about 25,000 exposures since I went digital and before I stopped counting a few years ago.

Despite the ready availability and much lower incremental cost, I still go with available light or nonstrobe fixtures. I checked "outdoor fill" and "main light, but only when desperate."

[cyclohexane]

I chose "My camera doesn't have one" as one of my votes, as my main body doesn't have one.

My second body has one, which works as an outdoor fill-flash and trigger occasionally. Indoors, the light generated is usually a bit too flat to create a pleasing fill.

[scoundrel1728]

Isn't a good fill light supposed to be flat?

[captlen]

I read the question to mean on camera flash not just built in flash. I very seldom use the built in flash but often use an on camera flash.

[JDArt]

Use as an outdoor fill light can mean the difference between average pictures and ones that pop.

[cyclohexane]

Originally Posted by scoundrel1728

Isn't a good fill light supposed to be flat?

Maybe I worded it wrong... it just looks really, really tacky indoors most of the time. I don't have any examples because I don't use it inside, LOL.

[scoundrel1728]

Originally Posted by captlen

I read the question to mean on camera flash not just built in flash. I very seldom use the built in flash but often use an on camera flash.

Perhaps I should reword the poll question to limit the responses specifically to built-in flash. An external flash, even when used on-camera, produces a less flat light than the built-in version and is a lot less prone to producing red-eye because of the greater angular separation between the flash source and the imaging lens.

[Liza]

Since I got the 580EX, I don't use the onboard flash anymore. I may pick up a 430EX to be used on my other body or as a slave during wedding shoots.