What did I do wrong ??

[Austen]

FINALLY, Camera arrived back today, so before I headed off to work I thought I'd snap a piccy using some of my new toys .............

I set the 580 EX II to manual, noted that it was on 1/8 power (left there from when I was previously playing with it) .......

Put an E-Bay special "poverty wizard" on it.

After checking that the Minolta IV-F flash meter was set to ISO 100 / Speed 250, I held it next to my face and hit the poverty-wizard TEST button.

The flash fired and I saw that the meter said f4.04

Close enough to f4 I thought, checked the camera settings, Manual / ISO 100 / Speed 250 / Aperture f4.....Put the transmitter on the 40D,and using my remote took a photograph.

The below photographs are maximum compressed but you can see my problem

I wouldn't of thought that the fact I had the 580 on 1/8 power would of been an issue at all, as no matter what amount of light it was or wasn't putting out, the flash-meters job was to recommend the aperture to suit ??

Any thoughts would be GREATLY appreciated !!!


Many thanks,


Austen.

[00silvergt]

austin, I'm guessing you are using wireless metering, right? That means you are not connecting a PC cord to the flash to the meter, right? If so, check the manual of your meter and check what the minimum EV is for the ambient light before using the wireless flash. Using my Sekonic L358, I was at first confused as you as my meter was asking to set an F-stop that was 2 stops way OE. Then I did some reading. With my meter, it needs a minimum of EV +9 in order to correctly meter the flash wirelessly. Otherwise I would need a PC cord. I checked the ambient EV with my meter and it was reading a +5 EV which meant it was too dark to get an accurate reading of the flash. So, turned on more lights and then metered this time it gave me the accurate exposure.

[Austen]

Thanks......

Yes, I was using "wireless metering"...I guess.............

I've checked the manual and there doesn't appear to have any minimum ambient light requirements.

According to the manual, once you have set the ISO / Speed in the meter, you simply press the "GO" button on the side, and it enters a "waiting to see the flash" mode, confirmed by the display flashing.

As at this stage I had the poverty-wizard sender in my hand, hit the test button, the flash fired and the light-meter went from "waiting and flashing-display" mode to "I've-got-a-solution" mode .............

That's what I then entered into the 40D



Austen.

[Austen]

I must of learnt something from all this reading............

Just had another play, the 580 still on Manual 1/8, same result as before...Good, at least things are consistent !!

Then I adjusted the 580 to 1/4 power, this time the meter read f5.62 and then to 1/2 power with a meter reading of f8.02.

Unbelievably I can put my hand on my heart and say that is just what I was expecting to happen !!!

To me, this told me that I had commanded the flash to put out the next stop of light and the light-meter read the increased output and commanded the next smaller aperture.

This seemed to be a reasonably accurate cross-check of both the 580's and the flash-meters calibration.

Now, why the photograph didn't work.....Well, it's past midnight here now*..............


Austen.

*Maybe the solution-fairies will come while I sleep

[m33p33]

Slow your camera shutter down to 200 or less. That should help things.
FleaBay triggers just don't respond any faster than that.

[Austen]

This is possibly the happiest day of my "photography life".

Thanks so very, very much for that tip....IT WORKED !!

Not only am I "over the moon" about the fact that this particular tip worked, but thanks to all of you guys here at The Camel' , I've just proved to myself that I've learnt a lot.

I've got a flash-meter that I now know that I know how to physically use. As well as that I understood what it was telling me, and what I needed to do to set the camera up, and more importantly, I understood the WHYS of what I was doing !!!

I set the camera to a shutter speed of 200, reset the flash-meter, 200 wasn't an option so I went for 180, hit the trigger, read the meter, set the camera and took a piccy.

The piccy had the "DMV" look about it, so I added some diffusion to the flash, re-did the metering, got a reading with a lower number, understood why it was lower, hey less light because of the diffuser, f-stop = the smaller the number the bigger the hole so more light gets into the camera, re-set the f-stop on the camera and took a perfectly exposed picture with the camera on manual !!

Once again, thanks so very much for all the Camelites, I've got photographs to go and take


Austen...One heck of a happy camper !!!!

[00silvergt]

Originally Posted by Austen

This is possibly the happiest day of my "photography life".

Thanks so very, very much for that tip....IT WORKED !!

Not only am I "over the moon" about the fact that this particular tip worked, but thanks to all of you guys here at The Camel' , I've just proved to myself that I've learnt a lot.

I've got a flash-meter that I now know that I know how to physically use. As well as that I understood what it was telling me, and what I needed to do to set the camera up, and more importantly, I understood the WHYS of what I was doing !!!

I set the camera to a shutter speed of 200, reset the flash-meter, 200 wasn't an option so I went for 180, hit the trigger, read the meter, set the camera and took a piccy.

The piccy had the "DMV" look about it, so I added some diffusion to the flash, re-did the metering, got a reading with a lower number, understood why it was lower, hey less light because of the diffuser, f-stop = the smaller the number the bigger the hole so more light gets into the camera, re-set the f-stop on the camera and took a perfectly exposed picture with the camera on manual !!

Once again, thanks so very much for all the Camelites, I've got photographs to go and take


Austen...One heck of a happy camper !!!!

Go have fun...shoot away...