Hello. What are the correct setting on the flash (high sync or normal) and on the camera for proper use of the fill-in flash? I used to use it on auto, but it just gave me Casper faces ...too much flash, so I bought a diffuser...it helps a little,any advice? Thank you.

-Teja

-- Teja (tecciztecatl@bigfoot.com), August 21, 2000

Answers

Teja,

There are several things that people might mean by "fill flash." It's not always consistent in how the term is used, but I will assume you mean flash to fill shadows when taking pictures in bright, harsh sunlight.

In bright sunlight the Rebel's top shutter sync speed is only 1/90 second, so you will usually need to use the high speed sync setting (FP flash) on the 380EX if you have film faster than 100 ISO. Otherwise the film will be overexposed and the flash will just add to the problem. At these levels the Rebel will auto reduce the flash power by up to 2 stops.

But if you mean flash to fill shadows indoors, in lower light levels, then FP flash will probably not allow enough power to do the job right. Auto reduction will not be doing anything here and this could be why you are experiencing excessive flash on your subject.

In auto mode the Rebel will only use 1/60 or 1/90 second with a flash so it will rarely give you anything close to a ballanced flash/ambient ratio of lighting. Av and Tv modes will attempt to ballance the light from both sources by giving you a proper ambient exposure and adding flash for the forground subject on top of that exposure. On the more expensive cameras and more expensive flash units, there is provision to adjust the flash exposure seperately from the ambient level. You could use that to give a more pleasing mix of lighting, unfortunately neither the Rebel or the 380EX will do that.

Your other option is resetting your film speed (if it's 100, set it to 200, etc.) and then adjust your exposure up one stop. I think this will only work in manual mode on a Rebel though. I have heard that the Rebel adjusts the flash exposure and the ambient combined if you use the exposure compensation feature, so you would be back to where you started in either P, Av or Tv modes. Up scale EOS cameras adjust them seperately though.

One other thought is that you might not have a problem at all. It could be just another bad job of printing. The automatic printer sees all that dark area in the background and decides to lighten it all up, thus overexposing your subject. You ought to take the pictures back to the lab and ask them to print for a correct exposure on the subject. Most print film has plenty of lattitude to enable this type of correction even if the flash is overpowering everything. If you're using slide film, then you're forced to do do the other stuff.

-- Jim Strutz (jimstrutz@juno.com), August 21, 2000.

According to Canon (and actually trying it) the Rebels don't do flash exposure compensation. Without that you'll never get very natural looking pictures, but it won't turn people into ghosts.

IMHO try a roll of slides so you can see what the camera is actually doing, print processing isn't accurate enough to show what's going on.

-- Steven Fisher (srf@srf.com), August 22, 2000.

It is true that rebel camera can not use flash exposure compensation even 550EX speedlite as I am thinking of getting 550ex to resolve this same problem with 380ex?

-- peter li (pli@hatch.ca), August 30, 2000.

You can do flash exposure compensation with the 550EX & Rebel combo since you just dial it in on the 550EX. The 380EX of course has no controls for doing this. I do FEC with a 550EX and Rebel G quite often.

I have a set of slides at home that proves this, just have to scan them. I also have ones that prove adjusting exposure compensation on the Rebel does not adjust flash exposure, which will be scanned to nullify rumors to the contrary.

-- Steven Fisher (srf@srf.com), August 30, 2000.