Hi,

I just got a new Speedlite 550EX for my EOS 50E (ELAN II E). I tried taking some pictures with prevention of red eyes turned on, but the flash just goes off without the little lamp turning on.

How do I prevent red eyes in my subjects when using this flash? Is it possible that the flash is already far enough from the camera that red eyes don't happen? I can't really believe this, especially not when the subject is far away.

Thanks!

Ulrich

-- Ulrich Beinert (analemma@gmx.de), April 28, 2001

Answers

The stupid red eye prevention lamp is on the pop-up flash, and it's only practical use is to warn your subject that you are about to take a picture, effectively eliminating any chance at spontaneity. I only get red eye with a shoe mounted flash if the subject is like 50 feet away or more. Under those circumstances, a flash bracket would help (getting closer is a much better solution of course if you want to get better pictures).

-- kenneth katz (socks@bestweb.net), April 28, 2001.

If you're indoors with white ceilings or walls, I'd use the bounce feature and pull up the wide panel for a bit of fill.

Another way is to use the Canon "Off-Camera Shoe Cord 2." You connect one end to your flash shoe and the other to the flash. Hold camera in one hand and the flash in the other and bang away. You control angle of light and distance from the lens axis by moving your arm and, thus, control red eye as well. Also great for avoiding reflections off glossy objects like foreheads or glass.

-- Puppy Face (doggieface@aol.com), April 28, 2001.

With respect to my response above, the term "stupid" refers only to the Elan II red eye lamp, and not to any person or the quality of the question asked herein.

I simply think the lamp is sort of useless, and turned it off when I bought the camera 5 years ago. I just want to make sure my response is not misunderstood.

-- kenneth katz (socks@bestweb.net), April 28, 2001.

Kenneth is right, the red eye reduction feature is a stupid design. Of course most of these are. And the solution is to move the flash away from the lens.

There is a formula floating around the Photo.net archives for figuring how far the flash has to be from the lens considering subject distance and pupil size. The problem is, it's hard to measure the subjects eyes before you take the picture. :~))

The Photo.net discussion was informative though, and as I recall, your flash doesn't have to be that far from the lens to keep red eye at bay.

-- Jim Strutz (jimstrutz@juno.com), April 29, 2001.

Thanks for the responses! You're right about the anti-red eye lamp being on the flash. I was actually thinking of the EOS 500 when I though of the little lamp on the side. (And I know with "stupid" you were referring to the lamp.)

Anyhow, I guess I'll have to just try it out before I use the flash on more important occasions (like when I have to take photos to make money! - nothing worse than people getting mad at you because of red eyes :-)

Maybe a flash can be programmed to emit a series of strobe flashes before the main flash (like on some smaller non-SLR cameras). The only problem is that the subject would be blinded after I've taken the photo!

Ulrich

-- Ulrich Beinert (analemma@gmx.de), April 29, 2001.

I've found the formula in the Photo.net archives, for those that are interested, it's here: http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch- msg.tcl?msg_id=000Q43&topic_id=23&topic=

So the best way is really just to try it out but it's good to have something to go by.

Thanks everyone!

-- Ulrich Beinert (analemma@gmx.de), April 30, 2001.

Look in the April Pop Photography. There is an article on a new point and shoot that has a side mounted flash. Many tips on preventing red eye, and having red eye reduction is not one of them.

-- Jim Simon (simonscuri@excite.com), May 01, 2001.

I Also have the 550ex on an EOS 50. The flash is probably the best accessory I have ever bought. The best thing I did was to make a bouncer out of white card which I attach to the flash with a rubber band. Looks stupid, but fills in the neanderthal brow look that straight ceiling bounce gives.

-- Mark Wrathall (wrathall@laudaair.com), May 04, 2001.

I recently used a dirrect flash (550ex/EOS 3) with a softbox attached for portraits indoors and was pleased with the results - no red eye. The soft box diffuses the light pretty well, but it's effective range is limitted - aproximately 4-10 feet, I think.

Derrick

-- Derrick Morin (morin@fttr.navy.mil), May 07, 2001.