Canon 30D flash

Why do you need to use flash? What are you shooting?


<user RemoveThis @domain.invalid> wrote in message
news:fn5hk7$fgm$1@news.acm.uiuc.edu...
> I'm still mystified by the built-in flash in the Canon 30D.
>
> How do I take panoramas with flash? I can set the exposure to manual,
> setting bother aperture and shutter speed. Or I can use Av, setting the
> aperture and then telling the camera to set the time to 1/250 sec
> any time the flash is used in that mode (in the special menus section.)
> Of course I also use manual focus.
>
> But I can't figure out how to tell it to used a fixed amount of flash.
> The FM is too sparse and obtuse for RTFM to do the job. Is it even
> possible?
>
> Doug McDonald
 >> Stay informed about: Canon 30D flash 

Ali wrote:
> Why do you need to use flash? What are you shooting?
>
>

Badly lit interiors where I'm not able to play with multiple
tungsten lights, which would be the ideal. OF course, I could use
an external fixed power flash, but that's more stuff to carry about.

In any case, I asked a question. I wanted and ANSWER, not a question
in return.

Doug McDonald

Top posted on purpose.


> <user RemoveThis @domain.invalid> wrote in message
> news:fn5hk7$fgm$1@news.acm.uiuc.edu...
>> I'm still mystified by the built-in flash in the Canon 30D.
>>
>> How do I take panoramas with flash? I can set the exposure to manual,
>> setting bother aperture and shutter speed. Or I can use Av, setting the
>> aperture and then telling the camera to set the time to 1/250 sec
>> any time the flash is used in that mode (in the special menus section.)
>> Of course I also use manual focus.
>>
>> But I can't figure out how to tell it to used a fixed amount of flash.
>> The FM is too sparse and obtuse for RTFM to do the job. Is it even
>> possible?
>>
>> Doug McDonald
>
 >> Stay informed about: Canon 30D flash 

<user RemoveThis @domain.invalid> wrote in message
news:fn5jsn$g3a$1@news.acm.uiuc.edu...
> Ali wrote:
>> Why do you need to use flash? What are you shooting?
>>
>>
>
> Badly lit interiors where I'm not able to play with multiple
> tungsten lights, which would be the ideal. OF course, I could use
> an external fixed power flash, but that's more stuff to carry about.
>
> In any case, I asked a question. I wanted and ANSWER, not a question
> in return.
>
> Doug McDonald
>
> Top posted on purpose.
>
>
>> <user RemoveThis @domain.invalid> wrote in message
>> news:fn5hk7$fgm$1@news.acm.uiuc.edu...
>>> I'm still mystified by the built-in flash in the Canon 30D.
>>>
>>> How do I take panoramas with flash? I can set the exposure to manual,
>>> setting bother aperture and shutter speed. Or I can use Av, setting the
>>> aperture and then telling the camera to set the time to 1/250 sec
>>> any time the flash is used in that mode (in the special menus section.)
>>> Of course I also use manual focus.
>>>
>>> But I can't figure out how to tell it to used a fixed amount of flash.
>>> The FM is too sparse and obtuse for RTFM to do the job. Is it even
>>> possible?
>>>
>>> Doug McDonald
>>

In manual mode, set your shutter speed to 1/250 and aperture to F22, so that
you have a decent shutter speed and good depth of field. Then set the flash
compensation (FEC) to -2, stops so that you don't get specular highlights.

Because of the high shutter speed, you can hand hold with no problems.
Recompose and take the other shots to create a panorama.
 >> Stay informed about: Canon 30D flash 

<user.DeleteThis@domain.invalid> wrote in message
news:fn5jsn$g3a$1@news.acm.uiuc.edu...
> Ali wrote:
>> Why do you need to use flash? What are you shooting?
>>
>>
>
> Badly lit interiors where I'm not able to play with multiple
> tungsten lights, which would be the ideal. OF course, I could use
> an external fixed power flash, but that's more stuff to carry about.
>
> In any case, I asked a question. I wanted and ANSWER, not a question
> in return.
>
> Doug McDonald
>
>

If you are doing panoramas, I presume you are using a sturdy tripod.

In which case, a Hotshoe Type Flashgun could hardly be described as too much
more stuff to carry.

Roy G
 >> Stay informed about: Canon 30D flash 

Sam Prichard <SP RemoveThis @compuserve.org.uk> wrote:

> <user RemoveThis @domain.invalid> wrote in message
> news:fn5jsn$g3a$1@news.acm.uiuc.edu...
>> Ali wrote:
>>> Why do you need to use flash? What are you shooting?
>>>
>>>
>>
>> Badly lit interiors where I'm not able to play with multiple
>> tungsten lights, which would be the ideal. OF course, I could use
>> an external fixed power flash, but that's more stuff to carry about.
>>
>> In any case, I asked a question. I wanted and ANSWER, not a question
>> in return.
>>
>> Doug McDonald
>>
>> Top posted on purpose.
>>
>>> <user RemoveThis @domain.invalid> wrote in message
>>> news:fn5hk7$fgm$1@news.acm.uiuc.edu...
>>>> I'm still mystified by the built-in flash in the Canon 30D.
>>>>
>>>> How do I take panoramas with flash? I can set the exposure to manual,
>>>> setting bother aperture and shutter speed. Or I can use Av, setting the
>>>> aperture and then telling the camera to set the time to 1/250 sec
>>>> any time the flash is used in that mode (in the special menus section.)
>>>> Of course I also use manual focus.
>>>>
>>>> But I can't figure out how to tell it to used a fixed amount of flash.
>>>> The FM is too sparse and obtuse for RTFM to do the job. Is it even
>>>> possible?
>>>>
>>>> Doug McDonald
>>>

> In manual mode, set your shutter speed to 1/250 and aperture to F22, so that
> you have a decent shutter speed and good depth of field. Then set the flash
> compensation (FEC) to -2, stops so that you don't get specular highlights.

But he'll still get varying amounts of flash in the overlapping bits,
which is what he's trying to avoid.

--
Chris Malcolm cam RemoveThis @infirmatics.ed.ac.uk DoD #205
IPAB, Informatics, JCMB, King's Buildings, Edinburgh, EH9 3JZ, UK
[http://www.dai.ed.ac.uk/homes/cam/]
 >> Stay informed about: Canon 30D flash 

<user RemoveThis @domain.invalid> wrote in message
news:fn5jsn$g3a$1@news.acm.uiuc.edu...
> Ali wrote:
>> Why do you need to use flash? What are you shooting?
>>
>>
>
> Badly lit interiors where I'm not able to play with multiple
> tungsten lights, which would be the ideal. OF course, I could use
> an external fixed power flash, but that's more stuff to carry about.
>

An external flash is exactly what you're going to need. There are no manual
settings on the 30D built-in. The other option is to get a tripod so you
can use a slower shutter speed. Ideally you should use both. Either way,
you'll need more stuff to carry


Mark
 >> Stay informed about: Canon 30D flash 

Sam Prichard wrote:

>
> In manual mode, set your shutter speed to 1/250 and aperture to F22, so
> that you have a decent shutter speed and good depth of field. Then set
> the flash compensation (FEC) to -2, stops so that you don't get specular
> highlights.
>
> Because of the high shutter speed, you can hand hold with no problems.
> Recompose and take the other shots to create a panorama.


Well, you can hand hold panoramas if and only if the nearest
object is far enough away that motion of the camera between shots does
not change the perspective. This is almost never the case with
interiors.

But as to flash ... except for the f/22 part, which is a diffraction problem
(I would use f/10) ... that's what I tried, more or less (but not as much
as two stops flash compensation). It seems that the flash is still in
auto mode, so the amount of light changes between shots. This means
they don't fit together without extreme intensity fixups, which are
not easy.

Doug McDonald

>
>
>
>
 >> Stay informed about: Canon 30D flash 

On 2008-01-23, Chris Malcolm <cam RemoveThis @holyrood.ed.ac.uk> wrote:
> Sam Prichard <SP RemoveThis @compuserve.org.uk> wrote:
>
>> <user RemoveThis @domain.invalid> wrote in message
>> news:fn5jsn$g3a$1@news.acm.uiuc.edu...
>>> Ali wrote:
>>>> Why do you need to use flash? What are you shooting?
>>>
>>> Badly lit interiors where I'm not able to play with multiple
>>> tungsten lights, which would be the ideal. OF course, I could use
>>> an external fixed power flash, but that's more stuff to carry about.
>>
>> In manual mode, set your shutter speed to 1/250 and aperture to F22, so that
>> you have a decent shutter speed and good depth of field. Then set the flash
>> compensation (FEC) to -2, stops so that you don't get specular highlights.
>
> But he'll still get varying amounts of flash in the overlapping bits,
> which is what he's trying to avoid.
>

Make the overlaps bigger.

--
Chris Savage Kiss me. Or would you rather live in a
Gateshead, UK land where the soap won't lather?
- Billy Bragg
 >> Stay informed about: Canon 30D flash 

"Chris Savage" <spam.goes.here DeleteThis @devnull.savvo.co.uk> wrote:
> On 2008-01-23, Chris Malcolm <cam DeleteThis @holyrood.ed.ac.uk> wrote:
>>
>> But he'll still get varying amounts of flash in the overlapping bits,
>> which is what he's trying to avoid.
>>
>
> Make the overlaps bigger.

He needs to set the flash to manual mode so it delivers the same amount of
light each time. But that may not be possible if it's a built-in flash.

David J. Littleboy
Tokyo, Japan
 >> Stay informed about: Canon 30D flash 

On 2008-01-23, David J. Littleboy <davidjl DeleteThis @gol.com> wrote:
>
> "Chris Savage" <spam.goes.here DeleteThis @devnull.savvo.co.uk> wrote:
>> On 2008-01-23, Chris Malcolm <cam DeleteThis @holyrood.ed.ac.uk> wrote:
>>>
>>> But he'll still get varying amounts of flash in the overlapping bits,
>>> which is what he's trying to avoid.
>>>
>>
>> Make the overlaps bigger.
>
> He needs to set the flash to manual mode so it delivers the same amount of
> light each time. But that may not be possible if it's a built-in flash.
>

Well, I would have said what one _needs_ to do is stabilise the lighting
for the whole scene which would preclude the use of any on-camera flash.

But since the questioner has said he has to use the on-camera flash then
whatever he does with it is going to give uneven lighting on the
resulting montage however he sets it.

Try it. Put your flash on manual at any setting you want and see the
difference between pointing in random directions around the room you're
in ... the light will reflect in all sorts of different ways off all
sorts of different surfaces.

--
Chris Savage Kiss me. Or would you rather live in a
Gateshead, UK land where the soap won't lather?
- Billy Bragg
 >> Stay informed about: Canon 30D flash 

Chris Savage wrote:

> But since the questioner has said he has to use the on-camera flash then
> whatever he does with it is going to give uneven lighting on the
> resulting montage however he sets it.
>
> Try it. Put your flash on manual at any setting you want and see the
> difference between pointing in random directions around the room you're
> in ... the light will reflect in all sorts of different ways off all
> sorts of different surfaces.
>

I had not thought of that! You are of course right.

For perfect results you need a fixed flash and a big fat diffuser.

Oh well, at least that's the ultimate answer.

Or the big heavy tripod and ambient light. That worked well
in Carlsbad caverns (1/2 second exposures).

Doug McDonald
 >> Stay informed about: Canon 30D flash 

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 >> Stay informed about: Canon 30D flash