Hi Tom,
As a person who uses the 420EX with EOS30 for 75% of the shots (as
flash, not just AF assist), I'll share some of my experience with you.
> From: "Tom DelRosario" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> * The ceilings in my house are rather high: up to 16 feet in the front
room. Since light intensity is related to the square of the distance, it
would seem that the 420EX is probably not powerful enough to use in bounce
mode under a high ceiling. Correct?
It also depends on how far the subject is from the flash, and the amount of
ambient light available. The GN on the flash indicates full-power output,
which may not be reached depending on the exposure needed. If you're just
1-stop under-exposed in M mode, the flash output will be less than if you're
2-stops under, for example. So, always try to use faster films for flash
shots.
> * If shooting in vertical mode, where should I point the flash, if I want
to bounce? Do I swivel it up? Combine swivel with tilt? Bounce off the
wall instead? Or should I just get a flash bracket and not worry about
that?
Point it where you want the light to come from. I normally just swivel it
clock-wise 90 degree. When switching a lot from vertical and horizontal
shots, I leave it in the 90deg swivel position and change the tilt angle,
it's a pain (literally, my finger hurts from pressing the release buttons).
A bounce card also helps to soften the shadow under the eyes when using
bounce.
> * What is the usefulness of flash diffusers in your opinion? I guess this
is a hard question, because some people love Omnibounce, others are
disappointed. Same is true with the Lumniquest series.
I've never used any of those commercial diffusers. A couple pieces of
semi-translucent rice-paper plastered to curve in front of the flash head is
cheaper.
> * This is not a bounce question, but it is an Elan 7/420EX question.
Let's say I want to use flash as the primary light source. But I also want
to control the aperture. So I set the camera to M mode and set the shutter
to 1/125 and the aperture to the desired opening. Question: how do I know
if the flash is powerful enough to do this? It is my understanding that, in
M mode, E-TTL will control the flash power such that the selected aperture
results in a correct exposure. But the meter is just flashing -2
underexposure on my camera at 1/125@f/8 in a small room. The flash should
be powerful enough to do that exposure, right? But what if I asked for an
aperture of f/32. Will the camera or flash tell me that it is not powerful
to correctly expose at f/32? Yes, I have read the flash FAQ, and it does
not specifically answer this question.
Press the FEL button, there's a flash indicator in the Elan7's viewfinder
that will blink if the correct flash exposure cannot the attained. Also,
after the shot, check for the green flash exposure confirmation light on
420EX.
cheers,
BlueSky
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