Tag Archives: ETTL

Photography, Tutorials

Using Canon’s E-TTL part3

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Finally, I get to the part where I tell you what you get when you cough up the extra bucks for the Canon Speedlite or Nikon Speedlight.

Max, my talent was rendered perfectly by E-TTL set to 1:1. Speedlite A on the left was set about 11 o'clock. Speedlite B was at 3 o'clock

Under normal situations your DSLR will only be able to synchronize with a generic flash at a maximum 1/200 sec.

In some cases, you might get away with 1/400 sec but that would mean unpredictable results.

If this concept is new to you, read my earlier post about “Getting Started with off-camera-flash.”

After my 1st attempt with Max where I set his bed on the ground, I quickly realized my camera position was too high.

Sort of like when you photograph young children. Seeing them on their level sometimes makes the images more engaging.

Since I didn’t want to be crawling on my belly on the very soggy ground thanks to our recent rains, I chose my tent trailer as my “stage”. Continue reading Using Canon’s E-TTL part3 →

Photography, Tutorials

Using Canon’s E-TTL part2

Now that I have my 2 Speedlites talking to the transmitter STE-2, a field test is in order.

Max lit up when I brought out his toy. The flash output as you can see is too harsh. With a subject like Max, there's not much time to fine tune.

In case those of you who use Nikon are feeling left out, Nikon also has a similar transmitter, the SU-800 Wireless Speedlight Commander. It does the same exact thing but even better. You can control 3 groups of Speedlights compared to 2 for Canon’s STE-2..

Instead of a still life, flowers, a plant or bric-a-brac around the house I decided to try using my kittens as my subject.

Was I up to the challenge?
Continue reading Using Canon’s E-TTL part2 →