topic Re: Dark Shadow while shooting in Speedlite Flashes

Dark Shadow while shooting

theduck — Mon, 13 Feb 2017 10:54:11 GMT

Hello all

I wanted to shoot some portraits at home.

I used an off-white wall as background.

The equipment I used is as follows:

EOS 5D Mark IV (with grip)

70-200 2.8L

EX430 II

EX580 II

Settings for shooting wereMANUAL, ISO400, 1/200, f10

Triggers by YUNGNOU.

Photos in landscape mode came out with the lower edge of the frame darkened, as if not getting enough light.

Photos in portrait mode came out with the right edge of the frame darkened.

Anyone has an idea as for the reason and how to fix it?

Thanks all, and quack

TRL

Re: Dark Shadow while shooting

RobertTheFat — Mon, 13 Feb 2017 13:11:34 GMT

It looks to me as though the first shutter curtain hadn't gotten completely out of the way when the flash fired. The underlying problem may be that your 3rd-party trigger isn't on the same page with the camera. Try a Canon trigger instead. What shutter speed were you using?

Re: Dark Shadow while shooting

theduck — Mon, 13 Feb 2017 13:55:35 GMT

Hey Bob

Thank you for your reply.

That was the line of my own thought, but I am trying to see if anyone else encountered the same issue.

Truth is, It happened to me once with my 5D Mark II as well, but just once.

I thought it may have been the shutter speed and dropped to 1/160, and it helped.

To put the "blame" on the triggers... that didn't cross my mind... shame on me...

The price of the Canon Speedlite Transmitter is way to expensive for my use (I seldom use this setup) so I will first try to change the sync speed of shooting and if that won't help, maybe replace the rechargeable batteries and last maybe buy a newer set of triggers (now I use the Yongnuo RF-602).

Again, thank you for your answer.

If anyone else have any other ideas, I will be happy to hear...

Thanks

Re: Dark Shadow while shooting

RobertTheFat — Mon, 13 Feb 2017 15:05:40 GMT

Why not try using the 580EX II as the trigger? It may not be the lighting arrangement that you want, but it should at least tell you whether it's the camera or the trigger that's at fault.

Re: Dark Shadow while shooting

theduck — Mon, 13 Feb 2017 19:43:47 GMT

I use the two units on stands with umbrelas... I use the transmitter over my MIV hotshoe and the units are with receivers...

Re: Dark Shadow while shooting

theduck — Mon, 13 Feb 2017 19:44:34 GMT

But I'll give it a try... Thanks!

Re: Dark Shadow while shooting

RobertTheFat — Mon, 13 Feb 2017 22:51:51 GMT

@theduck wrote:
But I'll give it a try... Thanks!

If it still gives the same result, check to see whether you have the camera set to 2nd-curtain sync. That would suggest that the flash is firing too late, rather than too early. It would almost have to be one or the other, and which one it is depends on whether the shutter curtains move from top to bottom or bottom to top. I've forgotten which it is (if I ever knew).

Re: Dark Shadow while shooting

ScottyP — Tue, 14 Feb 2017 00:12:56 GMT

See if whatever you have in the hotshoe has slid back a little. Once my speedlite slid back just maybe 1/4 inch and it would fire but it didn't make a good connection with all the metal pins, etc, and it would mistimed the shutter and make a black mark on one side like that. Seems it might happen to a trigger like it happened to a flash.

Re: Dark Shadow while shooting

theduck — Tue, 14 Feb 2017 05:19:07 GMT

Thanks, Scotty

I will test that as well!

(by the way, as in your case - it had happened to me several times while shooting with my 580 mounted on the hotshoe of my 5D-II that it suddenly missed the E-TTL and started working TTL with full force. Sometimes when I shoot both indoors and outdorrs activities, as with my charity work, the action is fast and happening in both, so I have to... and when that happends I must stop and re-build the whole set. It yet didn't happen to me with my 5D-IV.)

Re: Dark Shadow while shooting

TCampbell — Sun, 19 Feb 2017 16:03:56 GMT

The 580EX II almost certainly has a loose "foot". If you attach the flash and lock down the lever on the hot-shoe, I'm guess you still have a bit more wobble on the flash than it should have.

There are four internal screws on the 580 that hold the metal foot-plate onto the bottom of the flash and these can become loose. When that happens, the pins don't make good contact and the flash will lose full E-TTL communication with the camera.

Once upon a time Canon had a silent recall (if someone had this issue, they could send in the flash and Canon would fix it). But you can also find info on the internet (I've found YouTube videos that walk you through step-by-step).

BTW, when using the 3rd party trigger, you may need to reduce the shutter speed to 1/160th instead of the normal 1/200th speed. Canon's stuff is pretty fast and can handle the 1/200th shutter speed, but some 3rd party triggers induce just enough lag that they need to be backed off a third of a stop of shutter speed (which really isn't an issue because the flash delivers it's light in a fraction of that time.) It wont have any noticeable effect on your exposure.

The 580EX II will act as a "master" (it can be an optical master or slave) and a 430EX II can act as a "slave" (it can only be a slave, the 430EX II does not have "master" capability... the new 430EX III-RT does have "master" as well as "slave" capability). That means you really don't need the 3rd party trigger for your setup as long as you have line-of-sight. Rotate the 430EX II's lower body so that the red lens is facing the flash on the 580EX II - then swivil the head of your 430EX II to direct the light wherever you need it.