Canon 6D Mark II

[davis61375]

I just purchased the Canon 6D Mark II and I noticed that this camera does not have the pop up flash.  Is there an enternal flash in this camera  or do I have to buy a flash?

[kvbarkley]

You need to buy a flash.

[davis61375]

Can you recommend a good flash for the model.

Thanks

[ebiggs1]

Do you want "good" or best flash?

The Canon Speedlite 600EX II-RT is the best.

Full frame cameras tend to not have the worthless built-in flash. Some say it is because the pentaprism is too large. As cameras and post editors become better, flash becomes less significant. I rarely use mine anymore.

[TCampbell]

None of the full-frame cameras have an internal pop-up flash.  There are probably two reasons for this...

#1 is that full frame cameras have a phsycial larger sensor, larger viewfinder, and larger pentaprism... that means space is a premium (they could make it bigger and put one in anyway), but

#2 is that these camera bodies tend to be used by either professional or certainly more passionate photographers... and those photographers want off-camera lighting and would almost certainly not use an on-camera flash anyway (so it would add to the cost of the camera for a feature they probably would not use.)

That means you need an external flash.

Canon's flash model numbers are actually an indication of how far away a subject can be and still get adequate light.

For speedlight flash units, (Canon spells it 'Speedlite' ... a bit different) there's something called a "guide number".  This number represents a distance for adequate flash coverage assuming ISO 100 and f/1.0  (shutter speed doesn't matter with flash as long as it is less than the maximum flash-sync speed (sometimes called the X-Sync) which for your camera I think is 1/160th second.

Right away there's a problem becasue you don't have an f/1.0 lens ... but the reason that's the industry standard is because it makes the math very easy.

All you do is devide the guide number distance by the actual f-stop you plan to use... and that's the coverage distance.

For Canon flash, the guide number is listed in meters.  For Canon flash, delete the final digit from the model number and the digits that remain are the guide number of the flash in meters.  

E.g. for a 600EX II-RT you delete the final "0" and are left with "60".  That flash has a guide number of 60 meters.

For a 430EX III-RT you delete the final "0" are are left with "43".  That flash has a guide number of 43 meters.

But remember to divide the guide-number by the f-stop.  If you are shooting at... say f/8... then 60 / 8 = 7.5 (meters).  That's just about 25'.  For the 430 flash... at f/8 ... then 43 / 8 = 3.375 meters (a little over 17 feet).

While that sounds like a lot... you get better light if the light comes from the side and is nicely diffused... so often flashes are fired through modifiers OR bounced off a ceiling or walls.  When you do that, the modifier or surface is going to "eat" a lot of your light (possibly half of it... possibly more than half)  That means distance like 17 feet can turn into 12'.  (But remember this is all at ISO 100... and you can increase the ISO).

Canon's 600EX III-RT is their flagship speedlite and it's very nice... but it's around $500.  That's a very powerful flash.  Even the 430 is considerably more powerful than any camera's bult-in flash (those built-in flashes are not good for very long distances.)

There are also loads of 3rd party flashes.  Some of them support the Canon "E-TTL" metering system (E-TTL = Electronic Through-The-Lens metering for the flash... it means the camera knows how to work with the flash to automatically set the correct amount of power based on the subject.)  But some of them are just manual (you have to know how to control the flash and manually set the power level.)

I have not owned any 3rd party flashes in many many years... so my knowledge of which ones are good is long since out of date.  Also... VERY IMPORTANT... while Canon makes it easy to know the "guide number" of the flash based on it's model number, this isn't true for most 3rd party flashes.  You'd have to look up the guide-numbers manually (don't infer it from the model number unless it's a Canon flash.   Most companies don't make it as easy as Canon.)

[davis61375]

One last question: Can you recommend a good external flash for the cannon 6D Mark ii ( for beginners) that is user friendly. I'm going to a party and wanted to take some candid pictures while I'm there. The party will be in the evening at a venue inside. Mid to low lighting in the inside of the venue.

[shadowsports]

I went with the flash in my sig...  I call it the "intermediate" model...  LoL

[TCampbell]

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@davis61375 wrote:

One last question: Can you recommend a good external flash for the cannon 6D Mark ii ( for beginners) that is user friendly. I'm going to a party and wanted to take some candid pictures while I'm there. The party will be in the evening at a venue inside. Mid to low lighting in the inside of the venue.

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I highly recommend you get a flash that supports the Canon E-TTL system because that will ultimately be the easiest thing to use.

If you want to keep the costs down, but you want Canon, then you could get the 430EX III-RT.  The flashes with the "RT" suffix support radio triggering... when means they can work with other flashes via radio to allow off-camera use (they also support optical triggering).

These are "E-TTL" flashes..  That means that when you take a photo, the flash technically fires twice in very rapid succession (you'd swear it only fired once). 

The camera & flash do the following:

#1 - Camera "meters" the light with no flash

#2 - Camera fires the flash at low power (typically 1/32nd flash power) while simultaneously metering the scene again

#3 - Camera compares metering from #1 and #2 to determine how much change occured and also IF the flash is in the on-camera hot-shoe AND IF the flash is pointed straight ahead then the camera will use the lens' reported focus distance to also determine flash power.  In any case, it decides how much actual power should be used.

#4 - the shutter opens and the camera takes the shot ... firing the flash at the power level calculated in step #3.

This is all fully automatic and it happens VERY fast (like I said... you'd swear the flash only fired once.)  It's about as close as it gets to being fool-proof (it is possible to fool the flash... but the system is advanced enough that generally gets good results.)

There are people who buy 3rd party flashes that are Canon E-TTL compatible from companies like Yongnuo or Neewer, etc.  I have no first-hand experience with those.

There are a few things about flash that can confuse new users and make them dislike flash.  

One major issue has to do with "light fall-off".  You'll often see photos indoors or at night where the subject is bright (sometimes too bright) and the background is dark... unnaturally dark.  The lighting is terrible.   

This happens because when you use a flash there are really TWO sources of light.  The light you see when you aren't taking a photo is from ambient light sources in the area (the lighting in the room, etc.)  Often this lighting is rather dim.  To get a good exposure based on that light would usually require a long exposure time (so long that it would be difficult to hand-hold the camera).

The other light is from the flash.  This light is bright... but VERY brief.  Often the flash is only illuminated for perhaps 1/1000ths of a second (or something extremely short).  

If you take a shot at a fast shutter speed then you end up with light from the flash... but practically no other light.  The result is a very dark (unnaturally dark) background that does not resemble what your eyes saw when you took the shot.  That's becuase the camera didn't have enough time to collect any ambient light.

Light spreads out the farther it travels... causing more distant subjects to appear much darker.

If you get out of Automatic mode and use Av mode instead, you can make some adjustments that are very helpful

See pages 281 & 282 of your manual.  This is the "external speedlite control" menu.  This controlsl how the camera will use the flash.  One helpful option is to set the "Flash Sync. Speed in Av Mode" option to the "1/180-1/60 sec. auto" choice.

This causes the camera to take longer exposures... but never longer than 1/60th of a second.  That means it's short enough that you can generally hand-hold the camera during the shot and not worry too much about camera movement (assuming you are trying to be reasonably steady).  You shouldn't get a blurry shot from motion.  If you use "auto" choice then the camera CAN choose much slower shutter speeds and you may have blur caused by camera movement.

Having set that choice, put the camera in Av mode, increase the ISO (or use Auto ISO) and select a low Aperture value (f/2.8 if you have an f/2.8 lens... or f/4, etc.  Avoid high f-stops such as f/8, f/11, etc.)

This will allow the camera to collect a leasant amount of ambient background lighting and you get a much more pleasant result.

[kvbarkley]

All Canon flashes are user friendly. Just plug it in and go. You might want a Sto-Fen diffuser to soften the light a little.

If you are on a tight budget, you can get a 320 EX which can be an optical slave if you go that way in the future.

Also check out the refurbished store:

https://shop.usa.canon.com/shop/en/catalog/lenses-flashes/refurbished-speedlite-flashes

As good as new at quite a discount.

[ebiggs1]

"The party will be in the evening at a venue inside. Mid to low lighting in the inside of the venue."

I would go to the place and try no flash. You may be surprised ay how well the 6D2 will work sans flash.

"...wanted to take some candid pictures while I'm there."

Candids and a flash?   Good luck with that!