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EOS 600D Flash Problem

Dipankar
Apprentice

i ve EOS 600D. when capturing with flash it is pope up but image is still dark

12 REPLIES 12

ebiggs1
Legend
Legend

Does the flash actually fire?  Are you using the green square?  A little more info would be helpful.

EB
EOS 1DX and 1D Mk IV and less lenses then before!

ya. flash fires but image is dark, sometime flash is not firing then the image is exactly as right apparture or sutter speed. what is the problem i m confused. i ve cleared all setting, flash setting but problem not solved

You didn't answer, are you using the "green square"?  Or, are you using another mode setting?

EB
EOS 1DX and 1D Mk IV and less lenses then before!

TCampbell
Elite
Elite

We need to know what mode you are using on the mode dial.

 

Also... how far away is your subject?  Pop-up flashes are not intended for distant subjects.

 

The pop-up flash on your camera has a "guide number" of 13 meters (43 feet).  This is a "baseline" value which is NOT how far a subject can be under typical conditions... the value indicates how far a subject can be if the camera is using ISO 100 and the lens if f/1.0.  Of course, your lens is NOT f/1.0, but the reason the value is used as a baseline is because it makes the math easy.

 

All we do is divide the guide number by the f-stop value that the camera lens is ACTUALLY using and that gives us the distance at which the flash can adequately light a subject.

 

Assuming you are using the kit lens (a variable f/3.5-5.6 lens) then the best the lens might be able to do is f/5.6.

 

Divide 43 feet by 5.6 and we get:  43 ÷ 5.6 = 7.67 feet.  That's it... not even 10' away.  BTW, this is VERY typical of pop-up flashes on any camera.  Those tiny little pop-up flashes just can't emit much light.  

 

The camera can improve this somewhat by increasing the ISO.  At ISO 400, the pop-up flash can illuminate a subject 15' away.  But we don't know what ISO your camera used because you haven't supplied us with that information.  Your camera could push up to ISO 1600 and get that distance improved to about 30' but this has the downside of showing more "noise" in the image as you keep increasing the ISO sensitivity.

 

Fortunately your DSLR has a "hot shoe" on top which allows you to connect an external flash which can provide considerably more power.  The Canon Speedlite 430EX II, for example, has a guide number of about 141' (43 meters).  Using that flash with an f/5.6 focal ratio gives us:  141 ÷ 5.6 = 25.17 feet (a little better than 25 feet away).   That's MUCH better and that's why Canon provides that hot-shoe for external flash.

 

 

Tim Campbell
5D III, 5D IV, 60Da

i am in M mode, when using flash sometime it is firing sometimes not. but when flash firing there is no change in image lighting and i think it more darker than normal (without flash). it i done in ISO 400 (auto). 

in protrait mode flash pop up, sometime not firing if firing no efect in image, it is dark


@Dipankar wrote:

i am in M mode, when using flash sometime it is firing sometimes not. but when flash firing there is no change in image lighting and i think it more darker than normal (without flash). it i done in ISO 400 (auto). 

in protrait mode flash pop up, sometime not firing if firing no efect in image, it is dark


You should see at least the highlights of the scene properly lit. But the E-TTL algorithm is extremely averse to blown highlights and effectively treats all direct (non-bounce) flash as "fill". This usually works pretty well, but it means that you need to expose for the rest of the scene (other than the highlights) almost as though the flash were not present. If the scene is too dark for that to be an option, you probably need to set your flash to manual mode. Note, however, that setting the exposure to "M" does not put the flash in manual mode. The latter is an entirely separate setting.

 

Canon has never (to my knowledge) done a good job of explaining this, but some third-party commentators have. Gisle Hannemyr of Norway, for example, wrote quite a good paper on the subject a few years ago. You might be able to find it by googling.

Bob
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania USA

"i am in M mode, when using flash ..."   "i done in ISO 400 (auto). "

 

If your ISO is on "auto" you are not in complete manual?!? Smiley Frustrated

EB
EOS 1DX and 1D Mk IV and less lenses then before!


@ebiggs1 wrote:

"i am in M mode, when using flash ..."   "i done in ISO 400 (auto). "

 

If your ISO is on "auto" you are not in complete manual?!? Smiley Frustrated


Well, M mode and Auto ISO can be simultaneously used with flash, but exactly what happens when you do so is rather vaguely explained (at least in the 7D and 5D3 manuals).

Bob
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania USA

Exactly!   M should mean manual.

EB
EOS 1DX and 1D Mk IV and less lenses then before!
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