- last edited on by
Danny
I know little about speedlights. I seem to get things over exposed often. It seems that I do not understand how auto metering works when the speedlight is attached.
I was experimenting with using a flash with wildlife in deep shade. I was using Speedlite 470EX-AI on the camera and set for straight ahead with no bounce or automatic movement.
I used -2/3 exposure compensation for the squirrel, but it still seemed over exposed. I used "flash priority" metering because I was not wanting to lighten background shadows.
The Squirrel image was processed in DPP, saved to 16 bit TIFF, loaded into gimp, additional noise reduction and unsharp mask in gimp, saved from gimp as JPEG with quality 85 and 4:4:4 sampling. The low quality setting was to get it under 5 MB for upload here.
The eye of the squirrel has reflected the flash, but I did not try to fix that.
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| File:Other | FileName | IMG_4319.dr4 |
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| File:Other | FileName | IMG_4319c.JPG |
| File:Image | ImageWidth | 6000 |
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| EXIF:Camera | Model | Canon EOS R5 |
| EXIF:Camera | ExposureProgram | Aperture-priority AE |
| EXIF:Camera | Flash | On, Fired |
| EXIF:Camera | ExposureMode | Auto |
| EXIF:Camera | SceneCaptureType | Standard |
| EXIF:Image | Software | Digital Photo Professional |
| EXIF:Image | ExposureTime | 1/250 |
| EXIF:Image | FNumber | 11.0 |
| EXIF:Image | ISO | 2500 |
| EXIF:Image | LensModel | EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM +2x III |
| MakerNotes:Camera | CanonFlashMode | External flash |
| MakerNotes:Camera | ContinuousDrive | Continuous, Low |
| MakerNotes:Camera | FocusMode | AI Servo AF |
| MakerNotes:Camera | RecordMode | CR3+JPEG |
| MakerNotes:Camera | CameraISO | Auto |
| MakerNotes:Camera | FlashActivity | 157 |
| MakerNotes:Camera | FlashBits | E-TTL, External |
| MakerNotes:Camera | CameraTemperature | 39 C |
| MakerNotes:Camera | CanonFirmwareVersion | Firmware Version 2.2.0 |
| MakerNotes:Camera | ShutterCount | 24400 |
| MakerNotes:Camera | CanonModelID | EOS R5 |
| MakerNotes:Camera | ValidAFPoints | 1 |
| MakerNotes:Camera | MeasuredRGGB | 630 1024 1024 495 |
| MakerNotes:Camera | WB_RGGBLevelsAsShot | 1975 1024 1024 1879 |
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| MakerNotes:Camera | RollAngle | 0.7 |
| MakerNotes:Camera | PitchAngle | 2.9 |
| MakerNotes:Camera | FocalLength | 800 mm |
| MakerNotes:Image | MeasuredEV | 9.75 |
| MakerNotes:Image | ExposureCompensation | -2/3 |
| MakerNotes:Image | MeasuredEV2 | 13 |
| MakerNotes:Image | FocusDistanceUpper | 18.82 m |
| MakerNotes:Image | FocusDistanceLower | 15.17 m |
| MakerNotes:Image | ShutterMode | Electronic First Curtain |
1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION
Accepted Solutions
Hi John,
To my eye, this shot does not look overexposed, certainly the flash element in the scene. With aperture priority added flash the camera by default will set the shutter speed from 1/60 to the sync speed 1/250 in your EOS R5 with electronic first curtain shutter. The fact that you have 1/250 suggests you have set the Slow synchro setting for a fixed shutter speed as I would expect 1/60 to be selected with default settings here. Though equally that could be a result of the ISO 2500 selected as the camera tried to balance the ambient light.
Selecting flash priority flash balance would conventionally mean that the photos look a little more "flashed" than Canon cameras normally aim for. I tried the flash balance settings in the past, but actually prefer the standard flash balance setting.
https://www.p4pictures.com/2022/05/e-ttl-balance-speedlite-settings/
With your ISO so high it is possible that f/11 from your lens + extender, and 1/250 are the maximum settings the camera can work with, and despite you selecting -2/3 EV on the ambient compensation, the image was already overexposed with ambient light and 1/250, f/11, ISO 2500. Adding flash simply adds more light.
One suggestion is to try using manual mode on the camera, setting the shutter speed to the sync speed of 1/250 you chosen aperture and then adjust ISO to give you the ambient exposure you want, even if that is underexposed. Then when the flash is used it will illuminate the detected subject, but the flash intensity will fall off the further the light travels, meaning the background will be darker.
As an example here is a photo taken with flash inside a butterfly enclosure. I set the camera to manual mode and chose 1/200 f/4 ISO 200. The flash was set for E-TTL automatic flash exposure. Without the flash the frame would be very underexposed. So the camera determines the flash exposure and illuminates the subject but the light falls off the further from the subject it goes.
Hi John,
To my eye, this shot does not look overexposed, certainly the flash element in the scene. With aperture priority added flash the camera by default will set the shutter speed from 1/60 to the sync speed 1/250 in your EOS R5 with electronic first curtain shutter. The fact that you have 1/250 suggests you have set the Slow synchro setting for a fixed shutter speed as I would expect 1/60 to be selected with default settings here. Though equally that could be a result of the ISO 2500 selected as the camera tried to balance the ambient light.
Selecting flash priority flash balance would conventionally mean that the photos look a little more "flashed" than Canon cameras normally aim for. I tried the flash balance settings in the past, but actually prefer the standard flash balance setting.
https://www.p4pictures.com/2022/05/e-ttl-balance-speedlite-settings/
With your ISO so high it is possible that f/11 from your lens + extender, and 1/250 are the maximum settings the camera can work with, and despite you selecting -2/3 EV on the ambient compensation, the image was already overexposed with ambient light and 1/250, f/11, ISO 2500. Adding flash simply adds more light.
One suggestion is to try using manual mode on the camera, setting the shutter speed to the sync speed of 1/250 you chosen aperture and then adjust ISO to give you the ambient exposure you want, even if that is underexposed. Then when the flash is used it will illuminate the detected subject, but the flash intensity will fall off the further the light travels, meaning the background will be darker.
As an example here is a photo taken with flash inside a butterfly enclosure. I set the camera to manual mode and chose 1/200 f/4 ISO 200. The flash was set for E-TTL automatic flash exposure. Without the flash the frame would be very underexposed. So the camera determines the flash exposure and illuminates the subject but the light falls off the further from the subject it goes.
Thanks to Brian for explaining in a manner that made sense to me.
I used Fv mode and specified shutter speed, FNumber, and ISO. The camera obtained proper metering by controlling the flash.
This year, painted buntings have not been willing to pose for me in a tree, but still come to a bird feeder when there is not much light.
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| ExifTool | ExifToolVersion | 13.30 |
| ExifTool | Warning | Bad length ICC_Profile (length 3140) |
| File:Other | FileName | IMG_4339cs.JPG |
| EXIF:Camera | Make | Canon |
| EXIF:Camera | Model | Canon EOS R5 |
| EXIF:Camera | ExposureProgram | Not Defined ( exiftool does not know about Fv mode ) |
| EXIF:Camera | Flash | On, Fired |
| EXIF:Camera | ExposureMode | Auto |
| EXIF:Camera | SceneCaptureType | Standard |
| EXIF:Image | Software | Digital Photo Professional |
| EXIF:Image | ExposureTime | 1/250 |
| EXIF:Image | FNumber | 13.0 |
| EXIF:Image | ISO | 400 |
| EXIF:Image | LensModel | EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM +2x III |
| EXIF:Time | DateTimeOriginal | 2025:08:05 07:10:13 |
| EXIF:Time | OffsetTimeOriginal | -05:00 |
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| MakerNotes:Camera | CanonFlashMode | External flash |
| MakerNotes:Camera | MeteringMode | Evaluative |
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| MakerNotes:Camera | FlashBits | E-TTL, External |
| MakerNotes:Camera | CameraTemperature | 41 C |
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| MakerNotes:Camera | CanonModelID | EOS R5 |
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| MakerNotes:Camera | WB_RGGBLevelsFlash | 2245 1024 1024 1628 |
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| MakerNotes:Camera | AIServoFirstImage | Equal Priority |
| MakerNotes:Camera | AIServoSecondImage | Equal Priority |
| MakerNotes:Camera | AFAssistBeam | Enable |
| MakerNotes:Camera | AutoAFPointSelEOSiTRAF | Enable |
| MakerNotes:Camera | InitialAFPointInServo | Manual AF Point |
| MakerNotes:Camera | SubjectToDetect | Animals |
| MakerNotes:Camera | EyeDetection | On |
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| MakerNotes:Image | FocusDistanceUpper | 9.07 m |
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| MakerNotes:Image | ShutterMode | Electronic First Curtain |
| MakerNotes:Image | FlashExposureLock | Off |
| MakerNotes:Image | AntiFlicker | Off |
| IPTC:Other | Keywords | bird, bunting, Painted Bunting, Passerina ciris, birdfeeder, wildlife, wildlife photography, Oklahoma |
| XMP:Image | Description | Painted Bunting (Passerina ciris) in Norman, Oklahoma, United States on August 5, 2025 |
