Alright, don’t get all excited, by flashing I don’t mean one flashing their naughty bits! What I do mean is that I have been playing around with my Sigma EF-530 DG Super Flash along of course with my Canon XSi.
I don’t have much experience with using an off camera flash, but as Scott mentioned, just start playing with it. Though, in order for me to do that, I had to look up my flash’s manual online. Sigma offered the EF-500 flash which I would assume is just not as powerful as my EF-530 DG, so I downloaded it and started reading over it.
Now why would I want to use a separate flash than the one that is built-in to the Canon XSi (EOS 450D)? Well for one, a separate flash is a lot more powerful than the built-in one. You can also manipulate where the flash goes, in terms of the light that is emitted. In this instance I played around with bouncing it off the ceiling and wall near were my subject was. Oh my subject? A large Asian sort of dragon that Robyn cherishes!
At first I couldn’t figure out my menu buttons on the back of my Sigma flash, but when you spend the time to read a manual (yes, I RTFM), you will surprisingly make things easier for yourself. I figured out which modes I would have to switch the Canon XSi into in order to get the flash to properly trigger. E-TTL works only in P or Auto mode. I guess that makes sense right? Though I don’t like to play in P or Auto mode, so I read a bit further down to find out how to get the EF-530 DG Super to work in M or Full-Manual mode. I read that I had to set the Flash itself to M mode. Pretty simple eh? Or at least I would hope so.
The above photo was shot using just the built-in flash on my Canon XSi. Not bad, but I personally do not like the harsh shadow that is cast behind it. I could probably dial down the flash to compensate, right?
On thing I wanted to try was to get my Flash off my camera and off to the side. I’ve seen John do this a bunch of times out on our night-time photowalks with No Compacts Allowed. He would use his Nikon Speedlight as a slave to his Nikon D90. Now I know that the Sigma EF-530 DG Super can do this, I just had to figure out how to do it properly.
Reading up on the various forms of Slave modes that the EF-530 DG Super can be set to, I read that I had to put mine into SL (slave) mode, but ensure that E-TTL was not enabled. You can pass pretty much the basic information from the camera to the flash via the hot-shoe, and then once it reads the info set into the camera, you can remove the flash from the hot-shoe and use it as a remote slave. Now since I don’t know where my flashes base is, I wouldn’t be able to put it onto a tripod and would have to hold it by hand, which means I have to hold my camera with the other hand. Good thing I was using my 50mm f1.8 lens and not my 70-400 f2.8L IS lens right? Big weight difference for shooting single handed!
So how does SL or slave mode work? Well without using a remote radio trigger such as a PocketWizard (PW) or an AlienBee CyberSync, I can use my Canon XSi’s built in flash to trigger the optical sensor on the Sigma EF-530 DG Super remotely! That’s pretty cool and it is also how I believe John would also trigger his Nikon Speedlight, unless of course the D90 has wireless capabilities like the higher models.
On to the test subject!
This first image is shooting with the flash in my left hand up above the dragon. The background shadow is gone, but the light seems a bit harsh on the face right?
I tried to back the flash off (remember, I’m still holding it up above my head) and the exposure on the dragon I think is a bit better. A faint shadow can be seen, but I don’t think it looks all too horrible, unlike the first photo which had a heavier shadow.
Throughout my little tests tonight, I did notice that the flash wouldn’t fire periodically. Now, I thought that it could be the recycling time, but according to the manual, the recycling time is about 6.0 seconds with alkaline batteries (4.0 secs with NiMH). I also noticed when I pressed the zoom button that the motor (in the flash) seemed a bit slow and quiet. It turns out that my batteries actually died while playing with the flash. The batteries that were in it were put in when I first bought the flash almost over a year ago! The specifications say on fully charged alkalines, I can get about 220 flashes before batteries are drained. With NiMH batteries I would get about 100 flashes, but 2.0 seconds less in recycling time. I think I’ll use the alkalines for now. With putting in fresh batteries and I was back off to the races!
Who knew playing with a flash could be so much fun!
Now I just have to find more subjects to play around with. Anyone have any cool suggestions on what I can try and do with using my Flash as an optical slave? Any tricks?
TawcanNov 16, 2009 at 09:18:08
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Interesting didn’t know you can trigger that flash optically. Is does involve firing your on-camera flash right? What’s the sync speed you get with this method?
John BiehlerNov 16, 2009 at 10:49:54
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Actually, the Nikon gear I have does support working as a slave, but I was actually using the Creative Lighting System (aka CLS) to trigger my flash unit wirelessly. The onboard flash sends a very low pre-flash burst that sends the exposure info to the speedlight. It appears that it’s slaved but it’s actually being fully TTL controlled by the camera. It’s another plus for Nikon…but requires line of sight to work since it’s based on the IR sensors seeing the pre-flash burst. To go beyond that, you need to use either a Pocket Wizard (or poverty wizard ebay special) to wireless trigger the flash. Newer Pocket Wizards can actually be controlled from the camera but otherwise has to be set manually.
John BiehlerNov 16, 2009 at 10:51:17
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I should also mention that the Nikon CLS stuff only works with Nikon specific gear…although I think there may be at least one 3rd party that makes a CLS compatible flash for Nikon.
the VyperNov 17, 2009 at 02:03:04
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@Tyler; Remind me next time I have my big bag with me to show you an interesting little gadget I have for triggering the Optical Slave on my flashes (Nikon SG-3r). I use it to block the visible flash signals from my hotshoe flash to my remotes. Works really good when taking pictures of babies as the flash can startle them. You should also look into a E-TTL flash cord for your camera, Third party ones can be had for around 30-40 dollars and Canon branded ones for about $60-$70.
@John; There are quite a few companies that make CLS compatible flashes. Metz, Vivitar, Quantum and Sigma ,among others as well, all have flashes that work wirelessly with Nikon’s CLS.
I would have gone with Sigma’s EF-530 if they were still available in BC stores instead of Nikon’s SB-600.
The third party gear available today is often times better than OEM which is why my bag is full of non-Nikon gear.
Brennan
PSP GoNov 26, 2009 at 07:04:40
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What a difference huh? It may well be worth my while investing in a separate flash.
Mio Navman Spirit S500THFDec 09, 2009 at 02:49:03
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Giving a glance at the fine pictures of dragon the excellent configuration of the camera can be easily estimated.