does popping up the flash in manual mode change light meter?

[rasheemo]

whenever i bring the flash out the camera never adjusts or acknowledge that i *will* have enough light so the light meter could be in the middle but my settings are really slow shutter and high aperture and the picture comes out a mess. do i just have to guess a proper shutter speed or something?

thanks guys, its an XT if that makes a difference.

 

[Mike_E]

No it just means that you are about to mess up a perfectly good photo.


Go here.. http://strobist.blogspot.com/2006/02/welcome-to-strobist.html and read till the end and you will be a happy camper. Really!

 

[rasheemo]

but it's an on-camera flash, or does that not matter?

 

[Mike_E]

read, it will help. Promise.

 

[rasheemo]

there is a lot of good information on there, but i really just want to know how to use the on-camera flash properly in manual mode so that i would get similar results as to how it works in automatic mode lol.

this is a lot of reading for one simple issue...
but i will read it since this is helpful in my journey of better lighting!

 

[*Mike*]

whenever i bring the flash out the camera never adjusts or acknowledge that i *will* have enough light so the light meter could be in the middle but my settings are really slow shutter and high aperture and the picture comes out a mess. do i just have to guess a proper shutter speed or something?

thanks guys, its an XT if that makes a difference.

What mode are you shooting in? I would think that in most auto/semi-auto modes the camera will adjust accordingly. In manual, well, you have to know what you're doing... The meter is only reading the reflected ambient light.

 

[Big Mike]

No, turning on the flash will not affect the camera's meter readings...the meter reads only ambient light.

When in auto mode, with flash, the camera will limit the shutter speed to about 1/60 and use flash to supply the rest of the light. In Av or Tv, the camera will give you settings as if there was no flash, and assume that you only want the flash for fill light. In manual mode, the flash (with E-TTL metering) will give you enough light for the aperture that you are using (provided that it's within range). The shutter speed has no bearing on the flash exposure but does control the ambient exposure.

THIS is the 'Canon Flash Bible'...it's a lot of information but you will find answers within.

 

[vinyljunkie]

No, turning on the flash will not affect the camera's meter readings...the meter reads only ambient light.

When in auto mode, with flash, the camera will limit the shutter speed to about 1/60 and use flash to supply the rest of the light. In Av or Tv, the camera will give you settings as if there was no flash, and assume that you only want the flash for fill light. In manual mode, the flash (with E-TTL metering) will give you enough light for the aperture that you are using (provided that it's within range). The shutter speed has no bearing on the flash exposure but does control the ambient exposure.

THIS is the 'Canon Flash Bible'...it's a lot of information but you will find answers within.

very helpful, thanks!