Crazy flashing ..

lgava · Apr 9, 2012

Hey ive got a canon 550d and the built in flash goes off like a looney when before i try to take a picture(half pressing the shutter). im guessing this is for shadows etc but i want it to go away lol!

its not red eye as that is already disabled.

any ideas?

OrionsByte · Apr 9, 2012

If you're shooting in Auto, it will do that any time it doesn't think you have enough light to take the photo, typically when the shutter is around 1/60 or so. The way to fix it is to not shoot in Auto.

On the other hand, if you're saying it's going off when you're only half-pressing the shutter, it's mostly likely a focus-assist light and should be able to be turned off in the camera menu.

lgava · Apr 9, 2012

ok its E-TTL II (pre-flash) ... i will be shooting outside and using it as a fill so am i right in thinking it shouldn't go off if theres lots of light?

i can see the option on my camera but its greyed out..
View attachment 5980the option i have selected has 2 sub options, evaluative and average

apples · Apr 9, 2012

lgava said:
ok its E-TTL II (pre-flash) ... how can i turn it off? if i can?

it should be in the instruction manual. but, there should be a little lightning bolt shaped icon on a button on the left side (lcd facing you) to turn it on/off in some of the manual mode.

lgava · Apr 9, 2012

hmm ok .. there is no lightning bolt

.. ill give the manual a look over when i find it .. one more question for anyone (i know its not related) but whats the best/faster lead to use for tethered shooting?

KmH · Apr 9, 2012

lgava said:
.. ill give the manual a look over when i find it ..

There is no good reason to keep track of the user's manual, unless you want to know how to operate your camera.

If you don't find it, you can download it a www.canonusa.com

TCampbell · Apr 9, 2012

Another possibility is that you're bumping the aperture preview button. If the flash is off (pop-up flash is folded down) then this just performs normal aperture preview. But if the flash is on (pop-up is raised) then this button causes the flash to work like a poor-mans modeling light (it'll fire the flash very rapidly to provide a near continuous amount of light.) It may account for the "looney" flash behavior if you're bumping this button while preparing to take a shot.