Slide film cover up

[mdtusz]

Using CLS works great, but sometimes the on camera flash is a bit of an annoyance. I've read that putting a peice of slide film that's been exposed to black will block out the visible light but still let the IR pass through. Has anyone tried this yet? I don't have any slide film laying around, but I'm gonna go to the local lab and ask if they have any ends from slide film in the garbage or anything. It seems like it should work in principle, I'm just concerned it wouldn't let enough IR through.

Edit: I guess I didn't really explain my question: will taping a little peice of black slide film over my popup flash still allow for CLS to work.

 

[Big Mike]

Are you sure that CLS uses IR for communication? I know that it's a common misconception about Canon flashes that they use IR for wireless communication...they actually use pulses of regular light from the flash head. The Canon ST-E2 uses IR, but it doesn't have a flash head/tube at all.

Irregardless of that, you should be able to set your built-in flash to 'off' or 'does not fire', without disabling CLS. It would still fire before the exposure, just not during the exposure.

Check your manual.

 

[mdtusz]

Hmm, perhaps. I don't know for suuure that it's IR, but that's what seems to be the concensus on a ton of youtube videos and online articles. I know the popup flash doesn't effect the exposure if it's set to -- but it's still a bit annoying when you're shooting around people of the general public. I'll look into it some more and let you know how it goes.