I recently purchased a EOS A2 & 430 EZ flash (prior to this I used a 630 EOS and Sigma flash), and use a EOS 200mm 2.8L lense. Many of my pictures are taken at rock concerts, in poor lighting conditions, with a good bit of motion, and with bright-colored lights flashing on and off. Here is my "problem", or question. If I load up with Portra 800 film or Royal Gold 1000, and meter off a particular musician at the show, the A2 almost always defaults to 1/60 @ 5.6 w/ flash. The curious thing is that if I switch to TV mode -because 1/60 wont freeze the shot for me- and try 1/90 or 1/125, even at 2.8 the display readout flashes, indicating insufficient light. Why will it program to 1/60 5.6 in P-mode, but not accept 1/90 2.8 in TV mode? Any theories? Of course, I can fire away at 1/125 f4 and get beautiful pictures - but why doesn't the body know this? I have done a bit of playing around with it at different concerts, and thus far have played with the ASA, spot meter vs. view meter, different lenses, etc. I can get excellent pictures, but I have to second guess the EOS body and correct for it. I am concerned and annoyed because I bought a camera with a million functions, and it doesnt seem to do any better than me standing there with a beer in one hand, A2 in the other, guessing at the settings! Another, perhaps related concern, is that when I use the EOS 28mm lense, the body rarely signals o.k. in the viewfinder, during poor lighting conditions. In TV mode, the 2.8 will flash on and off. But, the flash has more than enough power to cover the person and/or stage. At first I thought maybe the quality of today's high speed film allowed the pictures when ordinarily (in the past) they would have been underexposed, but even if I switch the ISO to 1000 or 1600, they same flashing occurs in the viewfinder at 2.8, though again, like above, if I shoot the pic it looks great. It is as if the body does not "know" just how good/powerful the 430EZ is. I have tested the 430ez in daylight fill-in situations, and it seems to work perfectly. Am I missing something? My 630 seems to function much better in low-light situations, and I know of no reason why it should? Any info appreciated.

-- Michael Tolan (mjtolan@kbjrmail.com), August 03, 2000

Answers

In Tv and Av mode, the newer EOS cameras are designed to balance natural lighting with flash (they call it slow sync). Thus, when 2.8 flashes in Tv mode the camera is telling you that it can't balance the background light with the flash--it is too dim due to the fast shutter speed you set. However, you can still take a photo but it will be a pure "flash" photo. In program mode, the camera try to balance fill flash and background light to a certain level and then default to pure flash automatically.

The A2 manual briefly explains these "features."

-- Kun (doggieface@aol.com), August 04, 2000.

When you're shooting in P mode or Full Auto mode (the green rectangle) WITH a Speedlite flash, the flash and camera are then working in *A-TTL* mode, in which the camera is rationally controlling aperture and shutter speed with respect to the hot-shoe flash. However, when you're shooting in Av, Tv, (or M) modes, the flash (and camera) revert to the less automatic TTL mode, in which YOU are now controlling shutter speed and/or aperture. The LCD display on your flash should display an "A-TTL" designation (and there should be NO coupling range distance display) when the camera is in P or full auto mode; conversely, the flash should display the "TTL" designation when the camera is in Av, Tv, or M modes, and the flash's LCD should now display a coupling range distance scale. Review the flash's owner's manual for further information.

When shooting quick-action or fleeting subjects in very low light situations, my experience with the 540EZ and 550EX flashes (combined with EOS cameras) indicates that the "P mode" flash performance is generally quite reliable and accurate, and is often hard to beat or second guess. Don't forget that in really low light situations, the ultra-fast burst of light from the flash is what actually freezes motion, and as long as the synchronized shutter speed is around 1/60 sec., there often won't be enough recording of the ambient light to result in blurred or smeared images. If there is enough ambient light, the camera [in P mode, or full auto mode (the green rectangle icon)] will select a faster shutter speed to minimize or avoid such effects. Nonetheless, when shooting in such low light circumstances, I suggest you consider programming your flash for "second curtain synchronization", so that if the ambient light does record to some extent, these "light trails" will appear to more naturally follow rather than appearing to precede or lead the main subject.

-- kurt heintzelman (heintzelman.1@osu.edu), August 04, 2000.

Adding to the other comments; When in P mode the shutter is limited to the range 1/60 to 1/200. There really isn't enough light at those speeds so the camera defaults to the slowest 1/60. If you turn off the flash, you will see the shutter speed that is needed to give a proper ambient exposure. You wont like it. It'll be real slow.

Of course, using Tv or M modes you can set any speed you want up to 1/200 (max sync speed) and the flash will give you a proper exposure. But when using Tv mode you will have to slow that shutter way down before the aperture stops blinking.

-- Jim Strutz (jimstrutz@juno.com), August 07, 2000.

Maybe this is just another difference between the A2 and the EOS-5 (except for the metering scale in the M mode) but when I mount my 430EZ Speedlite on my EOS-5 I do get A-TTL also in Tv and Av, not just in P and "green" modes. Only in M and X modes do I get "plain" TTL.

I agree with the previous posts on all aspects relating to balancing ambient and flash illumination. One additional thing: in the P mode this particular camera's program is designed to enhance DOF so all too often you wind up with f/22 and 1/60 (in confined quarters, with a larger flash-to-subject ratio the A-TTL will obviously dictate a larger aperture while still keeping the 1/60). IMO, using the M mode is a good solution to maintain control over the aperture and shutter speed to get reasonable settings, e.g. your preferred 1/125 and f/4, and the flash will nicely handle the rest. No other program (except for X) will give you that. Of course, the presence of ambient light is limited here as well.

Piotr

-- Piotr Mikolajczyk (mikolaj@pcwarsaw.waw.pl), August 18, 2000.