External Speedlite Control And Anti Flicker
Lesson 22 from: Canon 1DX Mark II Fast StartJohn Greengo
External Speedlite Control And Anti Flicker
Lesson 22 from: Canon 1DX Mark II Fast StartJohn Greengo
Lesson Info
22. External Speedlite Control And Anti Flicker
Lessons
Class Introduction
12:55 2Photo Basics
04:03 3Basic Camera Controls
03:33 4Exposure Modes
20:29 5Top Deck Additional Features
05:29 6Exposure Bracketing
04:14 7Exposure Compensation Metering And Flash
18:50 8Viewfinder
12:31Live View And Movie Mode
23:52 10Autofocus Area
10:16 11Quick Menu
03:48 12Play Back
06:13 13Memory Cards
06:33 14Left And Right Of Camera Features
04:48 15Bottom And Front Of Camera Features
03:23 16Lenses
07:35 17Shooting Menu
10:45 18Lens Aberration Correction
04:31 19Multiple Exposure And Image Type
07:06 20ISO Speed Settings And Noise Reduction
10:22 21Mirror Lockup And Dust Delete Data
03:43 22External Speedlite Control And Anti Flicker
06:36 23AF Method Shutter And Metering
04:45 24Movie Menu
11:36 25AF Menu
23:09 26Playback Menu
07:43 27Setup Menu
24:13 28Custom Functions Menu Part 1
14:28 29Custom Functions Menu Part 2
19:48 30My Menu
05:04 31Camera Operation
09:47Lesson Info
External Speedlite Control And Anti Flicker
Alright, if you're gonna have a flash attached to the camera you can control a bunch of things about how that flash operates through this sub-menu in the camera settings. So in here, if you want you can disable a flash that is attached to the top of the camera, you could of course always just turn the flash off but if you wanted to disable it electronically from the camera it can be done. You can change the metering system that the flash uses to achieve proper exposure. You can choose the sync mode that the camera is using when you are in the aperture value mode, remember if you're in aperture value, the camera is choosing the shutter speed. So, one option would be for the camera just to choose anything that's available within the flash synchronization range which is 1/250th down to 30 seconds. Another option is to choose something that isn't in the what we would call the normal handheld area 1/250th to 1/60th of a second or you could just have it choose it's maximum shutter speed of 1...
/250th of a second. And so, whatever you find best for the type of photography that you're doing. The flash function settings are the functions that you would normally control directly in the flash, you can jump in and you can control those straight from the camera. So let's look real quickly at what those are. First off, the way the flash meters, you can do ETTL which is it's standard automatic metering system, this is basic the mode of the flash. You can also do it in full manual, so you get to control how powerful the flash is. You could set it to full power or half power, quarter power and so on. There's also a multi-strobe mode where the camera, or excuse me, the flash will fire multiple strobes while the camera is open for one shutter speed. There's wireless option where you can hook-up multiple flashes and have them fire at different powers at different ratios and different locations and this will allow you to get in there and control that. The flashes also have zooms, in many cases that match your lens and so you can change the angle of coverage of your flash. You can change the synchronization whether your synchronizing with the first curtain or second curtain. If you do a lot of action photography you'll probably want to play around with the second curtain sync there's some very interesting and fun results you can get with that. There is the flash exposure compensation and we've talked about this before, about lowering the power of the flash, so that your subject has a little more natural skin tone and isn't overpowered with flash. And then there's flash exposure bracketing where you can shoot a series of photos with different power settings with each of the flashes that fire in that series and so that you can get a different look with a group of different images. And so all of this is in the flash function settings sub-menu within a sub-menu. You can also get into the custom functions of that flash if it has customs functions and you can get in there and you can control some of the specifics about the way that that flash operates and the way it reads data and so forth. And so all of that is in the external speedlites control which doesn't do much good until you have a flash attached to your camera. Alright, next up is anti-flicker shooting and this is really interesting and I've changed my philosophy on previous cameras that have had anti-flicker now that I've had a better chance to use it out in the real world. So let me explain the problem here and that is, with fluorescent lights they're not consistent in their power, they flicker between a low and a high power and in a matter of one second, it will fluctuate either 100 or a 120 times, so it kinda has this peak that it's wavering between low and high intensity on the light during this entire period of time. Now if you recall, this camera can fire at 14 frames a second, 16 frames if we want to talk about being in the live-view mode but the normal shooting 14 frames a second, where do your photos happen to fall on this spectrum of low to high power. Well, it's a bit of random luck as to where that happens to land up and so you can see if you shoot through one second of photographs whether it's at 100 or 120 hertz, you're gonna end up with a variety of images that have different brightness values to them. When you have the flicker mode turned on, what it's gonna do is rather than prioritize taking the photo at the next possible instant it will delay it ever so slightly so that it hits the peak of the next cycle in the flickering of the flash unit and so it's quite possible that you won't get your maximum frames per second, you won't get your 14 frames but you'll still be very fast in the nine to 12 frames per second and if you've ever had to edit and deal with large groups of photos that were all slightly different in their brightness, you would understand the pain and hassle of that. So as an example, here is a light that has flicker to it and so I took four images and let me go back and forth between these four images and chances are you'll notice a little bit of brightness difference especially between say, image two and image four here and so I just happened to catch photos of it either at the peak or at the bottom of it's brightness. So if we turn the flicker reduction on and look at four photos taken just at a random rate, you'll see that it's not quite identical but it is very, very, very close and so this is something that can save you a lot of hassle in dealing with images and so I think it's probably best for most people just to leave this turned on and let the camera fix that sorta problem at the very, very slight cost of a couple frames per second. And so, the other option is you can leave this disabled and leave the flicker warning, which we'll see here in a little bit, turned on so that it comes on in the view finder and then you an choose whether to turn this anti-flicker shooting enabled or disabled but I think for most people enable is the smart choice.
Class Materials
Bonus Materials with Purchase
Ratings and Reviews
Fred Innamorato
John does a great job as usual. He provides so many visual aides and demonstrations which really helps you understand how to operate and set up your camera. His step by step explanation of the entire menu and each tab is excellent. In addition to his many photography tips and instructions. What an excellent class and a great value for all the detailed instructions provided. Much better than the manual you get in the box. Plus you get to watch this as many times as needed. I highly recommend this course and all of John's other classes.
Joe Berkeley
I quite enjoyed John's course on the 1DX mark ii. To be frank, I should have taken it 122,000 shots ago when I bought the camera. I learned quite a bit. There were only a few occasions when I thought my cranium could explode. But I walked away from the course with some great tips and in the grand scheme of things, the money I invest in education is always more valuable than the latest and greatest camera strap, lens, or bag. It will probably take a few months for all of the information to sink in but I'm feeling good about what I learned and the price I paid for it. All in all, a good value.
Ian Sherratt
Great video. Loved the clear explanations, great views and mixture of video and slides. Iāve read a lot of manuals and books on settings and use of various Canon cameras but this is the first time Iāve really understood the full range of functions.
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