I'm not the original poster but here go my answers: > > I set my flashes up to manual, use the ST-E2 (handheld, not on camera) >to >fire > > them while I'm standing at the subject getting the reading off the >meter. >If I > > can't get just the reading I want from adjusting the flash output, I >have >to > > move the flash a bit until I get what I want on the meter. > > >Could you explain the above procedure. Are you saying that you set your >550ex in Manual Mode and use the ST-e2 or is it that you set it in slave >position and adjust output +/-? I can not trigger either of my 550"s in >Manual Mode using the ST-E2, they must be set in slave mode off camera and >when in slave mode they automatically become ETTL mode.
I don't have ST-E2 but here is what I assume him doing: The flashes are set as slaves and in M (manual) mode. I think you need to keep the mode (?) button down for some seconds to set the slave flash in M-mode from its own controls. Safety feature, see the manual for more info. (If a 550EX is used as the master, instead of ST-E2, setting it in manual mode sets also the slaves in manual mode but in ST-E2 there is no button to set the slaves in M-mode. It appears that the ST-E2 is able to trigger the slave flashes (which are in M-mode) when you press the test button, even if it is off-camera. This is actually a great feature which can *perhaps* be used also in the case where one of the flashes is on-camera master (but the 'master' switch is set in 'slave' position). If I remember correctly, according to the manual, if an on-camera flash is set as 'slave' it will act as a master flash when you press the shutter button but after the 6 second timeout (after the shutter button is released) it becomes a slave which then maybe can be triggered by a hand-held ST-E2. Very useful if you need to meter the manual flashes with flash meter while the camera is tripod mounted with (master)flash on it. >An interesting thing that I just noticed is that when pointing the camera >at >a blank wall in the room the meter often gives different meter readings >depending what the camera is looking at (normal) but if it is looking at a >blank wall and is giving a constant meter reading , yet when I pop a flash >the meter reading does not change. I would think that there should be a >change in the reading. Am I wrong here? Camera is Elan II /50 > >Don If I understand correctly you are wondering why the ambient light meter in the camera does not change when you fire the flash manually? I would say it happens because the meter (display) is made to filter out very short changes in light level to make it easier to read. The displayed value is not changing at infinite speed. Probably the meter reading would change if the flash pulse was long enough. Just my quesses though. Vesa _________________________________________________________________ Join the world�s largest e-mail service with MSN Hotmail. http://www.hotmail.com * **** ******* *********************************************************** * For list instructions, including unsubscribe, see: * http://www.a1.nl/phomepag/markerink/eos_list.htm ***********************************************************
