Hi Howard, > The Elan 7 automatically adjusts the flash (built in or, I believe, a monted > flash)
Yes, both. In the case of an external unit with FEC capabilities (like the 550EX), the compensation set on the unit overrides the camera (and whatever fill-in compensation the body had calculated) > for fill flash when the meter senses a certain amount of background > brightness such that 'regular' flash would not be needed. I think it's EV12 (125f/5.6) or EV13 (125f/8) ISO 100 > My understanding > is (correct me if I am wrong) that this 'feature' can not be disabled on the > Elan 7. Following what I said before, there's a way: Supose you're using ISO100 film. You set your ISO to 50 (or 200) and then dial the corresponding compensation in the flash and the camera. If you use ISO 50, then you dial -1 EC in the camera and -1 EC in the flash. Now the flash EC will override the fill-in control in the camera. > I am just curious then...what happens if you ad in FEC. Does it add > or subtract from what it calculates to be the correct fill flash amount or > from another calculated amount? There's only one calculated amount, and yes, FEC will add to it. For example, let's supose the camera had calculated a -1 FEC for a given scene. If you dial -1 FEC (in the camera) you will end up with -2FEC. In the same example, if you dial +1FEC you end up with 0 FEC. (BTW, substraction makes no sense). > What if you are doing macro work such that > there is not a whole 'scene' from which to calculate background brightness, What? Your scene what you're seeing through the viewfinder. I see no difference at all from a far landscape where all features are at the same long distance. There, you would ask yourself "what is background brigthness" since the whole scene is at the same plane becoming "foreground" to the camera. > like if you were doing a flower close up and wanted to either fill in the > shadows, or at the other extreme to add a large amount of flash, say through > the bottom of the flower to achieve an effect? Is FEC there added or > subtracted from a fill flash setting or from a full flas setting? In macro work, you're likely to be below EV10 (at least over here ;-) thus with no automatic flash reduction. The FEC will be applied to the exposure calculated by E-TTL for the given scene. > What has the experience been in these type of situautions as opposed to say > an outdoor portrait? Any sort of guidelines for both types of situations > would be appreciated. In my porfolio I've some of my macro work. You'll find notes on ETTL compensation in some of the pics: http://www.photo.net/shared/community-member?user_id=234138 Take a look at "very recent work" where many photos are anotated. (any feedback is always welcome :-) Regards, Gerard. -- ==================================================================== V Gerard MAAS Senior Research Engineer +---------------+ Alcatel Bell NV [EMAIL PROTECTED] | A L C A T E L | F. Wellesplein 1 Voice: +32-3-240.7805 +---------------+ B-2018 Antwerpen, BELGIUM Fax: +32-3-240.9932 Myriad Innovative Venture ==================================================================== * **** ******* *********************************************************** * For list instructions, including unsubscribe, see: * http://www.a1.nl/phomepag/markerink/eos_list.htm ***********************************************************
