YN565EX and the G12

The G12 and any large flash become an ungainly, but sometimes useful, combination.  In my introductory remarks about the YN565EX, I noted that it was not purchased for use on the G12 and implied that there were problems. Indeed, the YN565EX should be considered as incompatible with the G12; however, it does work on the G12 in certain modes. Let’s get the bad news out of the way first.

The YN565EX does not work at all – that is, does not even flash – when the G12 is in manual flash mode. This was completely unexpected. I expected some kind of odd ball behavior but it never crossed my mind that the YN565EX would not fire at all when mounted on the G12. Curious, I tried the YN565EX on my G9 only to find the same behavior (after changing batteries in the G9). Next, I tried the YN565EX on the G6 and G3 and discovered that the YN565EX is completely incompatible with those older G series cameras.

On the positive side, the YN565EX does work on the G12 when the G12 is in P, Tv or Av mode. The YN565EX zooms with the G12 zoom and Flash Exposure Compensation can be controlled either by the YN565EX or by the G12. The YN565EX seems to work in either direct or bounce orientation (I say “seems” to work because I did not attempt to check the accuracy of the flash exposure). Again, I’ll comment that the YN565EX is noticeably louder than the 580EX II when flashing. Also, to my eye, the YN565EX produces a more noticeable pre-flash when used on the G12. I would not be confident in using the YN565EX mounted on the G12.

But I didn’t get the YN565EX for direct mounting on the G12; I got it for use in the Canon wireless system. The G12 does not have its own internal wireless controller as does the 7D but the 580EX II can act as the master, or controlling, flash. My first attempts to set the 580EX II as the master flash were unsuccessful and I was beginning to think that the 580EX II was itself incompatible with the G12. Then I discovered that the G12 requires a menu setting to enable the Canon wireless system. As soon as the wireless system was enabled in the G12 menu, the 580EX II immediately became the master flash. Alas, the YN565EX did not respond to the 580EX II as a master when the 580EX II was mounted on the G12.

In my frustration, I got out a Canon 420EX and set it to slave flash mode using the same settings as the YN565EX. Side-by-side with the YN565EX, the 420EX responded to the 580EX II as expected but the YN565EX did not. More frustrated, I removed the 580EX II from the G12 and placed it on the 7D, noting that the settings did not change. When triggered by the 7D, both the YN565EX and the 420EX fired as expected -- end of compatibility tests.

Well, almost the end of compatibility tests. In optical slave flash mode, the YN565EX does respond to the G12 internal flash and also to the 580EX II when mounted on the G12.  The YN565EX also responds to the simple Yongnuo RF-602 wireless trigger. These are very useful features.

My conclusion is that although the YN565EX is not totally incompatible with the G12, it is best to declare the YN565EX as being incompatible and therefore avoid the frustration of attempting to remember which settings and modes work and which do not. I won’t be using the YN565EX with my G series cameras except as an optical slave flash or with the RF-602 trigger.

… but I’m still OK with having purchased the YN565EX.

PAW 29

Returning from vacation, I was browsing through a thousand images for this week’s PAW but pretty sure that one of the photos of my niece, Elise, would be this week’s choice.  This one in particular just felt right when the shutter button was pressed.

I still struggle with flash but was careful to set exposure for the background and dial in the flash for fill.  We were on a balcony in the shade, the camera was my 7D and the flash was the 580EX mounted inside a Lumiquest LTp softbox on a lightstand to the right of the camera.  The flash was triggered and controlled by the little popup flash of the 7D.  This system worked well (in the shade) so long as the 580EX could “see” the 7D flash.  Exposure was 1/200 second at f8 for ISO 400; the 580EX was set at +2 (I think). 

My thanks to Elise for her patience as I fumbled and experimented with camera and flash.

PAW 24

My granddaughter, singing to us on Father’s Day, was too much to resist for picture of the week. 

Canon 7D with 15-85mm IS lens and 580EX II flash mounted on-camera.  Settings were ISO 1600, 1/60 second, f5.6, manual exposure.  Flash with 1/4 CTO gel and bounced off a wall behind me.  Using high ISO and and light fill flash bounced from walls behind me is a new technique for me but I’ll be using it more often.

G9: Exposure and Flash Compensation in Av Mode

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The previous post showed the effects of combinations of exposure and flash compensation on a typical indoor scene when the G9 was using its built-in flash and operating in Program mode. This post shows the results of those same combinations when the G9 is operating in Aperture Priority (Av) mode. For these photos, I selected f5.6 to get away from the largest aperture (f2.8) that was often the automated selection in Program mode.

In Av mode, the photographer manually sets the aperture and the G9 selects the shutter speed to give the “correct” exposure (according to the G9). Simple enough, but there are a few peculiarities and precautions. The G9’s choice for shutter speed is based on ambient light; however, similar to Program mode, Av mode will lock into 1/60 second as the slowest shutter speed if Slow Sync is turned OFF in the menu. Because the photographer has already locked the aperture, this means that exposure compensation is actually rendered inactive when the flash is turned on if the G9 is in Av mode with Slow Sync OFF. Figure 3 (continuing the numbering from the previous post) illustrates this limitation.

Figure 3

Although nine photos were taken, there are really only three different photos in Figure 3 because there actually was no exposure compensation – only flash compensation.

With Slow Sync ON, there are nine different photos resulting from this bracketing as shown in Figure 4 below.

Figure 4

Again it is obvious from these two examples that the Exposure Compensation and Flash Compensation values are not intended to summed to provide a basis for comparison. In fact, sometimes Exposure Compensation doesn’t actually do anything!

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G9: Exposure and Flash Compensation

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Although I’m trying to learn more about flash photography (see many postings!), strangely enough I don’t use the built-in flash of my G9 very often. As a result, I don’t know much about using the Exposure Compensation and Flash Compensation for the G9. Following some discussions on DPReview, I undertook a few simple tests to learn more about flash with my G9. As others have discovered, Canon flash does not necessary act as you might first expect.

First I set up a simple indoor scene with a little shaded window light and overhead tungsten bulb. I placed my G9 on a tripod for repeatability. The G9 was set for ISO 400, Program mode and the Slow Synchronization for flash was turned OFF. The G9 was set for the widest angle (7.4mm focal length) which means that the maximum aperture is f2.8. According to the G9, the correct exposure in the room without flash was 1/20 second at f2.8. I turned the flash ON. With Slow Sync OFF and flash ON, the G9 shutter speed will not go below 1/60 second. In fact, the shutter speed appears to lock on 1/60 second. Then I took a bunch of pictures, all in JPEG with auto white balance, ‘bracketing’ at Exposure Compensation of -2/+2 and Flash Compensation of -2/+2. Those pictures are combined below in Figure 1.

In Figure 1, the Exposure Compensation and exposure values are -2, 0, and +2 from left to right; the Flash Compensation is -2, 0 and +2 from top to bottom. The top row is without flash. With one glance, it appears that, under these conditions, Exposure Compensation did nothing with the flash was turned ON because the flash pictures do not vary from left to right. The difference in the pictures is due to Flash Compensation.

Also illustrated by Figure 1, is that there is no point in summing the Exposure Compensation and Flash Compensation – the sum is meaningless. For example, the picture at Exposure Compensation of -2 and Flash Compensation of +2 has a compensation sum of 0 but obviously not the same exposure as the picture taken at 0 Exposure Compensation and 0 Flash Compensation. Therefore, even though it is tempting to think in terms like “I knocked the exposure down by -1 so I’ll increase the flash by +1” the results may not be as you expect!

Another fact revealed by Figure 1 is that the flash does not automatically compensate for intention variations in exposure. As shown in the FC 0 row, when Exposure Compensation is used the flash does not make up the necessary difference.

Again, Figure 1 is comprised of pictures using Slow Sync OFF which is probably the way that most users have their cameras configured. But what if Slow Sync was ON?

Figure 2 shows the results using Slow Sync ON. Each row of pictures was taken at the same exposure and that exposure was determined by the G9 metering system based on the Exposure Compensation that I dialed in. Notice that the shutter speed has been freed from the 1/60 second although was at 1/60 for Exposure Compensation of -2; however shutter speed is a bit slow for Exposure Compensations of 0 and +2.

The first conclusion from examining Figure 2 is that every picture is different (although some are nearly the same). Again, there is no point in ‘summing’ the compensations.

As shown in Figure 2, the exposure settings determined by the internal G9 logic are not affected by the Flash Compensation settings. Likewise the flash does not automatically provide more of less light to account for Exposure Compensation.

My conclusion for this typical setting and G9 configuration is that Exposure Compensation and Flash Compensation are independent, manual adjustments to the internally determined ‘correct’ exposure and flash power.

But what about Av mode? (later)
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