Question re AF35 Flash camera settings

[Hatul]

I'm still struggling with deciding how to set my Canon S95 camera with the AF35 flash in auto mode. Anyone have advice with reasoning on what settings to use for day and night photography?

 

[Ikelite Staff]

I'm still struggling with deciding how to set my Canon S95 camera with the AF35 flash in auto mode. Anyone have advice with reasoning on what settings to use for day and night photography?

Hatul,

Go with the following settings from page 2 of the instruction manual:

Initial Camera Setup
- Set camera mode switch to “Av” Aperture Priority.
- Set White Balance to auto “AWB.”
- Set Light Metering to “Center-Weighted Avg.”
- Set ISO to 80.
- Set Flash to forced ON (flash always fires) “Lightning Bolt.”
- Set Review to “5 Seconds.”
- Set AF-assist beam to “Off.”
- Set Red-Eye Correction and Red-Eye Lamp to “Off.”
- Set AF Frame to “Center” and Servo AF to “Off.”
- Set AF-Point Zoom to “Off.”

“M” manual mode should NOT be used with the AF35
strobe.

Best Regards,

Brett Foster - Ikelite

 

[Hatul]

Thanks for that. I have some questions to understand how the flash works. Why can't the manual mode be used with the flash in Auto mode? The flash has two sensors, both pointing to the camera flash. One triggers the AF35 and the other controls the power to the flash. This second sensor, is it controlled by the duration or the camera flash or the light reflected from the object?
When the AF35 is turned down does it affect the duration of it's flash or the intensity of the flash? What is the duration of the AF35 flash?

 

[Ikelite Staff]

Thanks for that. I have some questions to understand how the flash works. Why can't the manual mode be used with the flash in Auto mode? The flash has two sensors, both pointing to the camera flash. One triggers the AF35 and the other controls the power to the flash. This second sensor, is it controlled by the duration or the camera flash or the light reflected from the object?
When the AF35 is turned down does it affect the duration of it's flash or the intensity of the flash? What is the duration of the AF35 flash?

Hatul,

When the AF35 is in Auto mode, it is designed to be used with preflash cameras. When the camera is in “M” mode there is no preflash and there is no TTL flash control. That is just part of Canon’s flash design for the G series cameras as well as the S and XS series cameras. When the camera is in M mode, it is firing the flash at fixed durations which are chosen after pressing the Set/Func control. As long as the camera is in M mode, those durations will not vary at all when you change the aperture or shutter speed.

If you use the AF35 in auto mode it is going to fire a brief preflash in response to the fixed power flashes fired by the camera in M mode.

The second sensor looks at the duration of the camera flash. When the AF35 is turned down, it affects the duration of the flash. The maximum duration of the AF35 flash is 1.5 milliseconds.

Best Regards,

Brett Foster - Ikelite

 

[Hatul]

Hatul,

Go with the following settings from page 2 of the instruction manual:

Initial Camera Setup
- Set camera mode switch to “Av” Aperture Priority.
- Set White Balance to auto “AWB.”
- Set Light Metering to “Center-Weighted Avg.”
- Set ISO to 80.
- Set Flash to forced ON (flash always fires) “Lightning Bolt.”
- Set Review to “5 Seconds.”
- Set AF-assist beam to “Off.”
- Set Red-Eye Correction and Red-Eye Lamp to “Off.”
- Set AF Frame to “Center” and Servo AF to “Off.”
- Set AF-Point Zoom to “Off.”

“M” manual mode should NOT be used with the AF35
strobe.

Best Regards,

Brett Foster - Ikelite

Can I ask you which manual you're referring to? My AF35 manual has the specs and a couple of other lists on page 2. The PDF version has the table of contents on page 2.

 

[Ikelite Staff]

Can I ask you which manual you're referring to? My AF35 manual has the specs and a couple of other lists on page 2. The PDF version has the table of contents on page 2.

Hatul,

Go to your Ikelite S95 Underwater Housing instruction manual (page 2) to confirm the Initial Camera Settings.

Regards,

Brett Foster - Ikelite

 

[Hatul]

Hi Brett,
I'm using the Canon housing, that's why I did not see the Ikelite housing instructions.
Flash duration of 1.5 msec is 1/667 sec, which means that any shutter speed slower than that will capture all the light of the AF35 as long as it's synchronized properly. It also means that any motion illuminated by the flash should be stopped without blur.

-When I set the camera to Av mode it always sets shutter speed to 1/60, so when I turn the flash off, the settings are not the best for ambient light shots.
-Can I ask you why Av is preferred over Tv or P mode?

Adam

 

[Ikelite Staff]

-When I set the camera to Av mode it always sets shutter speed to 1/60, so when I turn the flash off, the settings are not the best for ambient light shots.
-Can I ask you why Av is preferred over Tv or P mode?

Adam[/QUOTE]

Adam,

"Av" Aperture priority mode is preferred because most underwater photographers use flash which normally locks the shutter speed at 1/60th second. This means you only need to worry about changing the aperture to get correct exposure and balanced lighting. If "Tv" shutter priority is used, then the camera will not see much light and open the aperture all the way which can result in overexposed images and loss of depth-of-field. If "P" proogram mode is used, you have the same problem, except the camera will choose a low shutter speed as well as a wide aperture if no flash is used, which results in camera blur as well.

"Tv" and "P" modes are usually best for land photography.

Best Regards,

Brett Foster - Ikelite