S70: shutter speed limited w/ flash on and no preflash w/ manual mode?

[pakman]

Hmm, I was looking through the manual and came across these two tidbits/ limitations about this camera I didn't know.

1. Regardless of whether you are in full manual, shutter speed priority, or aperture priority, the camera restricts the shutter sync speed to 1/250 when the flash is on... I guess its a nice safetly feature but not sure why they enforce this in full manual mode. I presume the engineers didn't expect people to be using a powerful external strobe with this compact camera. I'm guessing this speed limit will limit some of the "artistic" stuff you can do with an external strobe. With the speed limited to 250, I guess I wouldn't be able to get that almost black background while highlighting the subject with the strobe. Also, limits what you can do to deepen the blue in a sun ball/burst shot while using the strobe to highlight a subject in the foreground...

2. The internal strobe emits a preflash in auto, aperture priority, and shutter speed priority mode. BUT when in full manual mode, the flash is set manually and does not emit a preflash... Makes sense, but then I presume this defeats the Inon's STTL mode and forces you to operate the D-2000 strobe in auto or manual mode? Oh well, more things to fiddle with to get that perfect shot...

If any of my comments above are incorrections or if this just standard with digicams, please correct me...

 

[DrDave]

Hmm, I was looking through the manual and came across these two tidbits/ limitations about this camera I didn't know.

2. The internal strobe emits a preflash in auto, aperture priority, and shutter speed priority mode. BUT when in full manual mode, the flash is set manually and does not emit a preflash... Makes sense, but then I presume this defeats the Inon's STTL mode and forces you to operate the D-2000 strobe in auto or manual mode? Oh well, more things to fiddle with to get that perfect shot...

If any of my comments above are incorrections or if this just standard with digicams, please correct me...

I've got an S60 (predecessor to the S70) and a D2000. I can't comment on your 1st point, but you're spot on about the preflash. STTL works with the preflash, but you need to insert the magnet in the D2000 when using manual on your camera.

FYI, I just got back from Coz where I used my gear in P&S mode, i.e. Program on the camera & STTL(low) on the flash. (First time using it in blue water - obviously a newbie.) I was pleasantly surprised with how well the flash worked. Next time I'll try full manual & get artistic. :14:

 

[RonFrank]

Hmm, I was looking through the manual and came across these two tidbits/ limitations about this camera I didn't know.

1. Regardless of whether you are in full manual, shutter speed priority, or aperture priority, the camera restricts the shutter sync speed to 1/250 when the flash is on... I guess its a nice safetly feature but not sure why they enforce this in full manual mode. I presume the engineers didn't expect people to be using a powerful external strobe with this compact camera. I'm guessing this speed limit will limit some of the "artistic" stuff you can do with an external strobe. With the speed limited to 250, I guess I wouldn't be able to get that almost black background while highlighting the subject with the strobe. Also, limits what you can do to deepen the blue in a sun ball/burst shot while using the strobe to highlight a subject in the foreground...

2. The internal strobe emits a preflash in auto, aperture priority, and shutter speed priority mode. BUT when in full manual mode, the flash is set manually and does not emit a preflash... Makes sense, but then I presume this defeats the Inon's STTL mode and forces you to operate the D-2000 strobe in auto or manual mode? Oh well, more things to fiddle with to get that perfect shot...

If any of my comments above are incorrections or if this just standard with digicams, please correct me...

Be VERY happy with the 1/250 sync speed on the Canon S70. Many camera's (including many DSLR's) have a sync speed of 1/125 or LESS. I'm not going to go into why, but 1/250 is about as good of a sync speed as any camera out there unless you get into the brand name dedicated DLSR flashes that can sync up to 1/2000 or higher in some cases, but they are not practical (for reasons I'm also not going to explain) for the majority of images.

As to the manual mode flash, of course there is no preflash. This can be a HUGE benifit in that one can basically use ANY flash that syncs via a slaved strobe to an SLR, or DSLR, or film camera in manual mode. As preflash is used to judge flash exposure, the reason there is none in Manual mode is rather obvious.

As to shooting with flash beyond 1/250, if you routinely have to shoot at higher than 1/250 at ISO 50, you don't need a flash. They will only introduce back scatter, and if you have that much light, why use a flash in most situations?

 

[pakman]

If I could I would delete my original post. Didn't do my homework before I posted and it clearly shows my ignorance of modern digital cameras...

Ron, you are indeed correct. Did some reading over the past few days and few cameras have a sync up to 1/250, let alone P&S ones. And preflash doesn't make sense with manual mode mode... And I think shots where I do need a flash sync speed over 1/250 will be extremely rare... And if I consider contemplating those shots, it won't be until I graduate to a dslr years from now...

 

[RonFrank]

If I could I would delete my original post. Didn't do my homework before I posted and it clearly shows my ignorance of modern digital cameras...

Ron, you are indeed correct. Did some reading over the past few days and few cameras have a sync up to 1/250, let alone P&S ones. And preflash doesn't make sense with manual mode mode... And I think shots where I do need a flash sync speed over 1/250 will be extremely rare... And if I consider contemplating those shots, it won't be until I graduate to a dslr years from now...

And learning more about the gear. That is why people are here, to learn, and to share information, and of course results!