Canon Speedlite 580ex Ii Problems
Canon Speedlite 580ex Ii Problems
Tired of all your family and friend photos looking like zombies with red-eyes? The problem isn’t that zombies have taken over, the problem is your on-camera flash. Red-eye is caused by your flash bouncing off the retina of your subjects eyes.
One of the best ways to fight off the zombie red-eye is with an accessory flash that allows you to get the flash either off the camera or at least off-line from your subjects eyes. An accessory flash such as a Canon Speedlite will allow you to raise the flash above your lens minimizing the chance for red-eye.
An accessory flash, such as the Canon Speedlite 580EX II which is the latest external flash from Canon, is a sophisticated device that communicates with your Canon DSLR to make a proper exposure. The Speedlite and the camera communicate through an exposure system known as “E-TTL” which stands for “Evaluative Through The Lens”, which fires a pre-flash that the cameras built-in meter uses to determine an exposure.
Beyond eliminating red-eye, this system allows you to sculpt light creatively to make beautiful flash images. A key to nice flash images is the softness of the light falling in the subject. The built-in flash on most cameras is hard, which is why your images not only have red-eye they also look like a mug-shot.
One strategy to soften the light is to bounce the light off of a surface allowing the light to spread out and to fall on your subject indirectly. The head of the Speedlite has the ability to swivel both from side-to-side to bounce the light off a side wall, and to swivel the light upward to bounce the light off of a ceiling. Bouncing the light off such a large surface spreads and softens the light.
The Speedlite 580EX II is also equipped with a retractable diffuser that can be used to further spread and soften the light.
The Speedlite 580EX II can be used as a “Master” controller to control additional Speedlites for even more creative lighting. A Canon Speedlite 480EX II can be setup as a slave that is controlled by the Speedlite 580EX II. The master is not only able to tell the slave flash when to fire, but it is also able to use the same ETTL system to determine the flash power for both the master and slave flashes to arrive at a proper exposure.
There are three flashes in the current Canon Speedlite product line, the Speedlite 580EX II, the Speedlite 480EX II and the Speedlite 270EX. The Speedlite 580EX II and 480EX II are designed primarily to work with Canon’s DLSR cameras. While the 270EX is designed to work primarily with Canon’s compact and entry-level DSLR cameras.
While the Speedlite 580EX II is capable of acting as a master to control additional Speedlite flashes, the 480EX II and the 270EX are not.
Improve your flash photography by getting the flash above or off the camera with an accessory flash such as a Canon Speedlite.
Jayda has been an online writer for nearly 2 years now. Not only does this author specialize in health, finance, and product reviews, you can also check out her latest website on Canon 430EX Speedlite which reviews and lists the best Canon 430EX Flash for your Canon digital SLR camera.
New 580EX2 Rattles