Canon MT24-EX twin light flash

[STS1]

Hi,
I've just got this flash to go with my Canon R and the 100mm IS lens. I take a lot of photos of insects, mainly of moths, some of which are tiny. I'm interested in what settings other people use but also have some specific questions about using this flash that aren't mentioned in the manual.
Thanks for looking,

Thomas

 

[Jack]

Hello S STS1 , so what’s the actual question? Are you confused on how to use flash ?

 

[STS1]

Hi Jack,

Specifically:

1. I had 'ETTL' flashing on the flash's screen, which I took to mean the batteries were dying. But there's no mention of this in the manual. And apparently no battery life indicator.
2. Sometimes the camera viewfinder goes dark before I've had time to focus, especially in manual focus. Again, maybe a battery issue but it's not mentioned in the manual either.

Generally:

I use a shutter speed of 200, f-stop 16 and ISO 200, with the flash unit set to ETTL, minus 1. I've been experimenting with the settings a bit to see what suits me best. I tried manual setting for White Balance but it looked terrible. So I've gone back to ETTL, with power reduced to -1, but there's a yellow cast to my photos that I don't much like.

Thank you for your response. I haven't used a flash before so it's a steep learning curve.

Cheers,

Thomas

 

[kzurro]

as I don't know the new Canon mirrorless cameras, I'm afraid I can't help much, but I'll try.

1. things blinking usually mean that that feature is not available for some reason. so ETTL blinking could mean that ETTL flash exposure is not available and that you should switch to manual mode 'M'.
does ETTL blink when you set the camera to manual mode?

2. is 'auto power off' enabled? could it be set too short?

I don't know how well/bad do ETTL work nowadays, so I always work using the flash in manual mode. that also helps to realize what one could be doing wrong.

the best way to avoid white balance 'WB' problems is to shoot RAW as you can correct it in post. if you don't want to shoot RAW, then the first step would be setting the WB to Flash. if you don't like the result, you could try creating a Custom WB for your flash. the last option would be to take some test shots changing the value of the K mode in the WB until you find the one that you like the most. again, shooting RAW could be the easiest way.

about your original post: I don't know if you already know this tip, but when using manual focus for macro, it can be useful setting the focus to whatever magnification you want, frame the shot roughly and move your body back and forth until you nail the focus. with mirrorless cameras, screen magnification helps a lot when doing this.

 

[STS1]

Hi kzurro,

'ETTL' doesn't flash when I set the flash unit to Manual', so perhaps it is just a battery warning?

I checked 'Auto power off' and it was set for 1 minute, so I've changed it to 3 minutes; I'll see what happens when I next use it.

I do shoot in RAW but don't necessarily find it easy to sort out WB when processing. I'm using Canon DPP and there's a lot to it.

I have briefly experimented with K settings so I'll do some more and, as you suggest, save it as a Custom setting.

I've recently started using manual focus sometimes, having worked out which buttons to press. I must try your focusing method though.

Thank you so much for your lengthy response.

Cheers,

Thomas

 

[kzurro]

I forgot something. WB is always going to be a PITA if you have two sources of light (or more) with very different color temperatures. for example: warm artificial light + flash = PITA. golden hour + flash = PITA. unless you are not looking for that specific look, of course.