Bought a Canon SLR + Flash. Now what?

[HardDrive]

I am leaving for UK/India on Thursday. I'm already planning on getting an extra battery and a polarized filter.

The Camera is: Canon Digital Rebel XSi 12.2 MP Digital SLR Camera with EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS Lens

The flash is a Canon 430 EXII.

Anything else I need? I will not have easy access to camera supplys once in India.

Anyone have this Camera? Any tips? I am going to 2 night weddings in India, and I would like to get the best photos possible, without having total washout from the flash. These will be outdoor night photos. Help my learning curve guys. I will absorb the manuals on the plane.

Thanks.

[nostatic]

I hate flash. Never use it. I have fast prime lenses instead. Since you don't have that (or shake reduction), you might want to consider a small tripod and learn to use the 2 or 10 second delayed shutter release. And get people to stand still

You also should be able to drop the flash intensity. On the very rare occasion that I've used flash I usually dropped it by 2/3 to 1 eV and that makes it less offensive. But I truly despise flash so I'm not the one to ask about technique.

Your better bet would be to try and get a "fast 50" lens. I don't know the Canon stuff well, but maybe this:

http://www.adorama.com/CA5018AFU.html

or this

http://www.adorama.com/CA5014AFU.html

or this

http://www.adorama.com/CA352AFU.html

Any of those will allow you to shoot in much lower light, but you won't be able to zoom. That's what god gave you feet for though...

[slodave]

Make sure you have access to the camera on the plane as well.

How about a tri-pod? Cable release... UV filter.

A note on the PL filter. I'm not familiar with Canon, but I chose a 72mm PL filter for my Nikon. My walk around lens is 67mm, but there are others that are smaller and up to 72mm. There is no need for a PL filter above 72mm.

Anyway it's better to get a larger filter and use converter rings. Saves from having to buy filters for every lens!

Dave

Todd: There are plenty of reasons to use a flash - even outdoors (bird photos - certain locations).

[nostatic]

Originally Posted by slodave

Todd: There are plenty of reasons to use a flash - even outdoors (bird photos - certain locations).

Sorry, not this kid. I have seen others get great results in a variety of situations, but I hate it and have no interest in ever using it. I'll stick with a fast prime, body SR and some luck...

[slodave]

Originally Posted by nostatic

Sorry, not this kid. I have seen others get great results in a variety of situations, but I hate it and have no interest in ever using it. I'll stick with a fast prime, body SR and some luck...

Yes, I know. But you limit yourself. Prime lens or not, there are scenarios where a flash - used to front fill, is needed. Without it, you won't get the cover shot. I guaranty you will never stop the wings of a hummingbird without at least one flash.

P.S. On the other hand, I don't think HD is going to India on a birding expedition.

[HardDrive]

Oh, I'm going 'birding' alright.....

[slodave]

Originally Posted by HardDrive

Oh, I'm going 'birding' alright.....

Who dat!!!

[Steve Carlton]

I'm not too experienced with night wedding situations (or with Canon gear at all), so keep that in mind... I think shooting without a flash is really risky and not likely to work out well. Your ISO may wind up really high and introduce noise into the images, especially if they're underexposed. The light will be uneven and you won't get good light into the faces. The white balance can wind up all over the map, making for funky skin tones. Shooting with your 18-55 zoom will allow you a lot of framing flexibility as you'll probably be on the move. Favor standing back a bit and shooting towards the long end of the lens. At the short end, people can get distorted.

If you shoot with flash, set your white balance to flash and the colors should be right. Get a diffuser for your flash to soften the light and scatter it around. Aim it towards the ceiling if there is one to bounce the light. There's several choices, so maybe consult with a camera store. I use one like this and don't think you can go wrong with it:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/407175-REG/Sto_Fen_OM_EW_OM_EW_Omni_Bounce_for_Canon.html

Shoot RAW + JPEG. You can correct for mistakes better from RAW, especially missed white balance. Memory is cheap- it's not like film. Shoot 1-2 backups of every shot to avoid closed eyes and all the other things that happen. If you're shooting people in daylight, shoot continuous high speed 2-3 frames.

Bring extra batteries for your flash. Your filter should be a circular polarizer for a digital camera. Hoyas tend to be a good value. Always have your lens hood on your lens- it helps to protect the lens from physical impact and it blocks out stray light. Shooting into the sun, see if glare is blocked with you hand as well. Practice some outdoor night shots before you leave. Try not to use the built-in flash. Learn how to use the flash compensation to back off the strength so it functions as a fill light. This also allows more correct exposures of backgrounds instead of letting them go dark. Use your camera's automatic mode when shooting flash at night. Lots of weird things can happen otherwise. See if you can find a 3rd party guide to your camera, like Magic Lantern. Factory user manuals are very dry. Get a couple of decent 8GB memory cards. SanDisk or Lexar won't let you down. Get a card reader to transfer to your computer. Only format the cards in the camera itself. Re-format the cards instead of deleting the images after you've downloaded the images to your computer.

Focus-wise, I'd suggest using the center focus spot on the part of the image you want to be in focus, push the shutter down half way to lock, then re-compose the shot. Your lens is going to be sharpest around f/8-11. You can isolate your subject better by shooting "wide open," at f/3.5 for example. The depth of field that's in focus will be narrower, yielding a pleasing, more blurry background. When you want everything in focus, shoot f/11-f/16. Read up on the Rule of Thirds. Watch out for and avoid distracting elements in the background, especially things coming out of people's heads.

Hope this helps.

[LeRoux Strydom]

You need two more things:

1. Bring more memory cards, alternatively some sort of mobile backup device.
2. Buy a fast prime lens if you want to minimize the use of flash. Either a 50mm f1.4 (Canon's f1.2 is $$$$$) or even a 35mm f1.4. The 50mm on a crop sensor will be too long for group shots, but good for portraits. Your 18-55 zoom kit lens will let you down in low light shooting conditions.

[berettafan]

1-buy flash diffuser (i have a globe type)
2-RENT a very fast prime lense or two
3-practice outside NOW
4-lots of batteries
5-when inside you bounce bounce bounce but understand ceiling color, height, etc
6-practice more. you REALLY don't want a trip like this to result in pics that look like raccoons cought by a security camera.

[berettafan]

Originally Posted by HardDrive

Oh, I'm going 'birding' alright.....

Todd you CAN NOT get consistently great portrait shots like the one shown without a flash. Gotta fill in shadows. HD isn't going to have a team of helpers with white boards and such.

Check out Gary Fong's light sphere thingy. the video that comes with it will make you a believer in outdoor flash for portraits.

[berettafan]

btw, a REALLY fast prime lense will make all the difference in the world in your portrait shots.

[masraum]

The $100 nifty 50 (50 f1.8) is a great lens. Extra batteries and extra memory cards. If you want to be in some of the shots, then a wireless remote is nice (RC-1 or RC-5 IIRC).

[LeRoux Strydom]

The Canon nifty fifty is actually f1.8 ($90 at B&H). The f1.4 is a lot more spendy ($325 at B&H).

Compare this to the f1.2: $1400

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=search&A=search&Q=&sb=bs%2Cupper(ds)&sq=asc&sortDrop=Brand%3A+A+to+Z&ac=&bsi=&bhs=t&shs=&ci=8454&at=Brand_Canon&at=Lens+Type_Normal%2FStandard+(40mm+to+65mm)&basicSubmit=Submit+Query

[masraum]

oops, right. You'd think I'd know that since I've got one and tell everyone to get one. fixed

[willtel]

The 50mm 1.8 is a fine lens for the money. The bokeh is slightly smoother in the 1.4 but you pay for it. I took this with a 1.8.



The Canon 10-22 is also a good lens for travel photography samples here; http://flickr.com/groups/efs1022/pool/ .

I ditched the 18-55 long ago and it doesn't even go in the bag anymore, mine just wasn't very sharp and all but unusable in low light. I use a Canon 28 mm - 135 mm - F/3.5-5.6 most of the time as a walk around lens and I am happy with it.

[ramonesfreak]

already stated above...extra memory cards. personally, a trip like that i would bring at least 6gig of memory. i would want at least 3 fully charged batteries and my charger

with flash, do not be afraid to get creative by using your hand to deflect some of the light...i do this all the time. put your hand right up in front of the flash, covering parts at various angles. can make for some interesting lighting

[9dreizig]

I'd pick up the 300mm IS from Canon,, I LOVE mine,, I totally love telephoto shots, so I'm biased but think it's worth the money..
Hey what's the power in India ? you may need a converter...

[kstar]

As was said above a "nifty-fifty" on a DX camera like you bought is actually a 35mm lens!

Nothing else to add to the excellent advice above.

[Steve Carlton]

SanDisk has a nice rebate program. The sweet spot seems to be (3) 8GB cards. I'm getting 3 8GB SDHC cards from an online seller for $12 net. Maybe you have time to get them online with an overnight delivery.
http://forums.slickdeals.net/showpost.php?p=16927063&postcount=25

Are you bringing a computer or something else to download your memory cards on to?