I like many people bought the G12i I am a professional photographer looking for a travel camera with a wide range of capabilities. I've only have the thing in my hands for a few hours and I can say I am very impressed with some aspects of the handling and mystified by other.
This is just a quick post dealing with wireless flash (for all you strobist) and the limitations with the G12.
The self timer will fire a remote flash as long as it's with the ST-E2 module with it crappy range and the flash is (as mentioned above) set to ETT-L mode (remember you can manually contorl the power of the flash through the G12's menu). The self timer will not fire the flash via the skyport radio triggers, nothing, nada, zilge.....(I presume its due to some focusing mode interfering with the flash command???)
I am getting a remote trigger, intervalometer type of thing and it will be interesting to see if this could be used instead of the built in timer to alleviate the problem. I'll let you know and may well do another post on this camera to follow.
The intervalometer might be fun for some wedding timelapse capers.
Finally some people have reported a blacking out of the screen just before an exposure is taken in M mode. I have only gt this when it is actually previewing a very dark exposure. Never had any other problems.
I can see why companies limit functionality so that people naturally upgrade etc. It is a real shame about the self timer thing though..so vain.. :)
This is just a quick post dealing with wireless flash (for all you strobist) and the limitations with the G12.
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| Canon's G12 with a Elinchrom Skyport Trigger attached and a Canon ST-E2 infra-red trigger to the left. |
- With the camera set in M (manual) the flashes will not function when using the ST-E2 unless the flashes are set to E-TTL. You can actually alter the power of the flashes, although not independently, through the camera menu (Hold down the flash icon button to the right of the centre on the rear daisy wheel).
- You can have the camera in A or Tv and you can set the flash power independently on your remote flashes, by having them set to M mode. I tested it with three (2x580ex mkII and 1 x 430mkII)
- So basically with the ST-E2 you have the flashes in manual and camera set in one of the auto-modes or you have the flashed set to E-TTL and have the camera in Manual.
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- With the Elinchrom Skyport triggers you can go all manual on the camera and on the flashes (ETT-L won't work anyway) which is really good and probably gets me a bit more excited than it should.
- You can also use the a and Tv modes as long as the camera is NOT set to continues shot modes. So set the drive function to Single Shot! Although obviously the flashes remain on manual.
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| Elinchrom Skyport reciever and 580ex mk II Flash |
The self timer will fire a remote flash as long as it's with the ST-E2 module with it crappy range and the flash is (as mentioned above) set to ETT-L mode (remember you can manually contorl the power of the flash through the G12's menu). The self timer will not fire the flash via the skyport radio triggers, nothing, nada, zilge.....(I presume its due to some focusing mode interfering with the flash command???)
I am getting a remote trigger, intervalometer type of thing and it will be interesting to see if this could be used instead of the built in timer to alleviate the problem. I'll let you know and may well do another post on this camera to follow.
The intervalometer might be fun for some wedding timelapse capers.
Finally some people have reported a blacking out of the screen just before an exposure is taken in M mode. I have only gt this when it is actually previewing a very dark exposure. Never had any other problems.
I can see why companies limit functionality so that people naturally upgrade etc. It is a real shame about the self timer thing though..so vain.. :)
I feel your pain. The Canon 500D SLR is inferior in many ways to their cheaper SX-10.
ReplyDeleteThe 500D's flash support is one example. I bought an external flash that can respond to industry standard S1, S2, S3 and S4 settings. Canon recognizes none of that. They want you to buy their overpriced proprietary flashes.
Now the 500D and the other cameras in that SLR line (T2i) have problems with focus and consistent exposures. So I thought I'd just use the external flash on the hotshoe and at least take care of that problem. Did that fix the inconsistent exposures? Nope.
The orientation sensor in the 500D (aka T1 i) doesn't work at all- it just adds EXIF data about orientation but the image isn't encoded according to orientation. Compare this to even ancient cheap crap pocketcams like the HP r607
Never another Canon SLR. Ever. I'll try Fuji or Lumix or Olympus, etc.
Love their pocketcams with CDHK though.
what's your max sync with the skyport? I was able to get to 1/2000.
ReplyDeleteWhy is mine sensitive to aperture? It won't sync above 1600 at f8.
Not sure about this....when I'm a bit quieter I'll have a play..
ReplyDeleteDoug
I'm glad I found this post. I recently purchased the G12 and I love it except for the self-timer external-flash issue. At first I thought it was a defect so I called Canon support and he set up the camera the same way I did and he said that his flash fired on full manual with the self-timer. Mine did not flash so I went to exchange the camera. I got a new one and it had the same issue. I have a feeling the Canon rep lied to me over the phone. But I do have a solution. I recently purchased a Yongnuo YN560 as a ($65)back up to my Canon 580EX II. It is a full manual flash with a built in Optical Slave.
ReplyDeleteHere is what I do:
Without any attachments I set the G12 on manual and I adjust the built in flash on its lowest settings. I then set the timer.
I place the YN560 where I want and set it on Optical Slave mode.
I then press the button and get into position.
The flash from the G12 triggers the YN560 and Ta-Da. I hope this helps.