G9 shooting settings, raw and strobes

First of all, I just got my hands on Aperture 2.0 and was able to reprocess a bunch of my photos based on the RAW versions instead of the JPEG ones. It is amazing how much more recovery one can do with RAW over JPEG. Especially with divers, who often wear grey objects, one can really fix that up. If only fish wore grey swatches :-)

Anyway, I had some questions.... I was shooting mostly TTL using a pair of Inon Z-240s. This worked pretty well, but I found a lot of blur caused by the lower shutter speed. I'm used to my old canon A80 shooting in manual with 'External-Auto' setting on my old Inon D180. In that case, I was able to shoot Manual mode on the camera, and control both the aperture and shutter as I liked.

With the G9, I wanted to take advantage of TTL, but that only works if the camera is on Av or Tv, not M. Are other shooters finding good settings to use, or are people switching to M and manual or External Auto on their flashes. I was thinking of shooting TTL using Tv instead of Av on my next trip to overcome this problem.

Also, I just read in another post that someone found that the blurry photos were fixed by turning off IS mode. I can't understand how this would affect things like that. Anyone have any ideas?

Hi TDC, like you I'm still feeling my way with a G9 and a pair of Z-240's. I havn't experienced the blur you mentioned when using TTL and Av at ISO 80 - my preferred TTL settings. Presently I'm shooting in green water. If TTL / Av or Tv fails, even with strobe compensation, Manual and External Auto would seem like the only alternative. My gut feeling is that IS is neither use not ornament...

I was disappointed to make the same discovery you did. On my C-5050, I could set shutter and aperture manually and get TTL strobe control. For macro, it hasn't been a problem. I'm setting the aperture to 8.0 and not worrying about the shutter. For bigger things, I'm using Tv, but it's a work in progress. It's annoying that Canon did this. It would think it could be fixed easily with a software update.

Amigos,

Canon figures if you go to "M" mode you want to control everything including flash output power. This is with either the built in flash or a TTL hot shoe connected external flash.

Ikelite's TTL circuitry with their DS (digital substrobes) works in P, Tv and the mode I recommend, Av and will adjust the shutter speed between a low of 1/60 or speed it up to not overexpose the background in bright tropical conditions.

IS can be left on, or turned off as at these shutter speeds it will have little effect. You can also use second curtain synch in this mode, although at 1/60 the slowest speed it likely won't have much effect.

If you are triggering up to your INON units with TTL settings on the strobe (optical synch?) then Av may give you enough control and minimize parameters to adjust. Mainly f-stop and and TTL compensation. Although I'm not sure if you dial in -FEC under the FUNC choice menus on the G9 if it will translate down the optical fiber cord to your INON strobes.

Pretty easy to hook it all up dry and test it, though

Good luck.....

dhaas

P.S. - What's mind blowing is on Canon dSLR models having a TTL hot shoe connected flash WORKS seamlessly even when the camera is in "M" mode Maybe just the difference in camera levels and price points.....

I played around with the G9 some more. In aperture priority mode, with the flash set to fire, the shutter speed stayed at 1/60 no matter what I did. So, if you are shooting a scene where you need a slower shutter speed, you'll have to go to Tv. An example would be with low ambient light where you would like to light up the foreground but still see the background. In that case, you might want to shoot at f/2.8 and, for example, 1/20.

For a camera like this to not provide TTL strobe control in M mode is highly aggravating and totally unnecessary. A little work in software could have taken care of it.

daw,

The shutter speed WILL increase if the camera senses the background will be overexposed while in Av mode and TTL flash "forced" to fire.

You can test this by selecting a mid-range aperture (f5.0 or so on the G9) and pointing out to a bright window or sky background simulating a bright tropical upward water column. Maybe filing 1/3 - 1/2 of the top of your frame with sky / water.

Works the same on Canon A630 / 640 / 650 IS and of course G7 / G9.

Makes it a whole lot easier limiting the parameters you have to adjust while maintaining use of TTL for foreground flash.

In M mode you have to set the flash output to 1/3 , 2/3 or full and then also adjust shutter speed and aperture. More crappola' to screw up your photos.....

Yes, it IS a shame Canon doesn't give G9 users the same TTL flash synch the dSLR cameras have in M mode.....I wouldn't look for them to offer a software upgrade, either.....

dhaas

yeah, that is pretty much what I found. The subject looks pretty crisp where let up by the strobes, but the background or edges which are less well lit end up looking a little smeared at 1/60 if there is a little bit of surge or motion of the subject. So I've found 1/125 is pretty much a minimum, unless I'm trying to expose the blue to a particular setting.

I guess if I shoot Tv, then I can solve the speed issue but I end up getting whatever aperture the camera picks. I may just switch back to M and manual or external auto, which is what I did with my A80. Taking advantage of the two strobes, the better resolution, RAW processing and a much better movie mode seems to be the big plus of the camera then.

For macro, I'm trying to decide if I am more worried about shake or aperture, but I think that's pretty clear -- my whole subject should be lit and the subject ought to not move -- and I want the best DOF.

So what I'll probably do is set one C setting for Macro (TTL->Av) and the other for scenery in M.

Too bad, because my Canon 40D does smart things in M mode.

As for the s/w, I'm sure it is just turned off for not turned on, whichever the case may be. But I don't expect a new release either :-(

I played around with the G9 some more. In aperture priority mode, with the flash set to fire, the shutter speed stayed at 1/60 no matter what I did. So, if you are shooting a scene where you need a slower shutter speed, you'll have to go to Tv. An example would be with low ambient light where you would like to light up the foreground but still see the background. In that case, you might want to shoot at f/2.8 and, for example, 1/20.

For a camera like this to not provide TTL strobe control in M mode is highly aggravating and totally unnecessary. A little work in software could have taken care of it.

the 1/60 is almost like the 'default' speed when using the flash for any Canon compact camera. You would probably find an option in the menu that's called "Slow-sync flash" or something that like. I saw it on a A640, so the G9 should probably have it.

This options allows the shutter speed to go lower than 1/60 but you may suffer from blurring due to hand-shake.

Otherwise, in Av mode on a compact, I like to fool around with the EV compensation to adjust the shutter speed. It's way easier than struggling with both aperture and shutter speed settings in M mode. Actually I do this on my DSLR too.

the 1/60 is almost like the 'default' speed when using the flash for any Canon compact camera. You would probably find an option in the menu that's called "Slow-sync flash" or something that like. I saw it on a A640, so the G9 should probably have it.

 

This options allows the shutter speed to go lower than 1/60 but you may suffer from blurring due to hand-shake.

 

Otherwise, in Av mode on a compact, I like to fool around with the EV compensation to adjust the shutter speed. It's way easier than struggling with both aperture and shutter speed settings in M mode. Actually I do this on my DSLR too.

I will have to try that! What flash settings in the G9 are you using?

Cool. I just tried Av with Exposure Compensation!!! It is almost perfect!

I tried exposing a foreground object that was dark with a bright light in the background, and I am able to get the camera to expose the light in different modes just by playing with the Ev adjustment, and the foreground object lit by the flash remains consistently exposed. In fact, the camera previews the change of shutter speed.

I had thought that the Ev adjustment would also affect the flash exposure (but of course, that is what the FEv is for).

So I certainly can get the 'blue water' background and subject foreground type shots exposed with TTL. The range of adjustment is only +-2, so depending on the shot, you can't always guarantee that you can boost the speed up if you aren't shooting into a light subject, but it is very very promising!!!

I'm thinking I could have just dialed it down to -1 Ev or so and got a bit sharper images.

Thanks antacid.

Okiediver. Av, Flash on, Flash Mode Auto, Flash Comp 0, Shutter Sync 1st Curtain, Slow Syncro On, Safety FE On (although I'll probably try Off). Some of the Safety stuff just gets in the way, for example, there is a safety focus on Manual focus which just gets in the way.

Cool. I just tried Av with Exposure Compensation!!! It is almost perfect!

 

I tried exposing a foreground object that was dark with a bright light in the background, and I am able to get the camera to expose the light in different modes just by playing with the Ev adjustment, and the foreground object lit by the flash remains consistently exposed. In fact, the camera previews the change of shutter speed.

 

I had thought that the Ev adjustment would also affect the flash exposure (but of course, that is what the FEv is for).

 

So I certainly can get the 'blue water' background and subject foreground type shots exposed with TTL. The range of adjustment is only +-2, so depending on the shot, you can't always guarantee that you can boost the speed up if you aren't shooting into a light subject, but it is very very promising!!!

 

I'm thinking I could have just dialed it down to -1 Ev or so and got a bit sharper images.

 

Thanks antacid.

 

Okiediver. Av, Flash on, Flash Mode Auto, Flash Comp 0, Shutter Sync 1st Curtain, Slow Syncro On, Safety FE On (although I'll probably try Off). Some of the Safety stuff just gets in the way, for example, there is a safety focus on Manual focus which just gets in the way.

That is exactly what I was looking for. Many thanks!

OK, so this may sound stupid, but I just need to be sure......would the settings on the G9 (flash settings with a strobe), be the same whether or not you were using a manual controller?

I may decide to send in the ds-125 for an upgrade and do the ettl thing.

I would think that you'd want it on Manual, not Auto.

OK, so this may sound stupid, but I just need to be sure......would the settings on the G9 (flash settings with a strobe), be the same whether or not you were using a manual controller?

 

I may decide to send in the ds-125 for an upgrade and do the ettl thing.

I am referencing just the camera itself....I need to set it to fire on every shot whether or not I use the strobe controller, or use TTL.

I think what is confusing me is that there are no "slave" choices on the camera like I am used to.

I am referencing just the camera itself....I need to set it to fire on every shot whether or not I use the strobe controller, or use TTL.

 

I think what is confusing me is that there are no "slave" choices on the camera like I am used to.

Hi Okiediver, I have been using the G9 with an Ike housing, macro lens inos 167, and a flash Inon Z2000, but have some problems setting the flash. I always use M in the camera and flash, that let me use the light according with my needs, but, at the same time I have noticed that the flash not all the time fires at the same time of my camera, that let the picture dark. I do not know if there are some tips that you could give me about this situation. I saw that you are using almost the same equipment that I do. My flash is coneting to the camera by the horse shoe with electronic cable.

thanks and sorry for my english.

jc

First of all, I just got my hands on Aperture 2.0 and was able to reprocess a bunch of my photos based on the RAW versions instead of the JPEG ones. It is amazing how much more recovery one can do with RAW over JPEG. Especially with divers, who often wear grey objects, one can really fix that up. If only fish wore grey swatches :-)

 

Anyway, I had some questions.... I was shooting mostly TTL using a pair of Inon Z-240s. This worked pretty well, but I found a lot of blur caused by the lower shutter speed. I'm used to my old canon A80 shooting in manual with 'External-Auto' setting on my old Inon D180. In that case, I was able to shoot Manual mode on the camera, and control both the aperture and shutter as I liked.

 

With the G9, I wanted to take advantage of TTL, but that only works if the camera is on Av or Tv, not M. Are other shooters finding good settings to use, or are people switching to M and manual or External Auto on their flashes. I was thinking of shooting TTL using Tv instead of Av on my next trip to overcome this problem.

 

Also, I just read in another post that someone found that the blurry photos were fixed by turning off IS mode. I can't understand how this would affect things like that. Anyone have any ideas?

I shot a very similar setup in Palau this summer. I found TTL to make things far more difficult than they needed to be and had much greater success shooting in M, and configuring strobes manually. After a couple dives, I didn't have to think much about how to adjust/power the z240 and had a much easier time getting what I was after. Also, being able to use the manual focus was pretty imperative as far as I could tell to get the sharpest possible results for close-ups. Examples are here: tbretl.smugmug.com

Hi Okiediver, I have been using the G9 with an Ike housing, macro lens inos 167, and a flash Inon Z2000, but have some problems setting the flash. I always use M in the camera and flash, that let me use the light according with my needs, but, at the same time I have noticed that the flash not all the time fires at the same time of my camera, that let the picture dark. I do not know if there are some tips that you could give me about this situation. I saw that you are using almost the same equipment that I do. My flash is coneting to the camera by the horse shoe with electronic cable.

thanks and sorry for my english.

 

jc

My wife just got this exact set-up, including the inon lens. So when you're shooting a really small nudibranch, do use the camera zoom at all, or just use the macro setting and get as close as possible? I guess my question is basically can you use zoom and macro, or is it a choice between zoom or macro?

Also do you use a focus light? In macro mode the auto focus seems to have a lot of trouble.

-Kip

I use the G9's zoom all the time when shooting macro with INON UCL-165 and UCL-330 glass. It pays to use the Ike long port to have the entire zoom range to play with and not have the lens hitting the short port and shutting the camera down. I don't use the G9's macro setting if I'm using the INON UCL's as I prefer to let the glass do the work...

Hi all,

I found this Canon digital camera hack program at http://chdk.wikia.com/wiki/CHDK

Maybe it will be useful if you want to push your G9 further. I've installed it on my A620 and it's working like a charm. I can now use aperture up to f16, shutter up to 1/64,000 and basically override all the Canon's reading to suit my needs.

Good Luck and give it a try.

Cheers,

Barttrigger.

I use the G9's zoom all the time when shooting macro with INON UCL-165 and UCL-330 glass. It pays to use the Ike long port to have the entire zoom range to play with and not have the lens hitting the short port and shutting the camera down. I don't use the G9's macro setting if I'm using the INON UCL's as I prefer to let the glass do the work...

Wich lens do You use more often (prefer) 165 or 330 and why?! If it's possible - have You ever tryed to stack them on one another?

p.s. Sorry for stealing the thread tdc!