MAMEWorld Forums - The Loony Bin - Re: another photography question

> Ok, from what I gather, when people speak of "stops", they're generally talking about
> aperture. Now from the speedflash quick guide:
>
> "add or subtract flash exposure from +3 to -3 stops in 0.3- stop increments."
>
> What exactly is happening here? Is the flash unit overriding my aperture settings for
> exposure, or is it attempting to adjust the intensity of the flash itself? Or perhaps
> messing with the camera software white balance or something?

You mustn’t be paying much attention. Exposure in general is delineated in stops, including shutter speed, aperture, ISO, EV compensation, filter loss, and flash power. 1 stop = half/double the exposure depending on the direction (halve/double shutter speed, multiply/divide f/ratio by square root of 2, halve/double ISO, whatever).

Flash power adjustment does just that - adjusts the flash power. Without getting technical, think of it as adjusting the balance between parts of the image illuminated by the flash and parts illuminated by ambient light.

> On another note... reading the quick guide made me realize that the 60D has a
> built-in remote for the flash so I could use it unattached! This thing seems more and
> more cool every time I play with it!
>
> Problem is... I'm not sure why or how exactly I would use this function since it
> seems to be line of site and as far as I can tell, the sensor on the flash is on the
> front... seems silly to me

It should pick up reflections, so as long as you point the remote flash unit at the subject it should work. It wouldn't be much use if you couldn't point it at the subject now, would it?

> ohh! and edit 3: Can somebody explain what use there is for the extra plastic shield
> thing? I gather it disperses light, but for what purpose?

Take some photos of relatively close subjects without the diffuser, then try with the diffuser. If you can't see why you'd want to use the diffuser after doing that, don't bother carrying it.