Canon® EOS Digital Photography Photo Workshop

8.5. EXPLORING CANON SPEEDLITE FLASH CAPABILITIES

While Canon Speedlite flashes can be used in master/slave configurations where multiple units are set up in a studio-lighting manner, by far the most common way photographers use these hot-shoe mounted flashes is as a single unit atop their cameras. You may have recently upgraded to an external flash after having decided that the built-in flash just wasn't powerful enough for the types of photos you shoot, or perhaps your camera doesn't have a built-in flash at all. Whichever your situation, you need to know about some of the Speedlite's capabilities to make the most of everything you can do with them.

That said, Canon has added so many features to the sophisticated devices that it would take a complete book to cover all of them; this section is simply intended to give you an introduction to the various features and functionality and lay a path for you to explore, flash, and shoot to your heart's content.

Your Speedlite 430EX and 580EX II have a number of features that can be accessed from the flash's LCD screen (if you are using a 1D Mark III, they can also be set from the camera with the 580EX II). Using the LCD screen, you can cycle through ETTL and manual modes.

For more specifics on using and setting up all the possible configurations of your Speedlites, pick up a copy of the Canon Speedlite System Digital Field Guide, also ...