how good is ETTL II?

[denniskee]

Hope can get some feed back from users.

What are the Speedlite flash that can support ETTL II? Does Sigme Super 500D?

Fed up with ETTL flash cause after I switch the AF to AE "*" button on my EOS 50E & D60, I lose the ability to do FEL.

Also, can the ETTL II work with EF50 f1.8, EF100 f2, Sigma APO HSM 70-200?

For the len that dont feed back the distant info the the camera body, will it revert back to ETTL or TTL or ATTL?

Thanks.

 

[zod]

if i'm not wrong, ETTL-II is supported by bodies and not flash
for eg, 1DMII

ETTL does not rely on lens feeding back distance info

u will find more answers here
http://photonotes.org/articles/eos-flash/

 

[denniskee]

Woh, quite a no. of EF lens (canon make) cant be used for ETTL II, that includes the most versital 50mm f1.4 & 50mm f1.8 II!!??

Also, dont know if 3rd party lens can be used.

So it just revert back to the not reliable ETTL system if lens not able to return distant info to camera body? Not stated in that web site.

Does it means EZ flash can be use for ETTL II since the mod is in the camera body, not flash?

 

[zod]

Woh, quite a no. of EF lens (canon make) cant be used for ETTL II, that includes the most versital 50mm f1.4 & 50mm f1.8 II!!??

hmm, i din know that.

So it just revert back to the not reliable ETTL system if lens not able to return distant info to camera body? Not stated in that web site.

AFAIK, ETTL dun rely on lens distant info.(i might be wrong)

Does it means EZ flash can be use for ETTL II since the mod is in the camera body, not flash?

EZ supports TTL
EX supports E-TTL and E-TTL II

digital bodies do not support EZ/TTL.

 

[Ah Pao]

AFAIK, ETTL dun rely on lens distant info.(i might be wrong)

(Read from various different sources, so can't be bothered to quote.)

When available, it will be used in the ETTL-II calculations, especially when there is a presence of hotspots in the exposure.

If the lens does not support focus distance, ETTL-II can still work despite not having such data.

Actually, to know if any lens have a distance feedback feature, look at the EXIF data (e.g. using BreezeBrowser) to see whether the subject distance is reported (accurately). At least I know that the Tamron 24-135mm reports the subject distance.

ETTL-II is an algorithm upgrade from ETTL and therefore still depends on Speedlites that can work with ETTL. This means that only the EX series of Speedlites work. Not sure about the Sigma 500DG though. And non-EX Speedlites are out.

 

[denniskee]

Does it means that there is no pre-flash when ETTL II?

Without distant, can still work in ETTL II mah? Cant solve the equation GN = Aperture x Dist.

When slaving, is the distant info communicated to the slave unit? Or does the slave flash operate in ETTL II?

Not much info in http://photonotes.org/articles/eos-flash/. Can point me to a more detail site pls.

 

[CaeSiuM]

EZ supports TTL as well as A-TTL. Before the wrong information gets passed around, do visit http://photonotes.org/articles/eos-flash/ for more information.

 

[Ah Pao]

Does it means that there is no pre-flash when ETTL II?

Without distant, can still work in ETTL II mah? Cant solve the equation GN = Aperture x Dist.

When slaving, is the distant info communicated to the slave unit? Or does the slave flash operate in ETTL II?

Not much info in http://photonotes.org/articles/eos-flash/. Can point me to a more detail site pls.

ETTL-II is essentially an upgrade from ETTL. Although I have not used ETTL-II before (<-- qualifying statement here) I believe a pre-flash is used (as said in the the Photonotes.org site). The pre-flash is of a known fixed power and hence the camera is smart enough to know whether to bump up or down the flash output. I don't think distance data is needed in normal circumstances. The GN equation is redundant here then.

If you want to know when distance data is used in ETTL-II, Photonotes.org has made it clear when it will be used: http://photonotes.org/articles/eos-flash/#ettlii Do tell us which parts of the article you do not understand so we can help you better.

From what I can summarise and conclude all the calculations are done in-camera and the slave Speedlites are pretty "dumb" in this case. They just need to know how much power to output as communicated by the master Speedlite.

 

[Ah Pao]

EZ supports TTL as well as A-TTL. Before the wrong information gets passed around, do visit http://photonotes.org/articles/eos-flash/ for more information.

Just to add on, the EZ series, although it does support conventional TTL and A-TTL, does not support E-TTL, and hence will not be supporting E-TTL II.

Essentially, EZ series Speedlites cannot be used in DSLRs in auto (A-TTL) mode--they will not trigger at all. In film SLRs the camera will revert back to A-TTL calculations when an EZ Speedlight is mounted (reading reflections off-the-film rather than evaluative flash metering).

 

[clive]

shouldnt make any diff to me :bsmilie: :angel:

 

[Red Dawn]

Does it means that there is no pre-flash when ETTL II?

Without distant, can still work in ETTL II mah? Cant solve the equation GN = Aperture x Dist.

When slaving, is the distant info communicated to the slave unit? Or does the slave flash operate in ETTL II?

Not much info in http://photonotes.org/articles/eos-flash/. Can point me to a more detail site pls.

a casual glance at website answered all ur qns. i think you need to peruse the site in greater detail! that's like the bible for EOS flash photography.

for the D60, i believe it doesn't have the expanded flash coverage improvement of the 10D, so what you can do is switch back to the shutter release for focus when using flash photography (what i did last time with the D30) to retain preflash capability, or use manual focus (where the flash exposure will be averaged out) or switch out of the ETTL system altogether by getting a third party flash and relying on auto flash (non TTL).

ETTL is an excellent system because it allows users the additional option of preflashing (taking a flash metering reading off a specific area of the scene), which other competing flash systems don't allow. Unfortunately, the actual implementation of it in the D30 and D60 bodies (and probably the EOS 30, EOS 300 etc etc) are slightly flawed without an additional preflash button for users who want to AF with the * button.

on the pro bodies like the 1v etc where a separate preflash button is available, the system works like a dream. hopefully with ETTL II being slowly introduced into the newer EOS bodies (EOS 30v, EOS 1d MK II), there wun be a need for a separate preflash button IF (and that's a big IF) the distance info thingy works as advertised.

hey at least we're not forced into buying new sets of flash units everytime the flash algorithm is revised, unlike other camera manufacturers

 

[Ah Pao]

shouldnt make any diff to me :bsmilie: :angel:

Hmm...there are people who herald the coming of E-TTL II being Canon finally on par with the Nikon flash system. That to me is a big deal...haha..