To Canon Strobists, what's the difference between evaluative and average E-TTL II?

[dbgg1979]

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I noticed sa Flash settings under E-TTL II there's an option to change between evaluative and average. Can somebody tell me the difference between the two? And what do you prefer to use? When is evaluative useful and when to use average?

I've already "googled" and read about them. I'm looking for information based on user experience, not theory.

[harvz86]

sa ako lang nasabtan, its the metering sa imo flash...but for strobist use i dont use automatic settings

[dbgg1979]

I use manual settings too if I use the flash off-cam. On-camera,do you go manual too? If you go TTL, which do you use? Evaluative or Average?

sa ako lang nasabtan, its the metering sa imo flash...but for strobist use i dont use automatic settings

[uyarchie]

i use is evaluative on my flash and center-weighted average on my camera or spot. the reason for this is that I usually meter for ambient light first, then meter the flash exposure, which is controlled by the FEC and FEL buttons, that way I can fully take control of the ambient light, at the same time control my flash exposure through E-TTL II. it is especially beneficial if you are using master/slave function of 2 or 3 canon flashes or off-camera shoe cord since you lose FP-sync and rear-shutter curtain features of ETTL-II if you're using full manual on external triggers (these are really great features IMO). i still retain these setting even with on-camera flash.

canon did not publish the algorithms of ETTL-II, unlike TTL, A-TTL and ETTL... so i'd assume average is the same with "center-weighted average" metering on your camera, which calculates exposure mostly in the center of the frame to get the average exposure of the flash-lit subject, (especially helpful if background is too dark or too bright) while, evaluative uses the 35-metering zones across the frame to get an average exposure. actually i think it doesn't matter since the flash exposure is linked through the active focus point in your camera. it usually uses that distance info to get a good flash exposure through the pre-flash.

ETTL-II is by the way underexposed by -2/3 of a stop (this is it's flaw AFAIK)..i find it useful to use FEC +2/3 on all my flash setting even on fill-flash and work from there. 430EX which uses ETTL produces dead-on exposures IMO. hope this helps =) happy new year!

[choui168]

go manual for strobing. E-TTL and ATTL are useless unless you are using PW's. ETTL is also stupid, it doesn't work 100% of the time. you're better off training your eye to do the metering then adjusting the settings of your cam and flash based on your experience.

[dbgg1979]

Thanks for the info! I had mine backwards lol. E-TTL II on average and camera on either evaluative or spot. I can't wait to test these on the field.

i use is evaluative on my flash and center-weighted average on my camera or spot. the reason for this is that I usually meter for ambient light first, then meter the flash exposure, which is controlled by the FEC and FEL buttons, that way I can fully take control of the ambient light, at the same time control my flash exposure through E-TTL II. it is especially beneficial if you are using master/slave function of 2 or 3 canon flashes or off-camera shoe cord since you lose FP-sync and rear-shutter curtain features of ETTL-II if you're using full manual on external triggers (these are really great features IMO). i still retain these setting even with on-camera flash.

canon did not publish the algorithms of ETTL-II, unlike TTL, A-TTL and ETTL... so i'd assume average is the same with "center-weighted average" metering on your camera, which calculates exposure mostly in the center of the frame to get the average exposure of the flash-lit subject, (especially helpful if background is too dark or too bright) while, evaluative uses the 35-metering zones across the frame to get an average exposure. actually i think it doesn't matter since the flash exposure is linked through the active focus point in your camera. it usually uses that distance info to get a good flash exposure through the pre-flash.

ETTL-II is by the way underexposed by -2/3 of a stop (this is it's flaw AFAIK)..i find it useful to use FEC +2/3 on all my flash setting even on fill-flash and work from there. 430EX which uses ETTL produces dead-on exposures IMO. hope this helps =) happy new year!

[uyarchie]

go manual for strobing. E-TTL and ATTL are useless unless you are using PW's. ETTL is also stupid, it doesn't work 100% of the time. you're better off training your eye to do the metering then adjusting the settings of your cam and flash based on your experience.

indeed ETTLII isn't foolproof.. but there are also features in ETTL useful like High-Speed sync when you're shooting under midday sun to get a shallow DOF or rear flash curtain for slow exposures which I like.. I use ETTL as well when im shooting mobile using a cord and hand-holding the flash to get off-camera goodness in casual settings. but for the rest manual flash is the way to go, especially if you have multiple flashes.

[uyarchie]

Thanks for the info! I had mine backwards lol. E-TTL II on average and camera on either evaluative or spot. I can't wait to test these on the field.

welcome bai =) suwayi lang tanan wa may sayop ani basta nindotan lang ka =) light is always gonna be light.

[britsy13]

@archieuy: thanks for sharing bro cge gyud ko malibog sa ettl sa canon. guess they need to rewrite their manual