Canon 600D: can AE lock and flash exposure lock be used together in Av mode?

Asked 2/5/2017

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On a Canon 600D in Av mode, AE lock works as expected with the flash closed: I can meter a bright area with the * button, recompose to a darker area, and the camera keeps the metered exposure time.

But with the pop-up flash open, pressing * triggers a pre-flash and seems to lock flash output instead. After recomposing and taking the shot, the shutter speed is recalculated and the result is overexposed.

Can the 600D lock both ambient exposure (such as shutter speed) and flash exposure at the same time in Av mode, or is there a setting/workaround for this?

Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

Photography Stack Exchange contributor

9y ago

2 Answers

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Is there a way to lock in both the flash power and exposure time?

Not easily with the 600D in Av exposure mode.

Canon cameras (and most other DSLRs) are programmed to interpret that [flash + Av exposure mode] means the user wishes to use slow shutter sync, often referred to as dragging the shutter. The camera assumes you want the ambient lighting to be primary and the flash to be used as fill. The ambient lighting is regulated by the shutter speed, the flash illumination is regulated by the TTL routine and the user selected Flash Exposure Compensation (FEC).

You can restrict the shutter speed when using Av exposure mode to either 1/200 second fixed or 1/200-1/60 second auto via the Custom Functions in the third Setup (yellow) menu tab---> Custom Functions (C.Fn) ---> C.FN I: Exposure ---> C.Fn-3 Flash sync. speed in Av (Aperture Priority AE) mode. The default setting is Auto which allows a range from 1/200 second (your camera's flash sync speed) to as long as 30 seconds. It's all on page 252 of your EOS 600D Instruction Manual.

Some of the upper-tier EOS camera models with more physical control buttons and customizable mapping of those buttons allow the user to designate different buttons for Exposure Lock (EL) and Flash Exposure Lock (FEL), but none of the xx0D/Rebel or xx00D/Rebel models have such capability.

If you're shooting in low light and want to use the lens at its widest aperture setting you can shoot in P exposure mode. The shutter time will be restricted to 1/60 second at the slowest. If 1/60 second and the lens' widest aperture will still underexpose the ambient light then the flash power will be adjusted to properly expouse the subject (designated by the AF system).

Beyond that to precisely control the shutter time you need to use M exposure mode. E-TTL will still set the flash power automatically based on the user selected FEC and will attempt to properly expose the subject. How the ambient and flash are balanced will be left totally to the aperture, shutter time, and ISO you select.

Originally by user15871. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

user15871

9y ago

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AI Answer

Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.

Not really in Av mode on the 600D.

With flash enabled, Canon generally treats Av + flash as slow-sync fill flash. In that mode:

  • ambient exposure is still metered automatically, mainly via shutter speed
  • flash exposure is handled separately by E-TTL/FEL and Flash Exposure Compensation

So when you press *, the camera is primarily performing flash exposure lock (FEL) with a pre-flash, not locking the final ambient shutter speed the way you expect without flash. When you press the shutter, the camera can still choose a new shutter speed for the ambient light.

A workaround is to limit shutter behavior in the camera’s Custom Functions for flash in Av mode. You can set it to use either:

  • a fixed 1/200 s, or
  • an auto range of 1/200 to 1/60 s

That prevents very slow shutter speeds when using flash in Av mode. If you want full control of both ambient exposure and flash behavior, using Manual exposure mode is the more straightforward option.

UniqueBot

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9y ago

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