R7 Flash settings

[Spitfirejd]

I'm trying to setup my R7 to use a 430EXII flash, off camera with radio triggers, to take a portrait of a horse with a black background. I've watched dozens of YT videos and the process seems easy enough, but I have a few questions. The biggest is that even when I have my M settings to completely underexpose the picture, my R7's screen/viewfinder still shows a fully lit scene for about 10 seconds before it goes dark. It's obviously some kind of preview, but how do I turn it off? I've poured through all the settings in the online manual, but can't find it. The other problem I'm having while testing the process in my studio, is that even when the pre-flash exposure is completely dark, and I carefully place the flash to avoid spill (I've tried several modifiers), I still get a fair amount of light in the background. I even tried turning off the overhead lights, but it still is weirdly bright. Flash is set to M and I've played with the power settings, but I'm still not getting something right. Help! lol

 

[Bobtographer]

I don't own a R7 but looking at the manual, looks like Pages 306-7 will do the trick

 

[Anton Largiader]

The first issue is exposure simulation. I haven't played with the settings a lot because it seems to do whatever is useful at the time: simulating exposure when that's helpful, and boosting scene illumination when it's not. To me, boosting the scene is one of the major benefits of having an EVF. Just look at the meter to see what the actual light is; for flash it's pretty useless to have expo sim in effect because you'll just be looking at a black screen. -2 on the meter is pretty much black.

Second issue - balancing light on the subject with light on the BG - is simply a classic flash photography (or studio photography) challenge. Change the subject:background distance ratio if you can. Use a more matte BG if you can. Baffle the light if you can. It just depends on the scene. Post examples here and someone might have some ideas for what you are dealing with.

As a starting point, set the ambient exposure so that the BG is black. 1/250 sec so you let in the least amount of ambient, whatever aperture you want, and lower ISO until the BG is black. THEN add flash.

 

[Spitfirejd]

I don't own a R7 but looking at the manual, looks like Pages 306-7 will do the trick

What section is that? The online manual on the Canon USA website doesn’t have page numbers.

 

[Wilt]

The other problem I'm having while testing the process in my studio, is that even when the pre-flash exposure is completely dark, and I carefully place the flash to avoid spill (I've tried several modifiers), I still get a fair amount of light in the background. I even tried turning off the overhead lights, but it still is weirdly bright. Flash is set to M and I've played with the power settings, but I'm still not getting something right. Help! lol

Obviously, the cutoff by the modifier still cannot supress any light that is bouncing from adjacent surfaces...like even the floor...which illuminates the background. The only solution is to put your background much farther back from your subject, so that Inverse Square falloff of intensity can diminish the light on the background by -2EV.

 

[Wilt]

What section is that? The online manual on the Canon USA website doesn’t have page numbers.

I don't own the R7, so I went to Canon USA website and opened the PDF of the owner manual and found p.305 is titled 'Display Simulation'...which BTW is in the Shooting and Recording, Still Photo Shooting part of the manual, which shows page numbers at the bottom. Perhaps your difficulty is in looking at the HTML version of the same documentation, rather than PDF.

 

[Spitfirejd]

The first issue is exposure simulation. I haven't played with the settings a lot because it seems to do whatever is useful at the time: simulating exposure when that's helpful, and boosting scene illumination when it's not. To me, boosting the scene is one of the major benefits of having an EVF. Just look at the meter to see what the actual light is; for flash it's pretty useless to have expo sim in effect because you'll just be looking at a black screen. -2 on the meter is pretty much black.

Second issue - balancing light on the subject with light on the BG - is simply a classic flash photography (or studio photography) challenge. Change the subject:background distance ratio if you can. Use a more matte BG if you can. Baffle the light if you can. It just depends on the scene. Post examples here and someone might have some ideas for what you are dealing with.

As a starting point, set the ambient exposure so that the BG is black. 1/250 sec so you let in the least amount of ambient, whatever aperture you want, and lower ISO until the BG is black. THEN add flash.

Thank you for your reply. The display simulation is what I’ve been playing with and it’s really annoying the way they implemented it. Turning it off makes the screen always bright and setting to always use exposure simulation is what I’m annoyed with. Apparently I’m just going to have to wait until it takes effect. I have no idea why the 5 second delay, but I assume it’s to allow you to check focus before the screen goes dark, but you can slow down the shutter speed or open the aperture to see your focus and then set it so the BG is black. In the studio at least, that is easier to me as I don’t need to keep checking the focus with the camera on a tripod.

I’ve been doing exactly what you mention as a starting point. Today, I finally figured out how to get the BG black with small objects in the studio by moving the soft box much closer to the subject and turning down the Speedlight’s power. Now, tomorrow I’ll test it outside to see if I can get it to work on a large subject outdoors.

 

[Spitfirejd]

I don't own the R7, so I went to Canon USA website and opened the PDF of the owner manual and found p.305 is titled 'Display Simulation'...which BTW is in the Shooting and Recording, Still Photo Shooting part of the manual, which shows page numbers at the bottom. Perhaps your difficulty is in looking at the HTML version of the same documentation, rather than PDF.

Thank you, Wilt. That’s exactly what I was doing (HTML). That section is actually what I’ve been looking at, but what it doesn’t tell you is that there is a 5 second or so delay before the simulation takes effect. At least if you’re deliberately trying to underexpose the ambient light and manually add flash for the desired exposure.

 

[Bobtographer]

What section is that? The online manual on the Canon USA website doesn’t have page numbers.

Sorry, thought you'd have had a hard copy that came with the camera..

 

[Anton Largiader]

Camera didn't come with a hard copy, just a quick start guide. I use the 1000-page PDF from the website.

 

[EtherArts]

I'm trying to setup my R7 to use a 430EXII flash, off camera with radio triggers, to take a portrait of a horse with a black background. I've watched dozens of YT videos and the process seems easy enough, but I have a few questions. The biggest is that even when I have my M settings to completely underexpose the picture, my R7's screen/viewfinder still shows a fully lit scene for about 10 seconds before it goes dark. It's obviously some kind of preview, but how do I turn it off? I've poured through all the settings in the online manual, but can't find it. The other problem I'm having while testing the process in my studio, is that even when the pre-flash exposure is completely dark, and I carefully place the flash to avoid spill (I've tried several modifiers), I still get a fair amount of light in the background. I even tried turning off the overhead lights, but it still is weirdly bright. Flash is set to M and I've played with the power settings, but I'm still not getting something right. Help! lol

• To disable the bright preview on your R7, turn off "Exposure Simulation" in the menu (under the "Shoot" tab) to see a dark viewfinder when underexposing.
• Ensure your flash is set to manual (M) mode and adjust its power to control the light output precisely.
• Use a faster shutter speed (e.g., 1/200s) and lower ISO to minimize ambient light affecting the background.
• Position the horse farther from the background and angle the flash to avoid spill, using a grid or snoot for tighter light control.
• Test in complete darkness to isolate the flash’s effect and fine-tune settings for a clean, black background.