# EOS Canon 20D/ EOS Viewer/ Flash recommendations



## wiste (Feb 10, 2006)

This is my camera. An EOS Canon 20D.









There are twelve different modes on the camera but lately I have only being using the manual mode.
This mode allows saving data in raw format. Only a couple of the other modes also save in raw format.

One advantage of using the raw format is the ability to post edit the images using the EOS viewer with the tool palette. Any setting that can be modified with the tool palette can be set on the camera. However, many of the settings are only available by navigating the menu via the LCD screen.
After a photo is taken and adjustments made with the EOS viewer then go back and adjust the camera settings for further photos.










Setting of the color temperature to the Kelvin rating of the lights is one of the more helpful features. This is especially true for this tank which has red colored 3000K spiral fluorescent bulbs.

Reduction of the green color helps reduce the affect of the green tint in glass of the tank.
This accomplished using the adjustments below the color selection.

Below is the default camera settings.









Here is a larger photo. A black cardboard frame is being used to reduce light pollution.
The outline was cropped to look like a frame.









The low power consumption of the camera requires infrequent recharging of the battery.
However, the number only interface on the top LCD screen takes practice to know what is being adjusted and what buttons need to be pressed to set a different parameter.

I have been looking at external an flash. The ST-2 with 430X speedlites seem to be the wireless solution.
Anyone have recommendations on an external flash setup especially a non-wireless solution?


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## HeyPK (Jan 23, 2004)

Just about any flash with a sinc cord (cheap) will do. With a digital camera you can find the right exposure by trial and error, deleting the pictures in the camera that are not exposed to your liking. More expensive is a cord designed for camera control of the flash. That is a lot more expensive. With this kind of cord, the camera cuts off the flash when the proper exposure is reached. With Canon cameras, the Canon flashes and a few high end flashes by other manufacturers, such as Metz, can work this way.


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## mstolpner (May 11, 2005)

I can suggest miniLab from www.dpmagic.com to work with RAW images.


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## wiste (Feb 10, 2006)

> More expensive is a cord designed for camera control of the flash.


It looks like the cost of using more than one flash, with the cost of the cables and adapters made for the EOS camera, is about the same as the ST-E2 transmitter. I have some concern about the 430 EX slave being properly triggered if the flash is mounted pointing down on top of the tank. This potential problem might be worse if using a "flash-box" (a box on top of the aquarium with reflective material to direct the flash downwards).



> I can suggest miniLab from www.dpmagic.com to work with RAW images.


I have not really had success with digital editing beyond cropping. Using the PC tool with raw image to help adjust the camera white balance settings (as described above) seemed to give better results.
However, another try in the near future will hopefully produce better results.


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