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Fudge factor #1

A project log for Wireless ETTL flash conversion

Convert a vintage flash to wireless with full ETTL

lion-mclionheadlion mclionhead 12/19/2022 at 04:470 Comments

All the exposures came out OK except for 100mm.  Something about that lens made it always over expose.  It sends much higher power over wireless than wired.  Having a way to expose the debugging header on the outside of the enclosure is essential.

If it's stopped way down, it properly exposes because it sends maximum power no matter what.  If it's wide open, the exposure with 100mm is equally as overexposed as the other lenses.  It's computing a good power level, then adding a fixed offset, rather than always setting full power.  The minimum flash power is in the 0x60's.  If it adds the offset to a 0x40 value, the new value is still below the minimum.  

After much tracking of packet values, the value of offset 6 in MANE_FLASH1 (ISO code from flash) actually causes it to overexpose.  This value is based on lens & ISO:

200mm ISO 100,1600: 0x64

100mm ISO 100,3200: 0x62

50mm ISO 100,3200: 0x5d

35mm ISO 100,400,3200: 0x5a

28mm ISO 100: 0x36

28mm ISO 200: 0x36

28mm ISO 400: 0x3e

28mm ISO 800: 0x46

17mm ISO 100,200: 0x34

17mm ISO 400: 0x3c

17mm ISO 1600: 0x4c

17mm ISO 3200: 0x54

15mm ISO 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600: 0x54

Only 2 lenses have variations by ISO.  It might also depend on shutter speed.

2 way communication won't fix it.  It only occurs in MANE_FLASH1.  

The options are copying every single code or just using 0x62 for all the lenses.

It doesn't bode well for retrofitting a manual flash if every lens & ISO requires a different fudge factor.  100mm is the only one to require fudge factor 0x62.  All the other lenses specify different fudge factors, yet give exactly the correct exposure, wireless & wired, with fudge factor 0x62.  The camera must have a similar table telling it to apply fudge factor differently for every lens, manely ignoring it except for 100mm.

With the 100mm working, it was finally time for some shots that were impossible with wired flash.  The next steps are making the packets repeat as long as possible & channel selection.

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