For your amusement

[DrPizza]

We picked up a new disposable camera (Kodak Easyshare) for "recreational use." She was in the barn taking pictures of the baby goats and some pictures of the ducks and other assorted critters. I asked her why she had the camera flashing "that way" - meaning "why do you have red eye on?"

"This camera takes better pictures in the dark. The first flash lights everything up, then the 2nd flash takes the picture."
:laugh:

 

[ElFenix]

the first time i read through this i skipped over the (Kodak Easyshare) part. then i read the other thread and saw you'd gotten a new camera and chuckled to myself. yep, those little plastic cams are pretty much disposable

 

[jpeyton]

I'm hoping red-eye flash will be an extinct option pretty soon.

It never made sense to me. You use twice the flash power (drastically reducing battery life), and many newer cameras (and nearly 100% of free photo editing software) let you remove red-eye with a few button clicks. My guess is that "automatic red-eye removal" will be part of the standard on-camera processing engine software soon enough. If our cameras are smart enough to do face and smile detection, they can remove red-eye without user interference.

 

[punchkin]

Originally posted by: jpeyton
I'm hoping red-eye flash will be an extinct option pretty soon.

It never made sense to me. You use twice the flash power (drastically reducing battery life), and many newer cameras (and nearly 100% of free photo editing software) let you remove red-eye with a few button clicks. My guess is that "automatic red-eye removal" will be part of the standard on-camera processing engine software soon enough. If our cameras are smart enough to do face and smile detection, they can remove red-eye without user interference.

It doesn't usually use that much power, since preflashes to contract the iris don't have to be at full power, and it works well. A simple and good solution to the red-eye problem, in my opinion.

 

[jpeyton]

You're right, pre-flashes don't need to be full power, but their power can vary depending on the focal length and focal distance of the subject. Red eye pre-flashes are never 100% effective either.

One other problem is that when I'm shooting a group of people, some tend to break from their pose after they see the first flash, not realizing the shutter doesn't open until the second flash.

 

[Fardringle]

The red-eye flash on my Fuji S6000fd works extremely well. Sure, post-processing can remove red eye from photos, but they usually can't restore the original eye color without a lot of work, if at all. Using the red-eye reduction on my Fuji I can hold the camera a few feet away from my girls' faces, use the flash, and still get the deep blue color of their eyes in the pictures straight out of the camera. (Of course, I don't do that very much, but I can if I need to.) Without the red-eye flash, those pictures would end up with their eyes being grey or black after removing the redness with Gimp/Photoshop.

As punchking mentioned, I really don't think it would have much effect on the battery life or flash effectiveness since the first flash on my camera is only slightly brighter than the AF assist LED - just enough to cause a reaction of the subject's eyes without blinding them - and it doesn't appear to have any effect at all on the brightness/coverage of the regular flash.

 

[Soundmanred]

The two flash red eye reduction doesn't do much for me as far as reducing red eye, but it is the ONLY way to take good pics of my daughter if she's looking at the camera.
If I only use a single flash, I get a pic of her looking drunk or her eyes are fully closed.

 

[andylawcc]

"Back to the Kitchen, NOW!"

 

[DrPizza]

Originally posted by: ElFenix
the first time i read through this i skipped over the (Kodak Easyshare) part. then i read the other thread and saw you'd gotten a new camera and chuckled to myself. yep, those little plastic cams are pretty much disposable

Too many activities I like to get photos of that are too high risk for a good camera. i.e. kayaking. I'm surprised you guys didn't find the idea that the first flash "lights everything up so the camera can see to take the picture" amusing.

 

[corkyg]

Originally posted by: DrPizza
I'm surprised you guys didn't find the idea that the first flash "lights everything up so the camera can see to take the picture" amusing.

It certainly made me smile.

 

[Deadtrees]

Though she's wrong, she's quite close to the idea of TTL system. It, in fact, is the second flash that does the trick.

 

[gsellis]

And the 3rd flash knocks the goats over?