I’ve recently discovered that my Speedlite 430EX III-RT has custom and personal functions, what additional capabilities do these enable?
Ross Graham, Belfast
BRIAN SAYS… You are indeed correct, in fact custom functions are found on many Canon Speedlites. Typically the custom functions don’t add capabilities, but make the flash work in an different way.
Some of the functions are merely preference. As the flashes are produced in Japan and they use metric units, therefore the default distance display uses metres. So, if you prefer to work in feet, set C.FN 00 to 1.
After a long time working with flash, I’ve refined my own Speedlite’s operation to suit my own personal style of photography. I have the rear control dial on the flash set to be able to change flash exposure compensation, simply by turning the dial with C.FN 13.
I also prefer to keep the LCD display illuminated all the time by setting C.FN 22 to 2. In another example, if you use the flash as a receiver or slave, the AF illuminator flashes red to indicate the flash is fully charged. For me this is superfluous, when the flash is often hidden in a light modifier, and I get a confirmation that Speedlites are charged from my Speedlite Transmitter ST-E3-RT. To stop the red flashes set C.FN 23 to 1. If you use off-camera flash triggers you may want to disable the auto power off with C.FN 01.
Personal functions allow you to further refine the operation to your personal taste. I like to have my sender/master and receiver/ slave units display show in green, as a quick visual clue I have them in the correct mode, and orange when used as an on-camera unit. You can do this easily with P.FN 02, 03 and 04. I also have my Speedlites configured to illuminate the subject when they are used with Linked Shot mode, by just setting P.FN 07 to 1.
While there’s no need to change the custom and personal functions, you may find that doing so will suit your shooting style. It’s also just great to have these options available to you whenever you need them.