flash

[tracktikz]

i need a flash for my elan2e and 20D... which speedlite can be used

on both cameras and are of good quality?

 

Thanks~ ^^

[mike_p2]

Any EX series Canon flash will work with both cameras.

 

420 EX is a very good flash. If you need more sofistication and just a bit more power, you can get 550EX, but be prepared to pay almost twice more. And, finally, if you have money to burn, they just made 580EX (I have no experience with this one).

[yakim_peled1]

If you don't need too many bells and whistles (which most folks don't use in most cases), then the 420EX is small, light, cheap and very good.

 

Happy shooting,

Yakim.

[peter_li]

don't buy 420ex. it has no manual control and you'll end up regretting

it. the new 580ex has white card build in for bounce flash and manual control. its lot more fun for you to experiment with your 20d where with 420ex you don't control over the outcome of the flash.

 

If you gonna spend the kind of money to buy 20d you might as well get 580ex or just get the basic digital rebel for 420ex.

[david_lau3]

I cannot understand why we still need flash manual control these days. If E-TTL 2 is not good enough we still have FEL+FEC. If manual control is so important just buy a non-dedicate 3rd party flash and save $$$.

[peter_li]

When I first bought my rebel g and took several rolls of films and I

didn't like the outcome of the built in flash so I bought 380ex.

It has no manual control just like the 420ex but It is ettl flash.

I thought it's was the best thing in the world the pictures come out great I thought at the time. the more pictures I took the more I want to improve my photos. I found that everytime when I want to fill in flash on overcast day the ettl flash always overexpose the subject

to my liking. I cannot control the outcome of the flash with 380ex.

Even with ettl or ettl2, There is limitation of the flash and camera metering. Having full control of your camera and flash allows you

to make adjustment to your liking.

[brian_dickman]

If you're using a DigiRebel then yes, you'll need the "manual" control of the 550 or 580. However, the 20D and elan2 both have Flash Exposure Compensation on the camera, and we don't need that control duplicated on the flash. The 420 is just fine.

[r._j.]

Old habits die hard. I am a professional photographer and use flash on manual mode literally 99 percent of the time. As long as you know what you're doing, manual is easy enough to work with.

 

I know what I want to accomplish with my flash and I am happy to dial-in the settings myself, rather than rely on a chip to understand my aim.

 

Portable strobe (flash) is the most useful type of lighting around due to its extreme portability and the fact that the results are superb when done properly: fill-in, bounce flash, dragging the shutter, flash-and-blur images, etc.

 

Because I use manual mode all the time, I have not yet bought Canon flashes. I use Metz. If you want to dedicate the flash, just buy the appropriate SCA adapter. Own two types of camera, such as 35mm/digital and medium format? Fine, buy two SCA adapters, not two flashes.

[jimstrutz]

I use manual flash control fairly frequently, and because of it, I prefer the 550EX or 580EX over the 420EX, but most people NEVER use manual flash. As long as you have the ability to control the relative brightness of the flash, as you do with the 20D's FEC controls, the 420EX is an excellent choice for most people.