540EZ compatiblity on EOS 20D?

[gary w. graley]

I've made the jump to light speed today, ordered an EOS 20D, I have a

gamut of lenses already as well as a 540EZ flash and wanted to know

if that will work on the 20D at all? Can't afford the 580EX just

now, still reeling from the expenditure from today<BR>Thanks in

advance<br>G2

[dmitry_apresian]

Unfortunately, EZ series flashes will not work on digital bodies. You may be able to use it in manual mode, but that's it.

[gary w. graley]

Thanks I'll have to dig the manual up and see how the flash works in manual mode, too bad! They are expensive flashes eh?<br>G2

[siu_fai_au1]

I have tested my 540EZ on a 300D and the Speedlite will not go off. So no manual flash on this combo.

[karl_lehmann]

I've used my 540EZ on a Digital Rebel (isn't that the same as a 300D?) and it works fine in manual mode. But the flash doesn't fire at all in auto mode.<P>

But with static subjects and a digital body, manual flash is a no brainer! You'll find a perfect exposure very quickly by trial and error... often a better exposure than relying on (E)TTL would have gotten you!<P>Karl Lehmann <a href="http://www.lostworldarts.com/new_page_3.htm">Lost World Arts</a>

[pierluc]

I also had the same question but with my 1D and a 540 EZ. So I went to this site: http://photonotes.org/articles/eos-flash/#digital and found a part of the answer.

 

I use my 1D with the 540 EZ and I think the combo is not bad at all. In manual mode with trial and error method.

[John Crowe]

I was in a camera store today and they say the EZ flashes won't sync at all, obviously they are wrong. I don't want to start a similar thread so I would like to post a question here.

 

I have a flash that works off of it's own thyristor perfectly with my Canon Elan IIe. It probably even does TTL in manual mode like on my Canon T-90, but I have never tried that. Will this type of flash fire on the Canon DSLRs? Thank-you.

[shambrick007]

Yes, but make sure the trigger voltage is 6V or less.

[claude_littleton]

550EX works great, the trail and error for me with a none EX flash just resulted in more error than trail, especially in low light.

[John Crowe]

Thank-you Sheldon. I visited botzilla and read his articles. I just measured the voltage across the flash shoe and it was indeed 6 Volts. It is the Vivitar 5600, a flash that was 20 years ahead of it's time, and judging by eBay, I was one of the handful that bought it.

 

 

I do wish camera salesmen were more educated and not fixated on new sales. Seems to me if a client was hesitant to make the big camera purchase for fear of not being able to use all his various accessories, then the camera salesmen should go out their way to make the transition easier and less expensive to make sure they got at least one expensive sale. Take care.

[terry_smith2]

I think Canon did its customers a disservice by making the EZ flashes incompatible with the DSLRs. My 540EZ works fine with my EOS 3 but not at all in auto mode on my D30. Same with my 200E. This is crap! Luckily i bought a 550EX a few months before the D30 so I had a backup when the 540EZ faied to function on the D30. As they say in France: MERDE!

[gary w. graley]

well my 20D won't arrive until Monday...oh well {:-(

<br>I will check into a 550EX and pick one of those I think<br>Thanks all<br>G2

[david_gonzalez]

A recent posting on Rob Galbraith's site quotes Chuck Westfall from Canon as saying that the voltage limit of 250V listed for the PC socket on the 20D and all 1D and 1Ds models applies to the hot shoe as well.

The link is <a href=http://www.robgalbraith.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=&Number=311261&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=&fpart=1">here</a>.