"M-TTL" modification of Canon-brand non-ex flash for 10D 20D or D60

[maxasst]

Has anyone with a Digital Canon SLR tried the modification that turns

a Canon flash that is pre-E-TTL to M-TTL or TTL as described on eos

doc site http://www.eosdoc.com/manuals.asp?q=EX-M-TTL ? I am

researching the use of an older Canon ringlight ML-3 (or any other

canon flash) on a digital body.

[bobatkins]

The eosdoc website is currently down I guess. Couldn't access it.

 

There's no way that I know of to turn a non-EX flash into a TTL flash with digital bodies, because the digital bodies have no way to do TTL flash metering. They have no TTL flash sensors. They absolutely 100% require a pre-flash to meter since the mirror has to be down to do the metering for both flash and ambient light.

 

If someone has come up with a way to coax non EX speedlites to generate a pre-flash for E-TTL metering, it's news to me and I'd be very interested to read about it (once the site comes back up!).

[kin_lau]

Do a Google of the actual link http://eosdoc.com/manuals/flash/EX-M-TTL and you can read the cached version.

 

Short answer. All the mod does, is to disable TTL altogether, and just fire the flash full-strength. Just tape out all the contacts except for the center one. I've done that by just taping out the lower left contact to fire an older 300EZ that has no overrides or controls with my 300D.

[maxasst]

I couldn't get to the site as well, but if I recall, the "M-TTL" modification allows the use of canon flashes firing at full strength Manual, so not really a ttl, but helpful because the flash does not lock-up when exposing just the center pin. Did I interpret that correctly? Also, can anyone with a digital canon do this to confirm it will behave the same way? Please? Thanks.

[bobatkins]

I don't get why this helps on a digital body.

 

If you put a pre E-TTL flash on a DSLR, it fires in manual mode anyway. No modifications are needed.

You won't get TTL metering no matter what you do with it.

[maxasst]

I read on photo.net that digital canon cameras can fire autoflash flash units (that have just the single center contact like the Vivitars) with good reproducibility and success in exposure. I also read that when canon-branded flashes are fired with just their center pin exposed, they lock-up and they need to be turned off and on again to restore their function. I'm sorry to be misleading, but I'm not looking to achieve TTL flash function, but the EOS DOC website listed it as "M-TTL". I am hoping to be able to fire off a canon branded non-E-TTL ML-3 flash that I already have at full manual flash on a digital camera body which I will purchase in the very near future.

[bobatkins]

As far as I know, that's exactly the way it will work.

 

For example my 540EZ flash fires at full power on my 20D (or at reduced power since power is adjustable on the flash head with the 540EZ).

 

M-TTL makes no sense. Manual is manual, TTL is automatic. I've no idea what "Manual TTL" means!

[jimstrutz]

As I recall, on the EOSDoc site, Julian lists a way to disable the preflash of an EX series Speedlite, turning it into a TTL flash like an E or EZ series Speedlite. TTL can work on an EOS film body, but not on a digital one.

[paul -]

<i> "the modification that turns a Canon flash that is pre-E-TTL to M-TTL or TTL"</i><p>The eosdoc site is back up, but I don't see anything in it that suggests what you state. A "pre-ETTL flash" is already a Manual or TTL flash, since those are the flash modes that were available before ETTL came around.<p>The page you link to is titled <i>"How to turn the 380EX into a Manual-mode or a TTL-only flash unit"</i>, and explains how to use an ETTL flash as a Manual or TTL flash, but as already explained, TTL is useless on a DLSR.<p> There is no reference to anything called "M-TTL" on the page. The shorthand in the link ("EX-M-TTL") refers to using an <B>EX</b> (ETTL) flash in <b>M</b> (Manual) or <b>TTL</b> modes.

[maxasst]

My bad. You are right that there is no such a thing as "M-TTL". I was doing this by memory and poor attention to detail. That's why I put it in parentheses. To the question. If you take a Canon flash and perform the Manual Mode modification as outlined on the EOS documentation project, how does the flash behave on a digital canon camera? Can it still fire it off at full power? Will it still need to be powered off and on when taking pictures in succession? Again, sorry for misquoting.

[awindsor]

I believe that the older Canon EZ era flashes will fire on the 10D, 20D, and presumably on the 300D and 350D. I assume the ringlight ML3 is from this era.

 

There is no hope of metering except with an external flash meter but some of the flash units offer manual control of flash output and combined with the histogram this will give you good exposures.

 

I believe the D60 and D30 would not fire an EZ flash unit at all. In this case masking the pins other than the central pin should work to get the flash to fire.

 

Unless the ML3 has manual output controls it will be a painful experience as you have to use the aperture to control the flash exposure.

 

This was all done from memory but someone will come along with the correct details.