Compatibility Issues 5d with Speedlite 430EZ

[richard_markus]

Can someone help in explaining which function will be lost and which will work

if I use my old Speedlight 430EZ with a Canon 5d body.

Thanks

[erin.e]

Basically it won't work, because the EZ series are designed to work with film and read the amount of light received from a light cell in the bottom of the mirror box that is reflected from the film via the open shutter.

 

If this type of Flash is used on a Canon DSLR the CMOS sensor which is highly reflective give an eroneous reading and causes major exposeure errors.

 

The best option is an EX series Canon flash or something like the Metz MZ 54 which are compatible with Canon DSLRs.

 

If you can afford a 5D then purchasing the correct flash unit should be no problem

 

A 430 EX whould be a good choice.

[franklin_polk]

http://tinyurl.com/pc83y Basically, while your flash might fire, it'll have to be in all manual mode on the flash (I'm not sure if the 430EZ has manual mode), and there will definitly be no TTL metering with the flash, you'll have to guess and/or rely on the histogram. The flash might not fire at all. There will not be any problems with trying this combination, however, 430EZ is within voltage limits.

[franklin_polk]

Erin beat me to it!

[yakim_peled1]

>> A 430 EX whould be a good choice.

 

A very good advice. See http://photonotes.org/articles/eos-flash/#whichflash and http://emedia.leeward.hawaii.edu/frary/canon_430ex.htm

 

Happy shooting,

Yakim.

[jim_larson1]

Essentially correct.

 

However, bear in mind that the flash exposure is almost entirely a body function. All EX series flashes are therefore 100% ETTL and ETTL-II compatible.

 

A primary feature of ETTL/ETTL-II metering is a flash metering preflash. The EZ series flash units are not configured to fire a preflash, and therefore cannot work with ETTL/ETTL-II cameras. Manual flash metering, however, will still work.