Speedlite 540EZ will it work with a 50D

[gerry_braatz]

<p>I just bought a Speedlite 540EZ online & was told by a fellow photographer it will not work with my Canon 50D. Is this true?</p>

[terry_spade]

<p>http://www.bobatkins.com/photography/eosfaq/ex_speedlites.html</p>

[tommyinca]

<p>Yes, it is true and TTL auto metered flash will not work. The 540EZ is a TTL flash for film camera. It requires a sensor inside the camera that Canon DSLR doesn't have. You can use this flash with manual power output. This flash does have good manual power controls so it is not totally useless with a 50D.</p>

[william_tucron]

<p>I'll join in to amplify the answers alreay given. No, the 540EZ does not work in TTL mode on any Canon digital SLR. All EZ series flashes work only on film SLRs. EX series flashes are required for digital SLRs.<br>

That said, I'll add that the 540EZ is my preferred flash on my Canon 5D since I shoot only manual flash. Ignoring the lack of automatic exposure control, the 540EZ, from a feature and flash power standpoint is pretty close to the 580EX at a fraction of the price. But I don't use manual flash just to save money. I use manual flash (and often with a flash meter) to get better exposure results. And even without a flash meter it's easy to get good manual flash exposures using digital. With a little practice you can usually determine the correct flash exposure by taking one or two test exposures followed by adjusting the exposure up or down using the camera's histogram display as your guide. You adjust the flash exposure by varying flash power, aperture, ISO or just moving closer or further. Changing shutter speed does not affect the flash exposure but using slower shutter speeds does affect the amount of ambient light that adds to the total exposure. Using slow shutter speeds (say, down to as slow as 1/4 second) is often desirable for adding ambient "fill" light to the background. Of course, shutter speed for flash can't be faster than the flash sync speed for a given camera which, for the 50D, is 1/250 sec. Speeds faster than the flash sync (X-sync) speed will begin to show a black area in the exposure which is the shadow of the second shutter curtain.<br>

If you still want some form of flash automation but without a high price you could buy a Vivitar 285HV from B&H Photo Video in NYC for $90. The 285 uses its own built-in exposure sensor independent of the camera. In certain situations (fill flash especially) it's probably more accurate than a 580EX in ETTL mode.<br>

I strongly recommend trying the 540EZ in manual mode and using your camera's histogram as an exposure guide. You may find that that's all you need. If you decide to sell it, I've been looking for another good condition 540EZ as a spare and will buy it if the price is right. In that case contact me at chucknorcutt at chucknorcutt dot com.</p>

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