Elan IIe & 550ex

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I'm looking to get a flash for my elan IIe. 550ex or 380ex. What advantages does the 550 have over the 380 for the elan II. Does the af assist light even work with the 550?

-- Nick Merck (MasterMerck@hotmail.com), April 25, 2000

Answers

Besides more power, the 550 offers more control with manual override, and the ability to use multiple flashes and still preserve E-TTL. I'm 99% sure that the AF assist light on the 550 works the same as the 380 on the Elan II, but if it doesn't, it isn't a big loss. The Elan II's built in assist light is very good, and works with all three focus sensors. The 380's assist light only works when you manually select the center point, but it does provide increased range. Since the 550's assist light was designed to work with all 45 points (I think) on the EOS 3, it may even work better than the 380's.

There are a few things that the 550 is capable of doing on the EOS 3 that it won't do on the Elan II, but I can't think of them off the top of my head. I think it had to do with ratio control of groups of slaved 550s. The 550 will do everything the 380 will do on the Elan II, and then some, so it isn't really an issue unless you are willing to upgrade your camera.

-- Brad Hutcheson (bhutcheson@iname.com), April 25, 2000.


To me, the biggest advantages that the 550 has are 1) Lots more power, 2) Tilt & swivel head versus just tilt, 3) Full manual power control versus no manual control, 4) Wireless control of multiple units.

-- Jim Strutz (jimstrutz@juno.com), April 25, 2000.

The 550 in addition to have more power, allows you to pan left right in addition to tilt. Also the AF assist light comes on regardless of which focus point is being selected, which is better than the 380EX which only works on the center point.

You can read more of my comments here:- http://asiaphoto.com/alex.yap/Accessories.html#BM550

-- Alex Yap (hashigou@yahoo.com), April 26, 2000.


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