Canon Elan II and Sigma 430 flash: AF assist beam??

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I know this is a shot in the dark, but If anyone knows, I'm curious. I have an Elan IIe and a Sigma 430Super ttl autoflash. Both the camera and the flash have low-light AF assist beams, but the one on the flash I believe is more powerful. The problem is I can't get it to work. Only the one on the camera works, I've never once gotten the AF beam on the flash to light up. Does it even work on the Elan?? Will it work on an EOS 3?? Any help is appreciated.

-- Bobby Davis (Nissan390@aol.com), February 28, 2001

Answers

I don't know why the AF illuminator doesn't work but I own a canon Elan and the AF light on my camera is actually more powerful than the my AF light on my Sunpak shoe mount flash. If you have a Canon name brand flash, the AF light will give you a better distance. But for a after market brand, it may not be as powerful as the one on your camera. I was once thinking about purchasing that (Sigma 430) particular flash and the AF light range was around 15ft if I recall correctly. The one on my camera has a range of 25ft. I find myself many of times struggling with the shoe mounted Sunpak flash when it comes to AF. I even went as far as turning off the Sunpak flash so that my camera's built in AF beam can focus on the object then turning back on the Flash. I have 2 after market flashes and neither one's AF Beam can compare to the one built in my camera.

Hopes this helps a little.

-- Douglas Black (dbjsblack@yahoo.com), September 18, 2001.


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