Flash for Canon EOS 300

greenspun.com : LUSENET : Canon EOS FAQ forum : One Thread

How good is EZ 300 speedlite for Canon EOS 300. Is it better than the in build flash. If yes, then how good. How about a second hand EZ 300. Will it be good enough compared to the in build flash.

Thanks

-- Sajeev (chack74@yahoo.co.in), December 03, 2001

Answers

The 300EZ has no E-TTL metering, high speed sync, flash exposure lock, zoom head or tilt & swivel for bounce flash. I'd save my money for a Canon 420EX, 550EX, or a Sigma EF500 Super.

-- Jim Strutz (j.strutz@gci.net), December 03, 2001.

thanks jim. then how about 430 EZ. it has A-TTL metering, high speed sync, zoom and other facilities which you mentioned. it doesn't have E-TTL metering. how will that difference (E-TTL and A-TTL) affect the film exposure how bad is it compared to the EX series speedlites within the same price range.

thanks

-- sajeev (chack74@yahoo.co.in), December 04, 2001.


The 430EZ does have TTL and A-TTL capabilities, but I believe, the EOS 300 only has E-TTL or TTL capabilities. That's okay, since A-TTL isn't much of an improvement over straight TTL. Canon's regular TTL system is as good as anyone's. It does a decent job. I believe the EOS 300 will still bias the exposure towards the active AF point.

E-TTL metering will be better under some conditions where the scene offers a lot of contrast or other difficult situations. E-TTL also gives better balanced fill flash without additional FEC.

The 430EZ does not offer; high speed sync (FP Flash), Flash Exposure Lock (FEL) or wireless. It does offer a Flash Exposure Compensation (FEC) though and that's a big adavantage over the 200E, 300EZ, 420EZ, 220EX, 380EX and 420EX. But you have to get some experience with it to figure out when & how much you want to apply.

For the EOS 300, and any other E-TTL capable camera, I hesitate to recommend any flash that doesn't make good use of E-TTL's better metering and additional features.

-- Jim Strutz (j.strutz@gci.net), December 05, 2001.


EOS-300 does have ATTL,when an EZ flash is used. Actually,canon's ETTL isn't much superior to either TTL or ATTL (just think of the EOS-1N,it has no ETTL but still give very good flash photo) ETTL also does not worth the much higher price of EX flash. When choosing a flash,it is more important to consider the GN, the zoom range and the movement of the flash head(both vertical and horizontal)Those advanced features like FP,2nd curtain sychro,wireless slave....are less important. Don't think that only canon's flash works better with canon body,third-party equipments also.

-- legnum (legnum212@email.com), December 05, 2001.

"...canon's ETTL isn't much superior to either TTL or ATTL... ...ETTL also does not worth the much higher price..."

Balderdash, Legnum. E-TTL metering is superior to TTL, & A-TTL is a joke. TTL & A-TTL work fine for most situations, but for off center subjects and scenes with high contrast, E-TTL is better and provides a higher percentage of correct exposures.

"Those advanced features like FP,2nd curtain sychro,wireless slave....are less important."

Not if you need FEL, FP or wireless. There are many situations where these features are vastly more important than a higher GN. By the way E & EZ Series flashes are capable of second curtain sync.

"Don't think that only canon's flash works better with canon body,third-party equipments also."

Well, we at least agree on this. The Sigma EF500 Super has E-TTL, FEC, FEL, FP, multi-wirelesss E-TTL with ratios, tilt & swivel, power zoom, manual, second curtain sync & nearly every other feature of Canon 550EX, for half the price.

I would never recommend a flash without E-TTL for a EOS 300 though. The features and metering improvements are worth paying extra for.

-- Jim Strutz (j.strutz@gci.net), December 07, 2001.



I also want to buy a new flash for my EOS 300. What do you think about Archiever 630 AF? It is full dedicated for this body? What is a system TTL in this flash?

Regards,

Armi

-- Armi (armandb@poczta.fm), January 06, 2002.


Sajeev, buy E-TTL flash. Maybe you will upgrade your body, maybe you will want to do some studio work or something, so you'll want greater controll. Buy E-TTL, Canon, Sigma, whatever you prefer. I can tell you that Sigma Super 500 is one great flash, packed with features and it will work great with EOS 300.

On the other hand, if you just need the extra light with no features and have no ambitions, buy the cheapest available flash. If you know someone who owns E-TTL capable flash, borrow it if you can, and test it.

rgds, Miha.

-- Miha Valencic (miha@masterpoint.si), January 17, 2002.


Moderation questions? read the FAQ