I am looking for a flash with bounce head for my Rebel 2000. The speedlites which have the bounce head costs a lot. Is the E-TTL feature worth that much money? Will I miss too much if I buy a Sunpak TTL flash for about $100.

-- Arun Mani (arunmani@hotmail.com), January 02, 2002

Answers

This gets asked regularly. You can chech the old files but the answer depends on who you talk to. Without E-TTL you give up high speed sync (FP Flash), Flash Exposure Lock (FEC) and a bit better flash metering. All of those are great features & make E-TTL a better option.

Sigma and Metz make E-TTL compatable flash units. The Sigma EF-430 Super is about like the Canon 420EX with a few more features but no wireless mode. For a bit more money, the Sigma EF-500 Super is about like the Canon 550EX for half the price. the EF-430/500 non-Supers don't have E-TTL. The Metz is a great flash but costs more than the Canons.

-- Jim Strutz (j.strutz@gci.net), January 02, 2002.

i would suggest a 380EX because it is about $100 and it has e-ttl. it is also made by canon so you can't go wrong.

-- Jeff Nakayama (moonduck22@hotmail.com), January 03, 2002.

Note that ETTL is NOT directly related to FP flash !(eg.sunpak pz5000af provides FP but no ETTL) ETTL fires a preflash(a brief flash before the main flash)using the 35-zone for metering while regular TTL do 'off-the-film' metering. ETTL is designed to cope with the most complicated situations,eg there is a large area of highly reflective surface that may cause overexposure. In most of the cases TTL does quite well. FP flash,provided by canon EX flashes,is seldom used.In this mode the GN. drops significantly and it is used to suit a large aperture. i don't think ETTL is worth the money.In hong kong where i lived,both canon 380ex and sunpak pz5000af cost $1150 but the later provides far more high end features and higher power GN54. If u want to perform bounce flash, a low power flash will surely fail since much flash is lost.Besides a bounce head u may also want horizontal swivel which is needed for vertical shooting. i don't know the details of the sunpak flash u described,so i cannot say whether u miss too much.But never buy the 220ex,too expensive,too low power,no bounce or swivel head....etc i hope i can help u.

-- legnum (legnum212@email.com), January 05, 2002.

I am interested in the Sigma Ef-500 flash. What is the trigger voltage? Is it safe for the EOS-300 (Rebel 2000) camera (<6V). Thanks.

Tim

-- Tim Aldridge (taldridge2@home.com), January 08, 2002.