i am going to buy a flash in order to shoot some pics of a lecture with my rebel 2000. some of my friends advise me to buy the 420ex.But after i compared it with some other 'rival' flashes,i find it is not worth to buy. It has no lcd panel,built-in diffuser,manual zoom,power ratio and zso on,while for the same price,i can get these in another non-canon flash. So,could anyone comment on this?

-- legnum (legnum212@email.com), January 12, 2002

Answers

If you want an E-TTL capable flash, the Sigma EF-500 Super is probably the best buy out there. Priced a bit lower than the 420EX and has nearly all the features & power of the 550EX. The EF-430 Super is also E-TTL capable but without some of the features & power.

You have a camera that can't use E-TTL and it's features (FEL, FP, etc.) then the Sigma non-Super models or a Sunpak AF4000 or AF 5000 should be fine. There are others from Vivitar, Promaster, Phoenix, etc.

Two things to keep in mind are; 1) For more money, the Canon Speedlites feel like they are built better. 2) There is no guarantee that any non-Canon brand flash you buy today will work with newer Canon Camera bodies. Incompatibility problems might occur with Sigma flash units like they do with some Sigma lenses.

-- Jim Strutz (j.strutz@gci.net), January 13, 2002.

How do the AF assist lights on the Sigma E-TTL flashes work with the 7-point layout on the R2k? I know the 420EX works well (I use it with my Elan 7e), the 380EX sucked (it only works with the center AF point), and I've heard of a minor problem with the AF assist coverage of the 550EX used on the Elan 7 but don't recall the details.

-- Steve Dunn (steved@ussinc.com), January 14, 2002.