My nephew just purchased an original Elan used and has the Canon 299 T speedlite which he used with his old A1. My question is are these fully compatable (the Elan and the 299T) and are there any sites to get more information. He no longer has the Speedlite manual.

-- markwinkler (winklink@thegrid.net), April 07, 2002

Answers

They are not fully compatable, but they should work. As far as I know, all the T series flashes were all "auto flash" (except for the 300TL). So they had a flash sensor built into the flash body, but can not use the flash meter in the camera body. So no TTL metering.

The trigger sync voltage is important to any non-dedicated flash being used with a Canon EOS series camera. It's supposed to be no higher than 6 volts. This site: http://www.botzilla.com/photo/strobeVolts.html lists a lot of flashes that can and cannot be used with EOS and claims that the 299T is safe.

My own experience with older Canon flashes on newer Canon EOS bodies shows that they can be used and that they will set the shutter speed to (or hold it under) the max sync speed. (1/125 on the EOS 100/Elan). But I've never had a 299T to try it with. You will have to set the film speed on the flash and you will have to set the aperture to what the flash recommends. So they are not as easy to use as a newer TTL type flash.

-- Jim Strutz (j.strutz@gci.net), April 08, 2002.

Thanks Jim, I appreciate your quick response.

-- mark (winklink@thegrid.net), April 08, 2002.