Thanks for a great Q&A forum, nice for beginners.

I am a happy owner of a canon eos 33, and I am very satisfied! Now I want to go buy a flash, but I do not know which one to buy, should it be a special cind for 33's or what? I would like some suggestions, 'cause I do not know what to buy!

Thanks for reading...

Martin, Denmark!

-- Martin Fehr Therkildsen (mourden@hotmail.com), April 18, 2002

Answers

Although the EOS 33 works well with plain TTL, get an E-TTL capable flash, e.g., 420EX, to access special features such as FEL, wireless flash, ratio control, etc. The Canon 420EX is specifically designed for the EOS 30/33 and is the only flash that works with all 7 of its AF sensors. The Canon 220EX, 380EX, 430EZ and Sigma EF-500 Super only cover the center AF sensor. The 550EX and ST-E2 only work with the 5 horizontal AF sensors. Thus, as far as low light AF is concerned, the 420EX is the best flash for the Elan 7E. Now as far as advanced features--manual control, manual zoom, etc.--the 550EX is a better but much larger and more expensive flash. You must weight your needs and budget when making the choice. If you're loaded with money, the 550EX and 420EX together make a nice wireless and portable flash kit. I wrote an extensive review on the 420EX at

http:// alaike.lcc.hawaii.edu/frary/elan7e4.htm

Aloha

-- Puppy Face (doggieface@aol.com), April 18, 2002.

Did you go through NK Guy's site of flash photography. If not go through it also. Puppy face also has excellent reviews on various Canon accessories. Combining both you can decide upon flash and learn a lot of flash photography.

-- sajeev (chacko74@yahoo.co.in), April 19, 2002.

Puppy Face, doesn't the 550 EX cover ALL focus points, including the 45 of them on the EOS 3? It's Canon's top o' the line flash . . .

-- Preston Merchant (merchant@speakeasy.org), April 19, 2002.

There have been multiple reports that the 550EX doesn't cover all seven points so I'd tend to believe there's some substance to that claim. The 550EX may be Canon's premier shoemount flash, but it's not psychic. It was released before any of the 7-point AF bodies existed, so its AF assist beam was not designed with those specific bodies in mind. It's designed for the 45-point AF system of the EOS-3 and for previous bodies with 5 or fewer points.

NK's FAQ says that it doesn't work with the top and bottom focus points. The reason is probably orientation. Remember that on the EOS3 (the only body, as of the time of the 550EX, with focus points above or below center), all AF points are vertical-line sensors (with some of them adding horizontal sensors if your lenses are fast enough), so the correct pattern to project is a series of horizontal lines. On all previous bodies with 5 or fewer AF points, all of the sensors are either vertical or cross-type; no previous body has a horizontal sensor except as part of a cross-type sensor, so horizontal lines work with all focus points on all bodies released up to and including the EOS-3. On the 7-point bodies, the top and bottom sensors are horizontal-line sensors, and a pattern of horizontal lines will not be of much use as an AF assist beam for those two points.

Note that the AF assist beam on the 420EX, which is designed to work with the 7-point layout, consists of two separate projectors - one which projects horizontal lines, and one which projects vertical lines. The body/flash combination is smart enough to use the right ones - all of them if you have automatic AF point selection active or if you're using the central sensor (which is cross-type and can therefore respond to either pattern), horizontal lines only if you're using vertical sensors (the two left and two right sensors), and vertical lines only if you're using the horizontal sensors (top and bottom).

-- Steve Dunn (steved@ussinc.com), April 19, 2002.

I have an Elan 7 and can vouch that the 550EX doesn't cover two of the focus points, nothing that the MF switch doesn't solve. ;) I don't know of any Canon documentation on the subject though.

-- Steven Fisher (steven_fisher@hotmail.com), April 19, 2002.

To answer Martin's question, the 420EX was marketed together with the EOS 33. But any Canon compatible flash will work. The more you pay, the more features you get. Decide on your budget, then spend wisely.

I have an Elan 7E, a 550EX, and a 420EX. The flickering AF assist from the Elan 7E is annoying, but it is quite effective. Unfortunately, it comes free with the camera :-(

If you choose just the upper or the lower AF sensor, only the 420EX will emit an AF assist beam. But if you know how, there is a way to make the 550EX emit a full AF assist pattern that can help the upper and lower AF sensors. The workaround was discussed on the Elan 7E group.

The other candidate flash is a Sigma "EF 500 Super" flash. Since I do not have this flash, I will not comment about its AF assist for fear of making a fool of myself, no matter how many secondhand reports I have read.

-- Julian Loke (elan7e-owner@yahoogroups.com), April 20, 2002.

I have the Sigma EF-500 Super and it is a good flash to consider, with essentially all the features & most of the power of Canon's top of the line 550EX at just over half of the cost. It's downfall is with the AF assist light that only works with the center AF point on my Elan II. With the side AF ponts the Elan II's built in AF assist light takes over. I'm not sure what it would do on the EOS 30/33/Elan 7 though.

In defense of the Sigma flash though, I have to add that it's AF assist light is considerably brighter and works for longer distances than the 550EX or the 420EX.

If you really want a Canon brand flash, the 420EX and 550EX are your best choices. If money is important and you want good capabilities in a powerful, full featured flash, the Sigma represents a great buy.

-- Jim Strutz (j.strutz@gci.net), April 21, 2002.

The 550EX is optimized to work with the AF arrays of the EOS 3, 1V and 1D cameras. It does an excellent job with the Elan 7, but isn't a perfect fit. The AF assist light projects a pattern of horizontal lines that cover all 7 AF sensors of the Elan 7. Unfortunately, in low light and total darkness, only the 5 horizontal sensors work with the AF assist beam. Why? The Elan 7's top and bottom sensors are mainly sensitive to vertical lines and, thus, are unable to achieve AF with a horizontal pattern. The Elan 7 has the same problem with the ST-E2 Speedlite Transmitter. Steve Dunn explained the situation very well.

Aloha,

-- Puppy Face (doggieface@aol.com), April 21, 2002.

I wonder if the discussion about AF assist is causing any confusion, which may or may not be helping in Martin's decision.

AF assist works in two ways: The "old" way is to shine a (red) patterned beam that can be picked up by the AF sensor, even on a featureless surface, such as a blank wall. This type of AF assist is used on the hotshoe flash accessories, and on some older EOS camera bodies, but alas not the EOS 33.

However, that is not the only way to assist AF. Another way is to add light when it is too dark for the camera to "see". This is the effect of the intermittent flash burst of the EOS 33 / Elan 7E or the steady glow of the krypton bulb on other cameras, or the focus assist lamp on a macro flash unit, or the modelling light on a studio strobe.

However, the two methods are not mutually exclusive. Projecting a patterned beam can often light up the scene sufficiently to reveal detail that the AF sensor can detect.

-- Julian Loke (elan7e-owner@yahoogroups.com), April 21, 2002.