Flash Reviews

This is a perfect companion for party, family, and portrait shots. E-TTL works very well for off-centered subjects. High speed sync works for all shutter speed from 1/125 to 1/4000s, making fill flash very easy. Also, 2nd curtain sync provides very creative control in night photography

There's not a whole lot to say in a review about a flash. There are better flashes for more money and flashes with less features for less money. I bought this flash to replace the onboard flash of my Elan IIE. It greatly outperforms the flash on the camera body. Also, if you use larger diameter lenses like the Canon 28-135mm, the flash on the camera body is slightly obscured by the lens itself. The 380EX is an ideal mid level flash for the Canon EOS system. If you're trying to learn more about flash photography and want to experiment, you can't do much because it's totally automatic. The higher level model (420EX, 550EX) offer many for features for a price.

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This is the best flash you can buy for the money.

This flash is an excellent accessory for the EOS 2000. It extends the useful distance of the built-in flash from 12 feet to 30-50 feet or more depending upon ambient conditions. When the speedlite flash used in either the auto-focus or creative-zone modes, the flash settings communicate with the camera to coordinate adjust the apeture, shutter speed and length of flash.

I notice another reviewer called the Speedlite 220 the perfect companion for your G1; I thought of it as the perfect companion for my G2. Whichever camera you have, the Speedlite 220 is indeed the perfect way to get better illuminated flash photos and extend battery life in your G-series camera.

The single most important thing you can do to get rid of red eye and insure that your flash photography subjects don't have that flat, pasty-faced, deer-caught-in-the-headlights look is to seperate the camera from the flash. (You'll need Canon's off-camera extension cord for this) You can shoot with the camera in one hand and hold the flash in the other, or use a bracket to hold them. Or you can get creative, bouncing the flash off the walls, lighting behind your subject, etc. It's great for providing fill flash on sunny days, lighting shadows- and with digital cameras it costs you next to nothing to experiment with lighting and get immidiate feedback.

The 220 talks to all the G-series cameras (as well as all modern Canon SLRs) so you can concentrate on lighting and composition and let the camera worry about exposure. Add a couple sets of rechargeable AA cells and a small charger- cheap these days- and you have an inexpensive but powerful lighting studio. Some may recoil at the price- after all, you can get a tiny flash unit for half or a quarter the cost- but the ability to integrate withe the camera electronics are well worth it.

I loved this flash. I think it might fall short for the pros but I am not a pro. If you want more flash then the one that comes on the camers this does a great job.

Having just purchased a Canon PowerShot G1 digital camera a few weeks ago, I felt the built-in flash to be of OK performance, but it was far from what I was used to using with some of my older SLR (single-lens reflex) cameras.

After reading the review here on the 220EX, I decided to go for it. I have seen the other EX offerings, and they are really big flash units. Since the G1 is pretty compact, I figured the 220EX would be the best fit. And after having used it for a while, I know I made the best choice. With 4 AA batteries in the flash, it's pretty heavy (especially in addition to the already somewhat heavy G1). Throw on your lens(es) of choice, and you have a camera of substantial size and weight.

But getting back to the flash, it's so user-friendly that you'll be taking great pictures in minutes. The real light metering works wonders, even in conditions where the subject you're taking a picture of is in complete darkness. I was really happy with how well this flash lit up rooms, evenly and naturally.

This flash is a great value, and comes highly recommended, as is the camera that I bought it for, the PowerShot G1.

If you are buying an Cannon EOS camera the next grade up of Speedlites, the ones with "EX" on the end of the number have far more features then this does. This worked fine for a simple "brighter flash". The higher cost units have higher intigration with the EOS product that make them worth the money. So if you are like me and did not do your home work first, go do it now. If you know what you are doing this is a great product and will do only what it is designed to do.

I have used this flash for the past 7 years and it had never given me a bit of trouble. Granted it only has an on/off switch and a ready light, but the camera does everything else. Is it worth the price? Yes. Have I ever wished I had bought the more expensive flash? Rarely, when I am shooting at a distance at night. Otherwise, it fills my needs.

This is a perfect flash for all your needs. I love it, I use it all the time even in daylight to enhance the subject I am shooting, I would die with out it. If you dont have it already than you need to hurry!

This flash unit is by far one of the best camera accessories I've purchased...macro shots are much easier with this flash and I don't have to worry so much about blurry pictures. The bulbs can be set to fire at different ratios and it's possible to turn one side off completely, allowing for nice shadows that give your images more depth. The ring itself can rotate, so the flash can highlight any side of the subject. It has two small focusing lamps that illuminate your subject while you focus, which makes it a lot easier to see what you're doing. It even comes with a nice padded carrying case. This flash gets a lot of use and it's now a major asset to the rest of my gear...it's definitely worth the money.

More information about MR-14EX Macro Ring visit:

http://www.powershotpro1.com

If you can get this camera, GET IT. Just stay as far away as you can from the 28-80mm consumer lens this comes with! Spend the few extra bucks and get the 28-105 or 28-135 IS lens instead (or better yet, get some high quality prime lenses: 24, 50, 100, etc). Remember, it's not the camera that makes the image, it's the lens in front of it. The lens this kit comes with is a piece of garbage and you'll likely get the same images as you would from a $150 point and shoot. You'll NEVER get an acceptable 20X30 image from this lens or even a high-quality 8X10 for that matter. I've had the camera for a number of years and it's up to just about any task you can throw at it. Canon has a winner with the Elan II, but a dud with the lens they include in this kit.

I've had the Canon ElanIIE for 8 months and I've been very pleased so far. Fellow photography students who bought nikon N70 or N90 are still trying to figure out how to use them. The Canon Elan IIE is simple to operate, and I like having dials instead of so many little buttons. Outstanding features include the autofocus. The eye-control focus is as fast as regular autofocus. Also it has convenient on-camera flash which is of course not as powerful as an accesory flash like the 380ex or 550ex, but it's come in handy for me plenty of times. And you can use flash exposure compensation up to two stops in either direction! I think the best feature is it's simplicity. It's an excellent bridge between point&shoot and professional. By the way, I got a Tamron 80-200, 4.5-5.6 lens that works beautifully with it.

I've owned this camera for three years and have yet to had any problems with it and it's quality never ceases to amaze me. I highly recommend this camera to amateur-professional photographers. Whether you are new to the photography world or a seasoned photographer this camera allows for versatility, capatablity, and most of all, convenience. Functions as a simple automatic camera to complex fully manual camera w/lots of extra features for creative photographers!