Canon Speedlite 550EX Flashes
Canon Speedlite 550EX Flashes
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[Jul 07, 2009]
Don Brandt
Intermediate
Strength:
Great control and power! Reasonably price now!
Weakness:
Large & Heavy. I am an intermediate camera user. When I bought my Canon Rebel XS, the built in flash was useless. I noticed that with the proper daylight lighting my photos were great. But if I did not have proper lighting my photos were horrible. Bought Canon 550EX Speedlite flash and read instruction book thoroughly. Wow has this helped my photography. But you must read the instructions. I recommend this flash to anyone with my skills or lesser. I have been in the printing industry for 35 years so I have an extremely good eye for quality photos. It is a little large and heavy but is more than powerful for my purposes. Great manual control. Can be purchased quite reasonably now. Customer Service None so far! Similar Products Used: Canon 380EX Speedlite. |
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[Dec 12, 2007]
John
Professional
Weakness:
Power Used flash and was underexposing pictures, not enough power. I sold it for a loss to get rid of it, I will stay with my Nissin 6000AF and manually set the power as it has been a work horse for thousands of shots without a letdown. I would not recommend the flash. Customer Service Canon is an Excellent Company, I have used them twice for Camera warranty and could not ask for more, very quick and helpful. |
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[Nov 11, 2004]
Photogzzz
Professional
Strength:
Powerful, accurate, wireless capabilities
Weakness:
Expensive, but well worth it The speedlite 550 ex has delivered great results thus far. I use it in tandum with an EOS 10D and the Sto-fen Omni Bounce which delivers great results. Although I have shot for professionally years, this is my first experience with TTL or ETTL. The old tried and true way of hand held meters, flash to suject distance and balancing the flash with the ambient light was the way I learned and practiced the craft with my medium format equipment."This is a useful skill to know"..."Although one can get quite speedy with the process, One "CANNOT" keep up with the speed and accuracy of the 550 ex". So far the 550 ex is nailing the balance dead on. Of course it took the normal process of getting to know the unit and the camera it's attatched to..."Oh, and reading the manual was a great help". But all kidding aside, I have found the flash to be an invaluble tool. Another very cool aspect of the 550 ex is the ability to function as a master unit in a wireless, multi flash set up. It's seamless to achieve studio type lighting anywhere with another 550 ex, 420 ex or the ST-E2 transmitter."No more nasty cords"....."Free at last, free at last" For those of us old guys practicing the art of photographic expression....PROGRESS IS GOOD, IT IS OUR FRIEND! Customer Service None needed Similar Products Used: Vivitar, Sunpac |
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[Apr 24, 2004]
Michael J Hoffman
Expert
Strength:
Enough juice for a large room Total user control if needed Works as advertised in auto mode Perfect flash exposures every time
Weakness:
Expensive (but worth every penny) Large (but with a purpose) This product delivers on its promise. When used in conjunction with any Canon camera which supports E-TTL flash metering, flash photography is as easy as point and shoot. Exposures are perfectly balanced between flash and ambient light. The flash works equally well with or without a diffuser. The flash can - and mine has - provide perfect exposures in nearly complete darkness. I photographed a colleague's retirement dinner at which a slide show of his life and times was presented. The only two sources of light were my flash and the projection screen. I arranged my compositions to include my fried and the screen which was about 25 feet to his left and my right. The IR AF assist beam locked focus perfectly every time, and every exposure was perfectly balanced casting the guest of honor in soft light and allowing the ambient light from the projection screen to be exposed perfectly. I bounced the flash off a low, white drop-ceiling. I also had a Sto-Fen OmniBounce diffuser attached. The photographs were perfectly exposed. This flash works well with both digital and film bodies supporting E-TTL; the 10D/550EX combo seems to work best with flash exposure compensation set to -1/2 for general flash photography. I know how to get balanced flash exposures manually and did for years with a Vivitar 285 and the Canon 420EZ. This flash achieves the same results, just completely effortlessly. Customer Service On the single occasion I've needed customer service, Canon was honest, fair and timely. Similar Products Used: Canon 420EZ Vivitar 285HV |
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[Oct 29, 2003]
Ward
Professional
Strength:
Easy to use
Weakness:
No bounce card within the flash as with the Nikons Infrared slave sensor instead of an optical slave (I wish it had an option for both) When used with the quantum turbo, the power cord goes to the front and gets in the way of the infrared sensor - quantum could redesign the cord. Expensive for what I feel you get out of this flash. After many years shooting Nikon, I switched to Canon for their 1ds. I must say I do like their cameras after getting use to the new system, however, I beleive their flashes have alot to be desired. I have found that the flash doesn't always hit on the right exposure in ETTL, something you can live with if you know how to adjust. I have also decided that the build quality is not as good as the Nikon flashes. I plan on buying a Quantum t2d as a result of my experience with this flash. Customer Service Not used but did have to call and ask a question in which they were very helpful Similar Products Used: Canon 420ex Nikon SB-26, SB-28dx Sunpak 611 handle mount Vivitar 283, 285 |
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[Jul 23, 2003]
Miroslav
Intermediate
Strength:
Power nicely lit faces (even close ups) correct exposure
Weakness:
I had some underexpose pics with Stofen Omnibounce Tilting and swiveling could be easier Excellent flash with always excellent results. If you don't like to read manual book, don't bother to buy this flash and don't spend this kind of money. I couln't deside whether to by it or not, after I read all the bad reviews. The flash is great and it does perfect pictures in P,Av,Tv,M Mode, but you have to know when and how to use your equipment (camera, flash, tripod if needed). I've never had washed out faces in my pictures. Of course if you shooting someone in black dress against black background you cannot expect to point the camera and shoot and to get perfectly exposed face. But if you don't know that, buy something cheaper.There is a guy that call himself an expert and he is complaining that you're supposed to switch flash to TTL, but canon doesn't mention you can do that only with type B cameras. This "expert" owns the flash more than a year and he's never read instruction book. Sure you can switch it with type A too. Just read the manual book. So these people write their reviews... Customer Service Great! When I bought the flash I e-mailed them 2or3x questions about the flash. Response was always quick and helpful. Similar Products Used: N/A |
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[Jun 04, 2003]
rendra
Intermediate
Strength:
- Accurate E-TTL - Wireless Flash which gives dimension to our subject. - Flash range information on LCD panel - Build Quality
Weakness:
- Expensive - You have to learn a lot from manual book to explore all of the features - Button for control in the back of the flash is hardly to press (too small for my big finger) I purchased Speedlite 550EX for my EOS 3 & G3 digital camera. Excellent flash unit for my film & digital camera. But the way to operate this flash unit is quite unique compare to Nikon or Minolta. Customer Service none Similar Products Used: none |
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[May 27, 2003]
Yakim Peled
Intermediate
Strength:
Most important - accurate exposure. Build quality. AF of the Elan 7e is quite lousy in low light so the AF assist beam from the flash is very helpful. Backlit LCD is full of useful information. For me, the most important bit of info is the distance. Total control over flash output and head angle. CF's enable you to tailor it to your exact needs. Typical recycling times are 1-2 sec. When used with the CP-E2, it's about 0.5 sec.
Weakness:
Does not emit AF assist beam for top and bottom AF points of the 7e. As I hardly use them, it's not really a limitation for me. Excellent flash. I use it on my Elan 7e (30) and exposure is always dead on. Mind you, I never used it straight on in auto mode. I shoot in Av, Tv or M, carefully read the manual and learned E-TTL's strengths and weakness. I bounce when I can and use a (home made) diffuser when I can't. I sometimes use FEL but never felt the need for FEB. Customer Service Never needed. Similar Products Used: N/A |
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[Apr 04, 2003]
Colin Chapman
Intermediate
Strength:
acurate ettl, features, power.
Weakness:
buttons to bounce & tilt, eats batteries, feature buttons are to recessed for easy use as for pressing 2 buttons together for high sync its a knack or both hands. This unit apearers to do the lot & then some, the results that i've had useing fill flash are excellent. The other functions & features i have yet to test as i haven't owned it long so i shall post another review in time. Customer Service hope not Similar Products Used: 430 EZ |
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[Mar 14, 2003]
Rana Tanveer
Expert
Strength:
Build quality, power and acquracey of exposure. I use recgargable battries Mah2000 and one set gives me 5-6 roll of 36 exp.
Weakness:
A bit noisey I do agree with previos reviewer that learning your equipment is key to sucess. This flash does its wonders in ETTL. I have checked its accuracey by doing some experiments with it metering by using my Minolta IV flash meter. The use of manual mode is so easy and accurate that you can't go wrong if you just read its booklet. Its combination with EOS 1v is great and works very well in every situation. I never hve any problems with its exposure. Customer Service Not needed yet Similar Products Used: A few flasher of other brands. |