1. Natural lighting. For fill in flash about dail about -1/3 fec provides very subtel fill in.
2. E-TTL works wonderfull with off centre subjects.
3. Wireless flash is simple except for the cost of purchasing the flash.

in order to effectively use E-TTL flash always make sure the flash is lock to the nearest subject.

An perfect companion for the EOS3, but it is very expensive. You can even buy a EOS 50 with the BP50 battery pack for that price you pay for the 550EX here in malaysia. Even the Minolta's 5400HS have wireless and FP flash and it cost less than the 550EX. Buy the 550EX if you need more powerful flash and if you wish to play around with flash technics. If not stick to the 380EX.

Customer Service

None.

Similar Products Used:

380EX, 540EZ and couple of Metz hammerheads

Powerful, AF assist beam, quiet zoom head, swivels any direction, backlit LCD display, Easy to use, remote e-ttl ability... the list goes on

Heavy (but light compared to closest counterparts), relatively expensive

This is by far the FLASH TO OWN if you own a Pro Canon. It is the missing key of the EOS 3 & EOS 1V and it will bring out the full versatility of the camera save the power booster system. I've tried other flashes and returned them all in utter disgust usually the same day. what really amazes me is how quiet the auto zoom head is it is almost as quiet as the USM AF system motor. Not to mention the obviously superior design and construction. Lets just say I am thoroughly impressed.

Customer Service

slow

Similar Products Used:

sunpak, sigma, smaller canon flashes.

- High speed sync at ANY shutter speed with E-TTL
- quiet charging and zooming
- quick recharging time
- AF assist beam
- second curtain

None so far

Highly recommend this over 540EZ, especially for ETTL camera

Similar Products Used:

Canon 540EZ

E-TTL ! Stroboscopic multi-flash ! High-sych flash !

Huge size !

Bought it used for a good price. This flash is unbeatable if you are using Canon system. Works great with a Sto-Fen Omnibounce on my EOS 3. Produced great flash pictures of people and do not wash out important facial details. Very recommended !

Customer Service

Not tried

Similar Products Used:

Canon 380EX

Great features such as strobo, ETTL, wireless flash control (master/slave), auto zoom 24-105mm, built in diffuser for 17mm, second curtain sync, fast charging, and much more

none

best flash for the money. pricey but worth it. great results.

Customer Service

not required

Similar Products Used:

none

Powerful,versital.
High speed sync, strobe flash, modeling light, IR assist, zoom (28-105), manual override, fast recycling (especially with NmH batteries.)E-TTL.

Large and fairly heavy.

Amazing flash unit. I just used it for my son's scholl concert, and with a 28mm lens, the flash coverage was perfect. Got the whole cast end to end with no hot spots. Works well close up or far.
Can't be beat as a companion to an EOS body. Pretty expensive for an amateur like myself, but I am ecstatic with the results. Tried the 380EX, but wanted the versitility of the 550EX. IF you want to experiment with flash and your EOS, this is the only real choice.

Customer Service

not needed

Similar Products Used:

Vivitar 283

slave grouping,E-TTL

Sometimes E-TTL does not communicate with EllanIIe. It will switch to TTL without reason. Only way to fix this is to shut the flash off and then turn it on again. this normally would be no big deal, but there is no warning of this. You have to check the flash after each shot.

It does what it's made to do when it's communicating with the camera. I've used it off camera with good results.

Customer Service

never used

Similar Products Used:

380ex

Extremely sophisticated light when used with the Canon D-30 (and EOS 3). The E-TTL and FE lock functions render terrific lighting in virutally every photo.

The light can be used off the camera with an opitional on-camera infra-red trigger unit making it a perfect travel light. More importantly, you can slave up to 3 of these lights to the camera (actually, three groups of them) so it provides a lot of possibilities.

The multi-slave setup is all E-TTL with the EOS 3 and D-30 so you have perfect control of the most important aspect of your image capture, the lighting!

The light even comes with its own mini-stand so you can set it up on a table...and the stand has a standard socket for use on a tripod or regular light stand.

One wonderful feature is the burst function that acts as a short modeling light so you can actually see where the light is going; coupled with the FE lock function, its a real winner.
It's truly remarkable!

It's heavy and many of the functions only work with the EOS 3 and D-30. For non-pros it's also a bit on the expensive side for casual shooting.

I just completed a remote shoot under less than ideal conditions. I used 2 550EXs in E-TTL mode, slaving them both with the optional on-camera trigger on my EOS D-30. Absolutely perfect lighting.

It sure beats hauling a couple of studio strobes around, especially when you're far from the studio.

The quality of the light is also just about perfect, at least when used with the D-30.

Here's a neat trick, I had to do a shoot on short notice, and I didn't have any light stands with me and the tables in the room where I was shooting were too low. I didn't have an assistant to hold the 550 above the subject to get a getter angle of light...but the 550 has that little stand which is threaded...so I took the shades off two floor lamp and the threads fit the screw on top of the lamps, turning them into impromptu light stands. The photos were great.

If you have EOS cameras, especially an EOS 3 or D 30, this is a must have accessory...at least two of them.

Customer Service

Never (I hope!)

Similar Products Used:

Sunpak 550 and 444.

pro quality flash, and great build, wireless system is great especially with STE2 wireless transmitter, ETTL system is flawless, has only produced mediocore results once in over 50 night sport scenes. Includeds tripod stand!

big, but hey its a pro flash right! for sports, it eats the batteries, but hey I need quick recharging!
also expensive, but hey this is how I eat my rice.

A pro lense, a must for any serious EOS 3 or 1V owner. I own two and have the ST-E2 which is an ideal setup, maybe looking to add a third. The best Canon flash out there, forget the third party brands please, at least for the flash.

Customer Service

Not had to use, even I fell twice from about one meters height twice, still going strong, well built, I hope I never need CS!

Similar Products Used:

None

Powerful, all the functions you need, wireless multiple flash, flexible bounce head.

With STE-2 (wireless) with other flash as slave, if it is not place well the 550EX won't triggle!

Works great with EOS camera with ETTL capability.
A must with Canon EOS 3 and 1 V.

Customer Service

No need.

Similar Products Used:

EOS 540EZ