Value in that the top of the line Minolta digital flash unit was about twice the price with fewer features than the Sigma EF 500 Super. Range in that it is great to be able to use a Minolta compatible flash in TTL and ADI modes in the 60 foot plus range. Exposure and modelling that seems to handle white, reflections and bounce extremely well.

A lot of white or reflecting surfaces can tone down the exposure a little too much if your main subject is close to them and under lower indoor light. A mix of indoor and outdoor light can result in a slightly blue cast caused by the flash. The Minolta flash white balance selection does help counter it.

Contrary to some comments that appear on the net, the Sigma EF-500 Super is compatible with the Minolta A200 and although trigger voltage is really irrelevant, it measures out at 5.9 volts. Exposure is perfect. A white bust showed considerable detailing and modelling and the colour remained true. The high speed sync is great for reducing shadows in outdoor shooting and with a 50 meter/160 feet guide number along with ADI, it gives the photographer a lot of range. The TTL system works off the camera in slave mode as well as on and in designated slave mode you can also change the channel to avoid interference from other flash use in the area. Rear camera sync. modeling and multi-flash mode add to several other features. The flash head moves in all directions even 7degrees down and all angles of bounce work resulted in very good exposures.

On caveat is colour. With some low light coming in from a window on a very cloudy day, it changed some light beige wallpaper into a light grey colour...a little too much blue in the colour temperature. Not a serious problem but necessitating a little post colour balancing and it was not present in all shots. Also perhaps because of the power of the flash, you can get colour reflected from one object in the scene onto another. A light brown paper sculpture reflected some of its colour onto the white bust beside it.

Overall, a great reliable flash with a lot of features, great exposure, and a long distance range.

Customer Service

Sales service was excellent and thorough and they would match a web site price from the same area in Canada. By the way the price is in Canadian funds.

Similar Products Used:

Vivitar 283 and 285 used with film cameras

works perfect

bad to none on documentation/instructions

Love it. Great e-ttl. great for fill in flash. used on canon eos 3

Customer Service

none needed

Similar Products Used:

had a 540 ez droped and broke it

High GN, built-in ultra wide filter. Half the price of a Pentax flash.

Some functiona not available for Pentax.

Bought one because I can't afford the Pentax FTZ5000 and Sunpak refuse to make one for Pentax. Generally ok but speed of use is no match for Sunpak 5000. Also I feel a little cheated by the claimed recycle time of 4 sec. The best I get is 5 sec or so.

Cheap Good exposure

Build could be better. but hey, for such a steal, one can't complain too much yeah! =P

Very good product esp considering it's price! Coupled with my 10D and loving it to death.

Customer Service

Hopefully wun have to find out.

Excellent E-TTL metering Pro features Powerful GN Large lighted info panel on back of flash IF focus assist is quick and accurate

Build quality (very minor to me)

I use this flash with an Elan 7 and also my Elan IIe at times. My primary use with this flash is professional wedding and portrait photography and I have never been left down while using this flash. I shoot in AV and Manual modes and have got perfect exposures 99% of the time. the other 1% is user error. I use this flash hard for may hours without stopping an it still delivers excellent exposures The high speed sync and exposure compensation is dead on however if I need full power to light a large church/hall it delivers without any underexposure. I personally feel the E-TTL of the Sigma is better than Canons (I had nothing but bad exposures from the 420ex even after being repaired twice). The only complaint I have is the build quality is slightly weaker than canon it feels like it could break it was dropped or hit,however being a wedding/portrait photographer I shoot in a calm controlled enviroment so strength isn't a top issue for me (proper exposure is). This flash is the flagship for me when professional results are required without question...

Customer Service

Never needed

Similar Products Used:

Canon 420 EX Sunpak PZ4000/5000 Metz 36 AF-3

Price Features Fairly compact

Built quality-don't think that it would make it with a pro. Instruction manual very brief.

This a great flash with lots of fuctions at half the price of Nikon and Canon flashes. This little unit has lots of freatures that are more than what I need. Strobe, varried power, lit display, slave, and on and on. The zoom head is nice but wish it went to 24mm and the buttons would light up too. The flash doesn't seem to be well built but mine has put up with a lot more than I thought it would make it through.

Customer Service

N/A

Similar Products Used:

None

Strobe, manual, lighted LCD, wireless function, power. For the price, the flash is a good value, and would be even better if it worked.

At high ISO's and large apertures, this flash WILL overexpose. I'm not sure if this is a problem with digital bodies only, but I shoot like this a lot, and the camera just can't handle it. I shot an event recently with the exposure compensation set to -1, and later -2, and every single shot was dramtically overexposed by 2-3 stops at ISO 400 and f/4. Basically unusable for my purposes.

This is a good cheap alternative to Canon's 550EX, but it doesn't do it all, and doesn't do it perfectly. I bought this because it's 1/2 the price of 550EX with almost all the functionality. Seemed to work very well with the D30, but Sigma's reverse-engeneering strategy started to creep in later on.

Customer Service

Not used.

Similar Products Used:

Canon 380EX Vivitar 283

28-105 ato-Zoom head Bounce & swivel head Built in 17mm diffuser LCD illumination Manual ISO setting Powerful TTL modes Manual flash operation Extemely fast 1/8000sec FP speed Exposure compensation Auto rear-curtain sync Auto red-eye reduction Powerful multi-flash mode Slave functions Works with AA Alkaline, NiCd & Ni-MH 3D Multi-sensored pre-flash for Nikon Battery saving auto shut off

Wish it was 24mm on wide angle end, but at this price, I''''m not complaining!

I wasn''''t ready to shell out $380 for the Nikon SB-80DX or $360 for the Nikon SB-28DX, but I still wanted a full-featured flash. I picked up the Sigma EF-500 Super and couldn''''t be happier. I''''m using it on a Nikon N90s body and have had great results. Exposures have been right on, and the flash recharges very quickly and allows quite a few quick burst shots. The shoe mount is very secure and the auto-zoom head is flexible enough offering 28,35,50,70,85 and 105mm settings. Manual zoom can also be made for non-D lenses. A built in 17mm diffusion panel is also included. ISO speed can be set manually and TTL mode can be set to 3-D multi-sensored balanced, mult-sensored, center-weighted or spot fill-flash. On flash exposure compensation can also be used by itself or in combination with camera flash exposure compensation. The flash auto detects rear-curtain sync, red-eye mode & bounce. The bounce head can rotate vertically -7,0,60,75,90 degrees and horizontally 0,60,75,90 degrees right or left. It also features slave mode along with a powerful multi-flash mode which allows up to 100 bursts to be set at a frequency from 1Hz to 100Hz. The FP flash mode is also very impressive, offering up to 1/8000sec speed which matches my N90s''''s top shutter speed. Not even the Nikon SB-28DX and new SB-80DX can hit 1/8000sec in FP mode, only allowing 1/4000sec. The flash has a nice guide number scale in feet and meters which changes as you adjust camera/flash settings to show you actual guide number and after your picture is taken, if the camera/flash determine that the flash output was not enough to properly expose the subject, the flash will give an underexposure readout in -EV to allow you to compensate. This is very usefull for bounce photography or when using Lumiquest product when you''''re not exactly sure what flash compensation is needed for proper exposure. The backlight on the LCD screen is also very nice and comes on with a dedicated button on the flash, or when you hit the backlight button on your camera(if available).

Customer Service

Never needed.

Similar Products Used:

Nikon SB-20, SB-28(non-DX)

works fine in ettl on canon eos

does not work well in ettl wireless!!! If your shooting wide open (say f4) it blows everything out!!! Like it fires at full power even when the flash exposure has been pumped down 3 stops in both flash and in camera. I scratched them so I can t return and I am stuck with these guys. If your from sigma and are reading this email me cause I want them to work!!! Perhaps you can buy them off me and Ill quit ditching them.$400 us is alot to waste on flashes bought for the wireless ettl function...buy the canons!!!! Once in a blue moon they need to be reset during a shoot (turned off and back on) because it seems to freeze. Not too good at media scrums and other 14 sec. shoots.

I shoot canon eos and thought I could pay less and get a 550ex clone...Wrong wrong wrong! Spend the extra $$$$ and get the 550ex or the 420ex

Customer Service

I sent the sigma 500 supers to sigma right away cause one was firing at full power all the time!!! Service was good now if they only worked in wireless ettl!

Similar Products Used:

550ex, 420ez, sunpaks etc...

None, they don''t work.

uh... doesn''t work.

I bought two of these units to use with a Canon Elan 7. The first flash did not work properly at all. All the photos came back looking as if no flash had fired at all. The second flash at least worked somewhat, but over half of the photos were way over-exposed. Very disappointing. I sent both Sigmas back and ordered a Canon 550 and a 420 (imports). I couldn''t afford two 550''s. The Canons have worked great! The Canons are also a little easier to operate.

Customer Service

Tech support was not impressive, but customer service for a warranty card issue was pretty good.

Similar Products Used:

Canon 550ex and 420ex