Flash unit for Canon Digital Rebel/300D

[drumsergeant]

My school has a Canon 300D, which has been used with a very old Vivitar 283. The flash is no longer reliable because it is loose in the hot shoe. I know that that might be fixed with a new flash atachment fitting, but our director ha given his permissin to replace the 283 with a new flash. I need to find a flash that is suitable for the 300D, while still being usable should the camera be updated. Can anyone offer any suggestions? Which of the newer Canon flashes would work with the older camera?

Bill

[Max@Home]

Originally Posted by drumsergeant

My school has a Canon 300D, which has been used with a very old Vivitar 283. The flash is no longer reliable because it is loose in the hot shoe. I know that that might be fixed with a new flash atachment fitting, but our director ha given his permissin to replace the 283 with a new flash. I need to find a flash that is suitable for the 300D, while still being usable should the camera be updated. Can anyone offer any suggestions? Which of the newer Canon flashes would work with the older camera?

Bill

Hi drumsergeant Bill ,

All Canon flashes with 'EX' in their name are suitable ('will work') on the 300D.

Those flashes are: 220ex, 380ex, 420ex, 430ex, 430exII, 550ex, 580ex, 580exII.

Of those, the 220ex I would not recommend, nor the 380ex or 420ex. Reason for not wanting the 380ex or 420ex is that the 300D has no FlashExposureControl setting, and neither have these flashes, so you cannot adjust/mix the flashlight with the ambient light too good.

The 430ex (and further down the line) does have the ability 'on the flash' to play with these controls. In Av, Tv or P mode, you can mix and fine-adjust the Flash and Ambient light with the Exposure Control (Ambient light a little down, or up) and the Flash Exposure Control (Flashlight a little less prominent or more prominent 'visible' in the image). The combination of the two gives excellent creative control over the light(s) in your images .

...€0.02...

Kindest regards!

Max@Home

[drumsergeant]

Thank you so much Max. I have been trying to teach our folk (the school is for deaf kids) more about photography since the school did away with their printing presses and chemical photography labs. Times change. It happens that I am a speech and language pathologist with a photo journalism background from the old days. You information will help us to update our resources. Thanks again.

Bill

[primarycolorman]

Just to be different.. I've had decent luck with a sunpak 5000 AF. It's also TTL and does a fairly good job.. I passed on the lower EX's because I wanted more power.