A Word of Advice for those of you with Canon Equipment

First of all, a very Happy New Year to anyone who reads this. (No comments for a long time - it may just be me and myself.) I regret to say that my family situation did resolve itself over the holidays, and not in a happy way. But it is good that it is finished and life, as always, goes on.

Anyway, here's the advice, if it helps. Canon's newer DLSR's allow separate setting of second curtain sync for onboard flash and external flash. However, you have to have a new enough flash to allow this to work. Otherwise the flash's setting overrides the camera's. (Or the camera may not allow you to set external flash curtain sync at all.)

Here's the kicker.

Although it's not readily apparent from the manual, if your flash can be a master flash (has a setting for "Off/Master/Slave," typically on the 500 series of Canon flashes) you cannot set second curtain sync on the flash if you are in anything except "Off" mode.

This is actually quite logical in that with multiple flash units it would be problematic to ensure that you got the result you wanted, but it's not obvious. At least, it wasn't to me. I haven't checked to see if this is true for slave-only flashes (mainly the 400 series) but it very well may be.

Edit: It is in fact true, at least on the 430EX.

M More after the jump - click here!

Attn: Canon Users

Canon replaced its mid-position on-camera strobe, the 430EX, with the 430EX Mk II a few months ago. Adorama still has some of the original 430EX's left at a very attractive price. You can buy them direct there or through Buy.com. Link below:

This is the Buy.com link. You can also go straight to Adorama's link. I've bought from Adorama before, they're a reputable discount dealer.

430EX at Buy.com

Right now they're selling at $199.95. The 430EX MkII sells for around $280 to $300, and isn't any more powerful than the original 430EX. (The MkII is a little more weatherproof and has a metal foot: however, there's a reason that flashes usually have plastic feet.) It's a very good deal on Canon's lowest-priced bounce-capable flash.

M More after the jump - click here!