10D's internal flash... good enough for a casual shooter?

[ldivinag]

i dont do this for a living nor a serious hobbyist...

just wanna improve on my current coolpix 950 -- i need a camera with interchangable lenses.

was brought up on the canon a-1 but it's been years since i used it. btw, can the a-1 lenses be even used on the 10D?

so, for this internal flash be good enough for say, like family get togethers, car club meets, etc?

i'm sure canon put it in there for a good reason otherwise why bother?

btw, what is the diff between the 420 and 550 flash units?

thanks...

noobie, still waiting to get his 10D... ;)

[Belmondo]

The built-in flash is marginal at best. It will get you by in a pinch, however. One thing to be very careful of.....some larger lenses will partially block the flash and create a shadow in your picture. In fact, that happens with every lens I have except the 50mm 1.4.

You're better off with a separate flash.

As I understand, the main difference between the 420EX and 550EX is horsepower. I believe both of them work with all the auto flash metering modes of the 10D, though.

[ChrisNardone]

The internal flash is very useful. Since it's always there, it comes in handy as a fill flash for harsh lighting (overhead sun) or backlighting. It also works well at close range indoors.
To me the best thing about an external flash is bounce lighting. It creates a more three dimensional look. Multiple flashes are great because among other things you can control or eliminate shadows.
The 550EX works as a remote to trigger other flashes. It is also more powerful than the 420EX. The 420EX is a great flash, but it only works as a slave.

See also http://photonotes.org/articles/eos-flash/.

[lightandlife]

I used to carry 550EX, but not any more. When internal flash came with D30, I used it when I needed the flash. I did not feel any need to carry 550EX any longer.

For family photos, I think internal flash is good enough. If you are a professional, even 550EX won't be good enough. The new internal flash can't be worse than that of D30. I would use the money to buy a better lens.

[Belmondo]

Just be careful whatever lens you buy doesn't block the internal flash.

I'm sorry. You can't use A-1 lenses (FD mount) on EOS bodies. It's a shame, too, because a lot of us owned a bunch of them and really wish we could use them.

[cubfan]

Internal flash is ok with certain lenses.....Use ASA 400 to get adequate power from it. You can go 10-15 feet with it. I don't think the 420 Ex has manual power settings like 1/8..1/4 etc.....I'm not sure if it has exposure compensation in it either..like +1,-1 etc. The 550 Ex has these features and many more. The built in flash should be adequate for most amateur work assuming the lens doesn't cause a shadow.

[sjprg]

The major problem I found using the 10D internal for daylight fill is the sync speed is limited to 200 which means you can't really shoot AV mode in bright light. That means you can't control DOF. The 550EX syncs at up to 4000 and is completly automatic. Set to AV, select DOF and Just point and shoot.
What a joy.