Is this flash ok to start with?

[Nates98cbr]

Hey everyone, my girlfriend bought me a Promaster 7500EDF flash for father's day and wanted to know if this flash is going to be ok to learn on. I know it's not as nice as a Speedlight but it seems like it will be sufficient enough to get some nice photos with. Does anyone here have any experience with this brand or model? Any advice is welcomed.

Nathan

[Curtis N]

I think it will work fine for you.

The Promaster flash units generally work well, within their design limitations. The power of the 7500 is roughly equivalent to the 430EX Speedlite. It doesn't work as a slave within Canon's wireless flash system but it does have a built-in optical slave which comes in handy for off-camera use in multi-light setups.

One other deficiency of the Promaster units is the lack of high speed sync capability. You'll need to make sure your shutter speed is 1/200 or slower.

The aftermarket brands sometimes suffer from compatibility problems when camera manufacturers update their flash metering systems, but Promaster is apparently trying to counter that with upgradeable firmware.

[Nates98cbr]

I think it will work fine for you.

The Promaster flash units generally work well, within their design limitations. The power of the 7500 is roughly equivalent to the 430EX Speedlite. It doesn't work as a slave within Canon's wireless flash system but it does have a built-in optical slave which comes in handy for off-camera use in multi-light setups.

One other deficiency of the Promaster units is the lack of high speed sync capability. You'll need to make sure your shutter speed is 1/200 or slower.

The aftermarket brands sometimes suffer from compatibility problems when camera manufacturers update their flash metering systems, but Promaster is apparently trying to counter that with upgradeable firmware.

Thanks for the reply. You say this does have a built-in optical slave, which means it should fire with my pop up flash when off camera?

[Curtis N]

Thanks for the reply. You say this does have a built-in optical slave, which means it should fire with my pop up flash when off camera?Yes, it will.

It will fire with the pre-flash from the camera's built-in flash, which happens a few milliseconds before the mirror goes up. That won't help your pictures much.

In order to use an optical slave like the one in the Promaster 7500, you'll need a flash on the hotshoe with a manual mode (no pre-flash).