G3 and focus assist lamp on EX flash

[roncor]

Quick question for you guys who is lucky enough to be able to afford an EX flash with your G3. Is the G3 able to utilize the focus assist lamp that is on the EX flash? Or, does the G3 still use the focus assist lamp that is built-in to the camera?

Thanks.

--Ron

[chowhungkeng]

The G3 behaves like the EOS-10S and A2E or EOS 5.
The AF assist light only works on the camera body and it will not utilize the AF assist light on the 420EX. It doesn't matter if you disable the AF assist on the camera, the one on the flash still will not work!

I found this extremely disappointing and verified this with my friend who has a G3 + 550 Ex combination.
His set up does not work either.

[roncor]

That is pretty disappointing. I was going to sell my EOS 650 with the 420EZ flash. It is able to focus in total darkness because the flash's focus assist lamp is so big. My G3 has a hard time in the same situation. I might just keep the 650 now.

[chowhungkeng]

Yes, Roncor that IS disappointing.

I used to have an EOS 650 + 420EZ.
I traded them in and bought 2 EOS Elan 7E's with 2 Speedlite 420EX flashes.

That's why I bought the G3, so I could use the flashes that I already owned.

The focusing is poor, but the resolution is great. Just pumped off 2 prints 16"x20" that are comparable to my medium format camera. This thing is amazing.

[drisley]

Was this the same with the G1 and G2?

Are there ANY flashes that will utilize their own focus assist lamps on the G3?

[ThomasL]

I believe digicams and digital video recorders have trouble focusing on red areas. Figure this is the reason why that doesn't work, and why the G3 has a bluish/white AF assist light.