Canon doubling down on overpriced RF gear with the newest flash units.

EL-1 is retailing for $1K!

https://www.usa.canon.​com …as/flashes/spee​dlite-el-1

Suddenly the SB-5000 looks cheap. The EL-1 matches Nikon for active cooling and consecutive full-energy discharges while allowing a recharge time of 0.9s thanks to the Li-ion battery.

Disgusting. Even #1 greedy company a.k.a. Leica Camera AG hasn't went this low with their re-labeled Meitz flashes.

I do not understand why no one, at any price, can build a flash unit to equal the true power of the Metz 60, and they charge so much for a weaker unit!
You have to set EL-1 zoom to 200mm FL and concentrate the light field in order to match what the Metz 60 could do with its standard 28mm wide angle coverage.

My son (photog in southern California) and I were talking of this about a month ago. Both of us agree it is crazy, but maybe Canon knows something we do not?
Sounds like Canon is trying to capture some ProPhoto A1 $$. I cannot imagine paying that much for the flash.

RicoTudor wrote in post #19194567
Suddenly the SB-5000 looks cheap. The EL-1 matches Nikon for active cooling and consecutive full-energy discharges while allowing a recharge time of 0.9s thanks to the Li-ion battery.

If only that active cooling could be piped down through the hot shoe to cool the R5 sensor during 8K....

You can pick up a used 580EX II for peanuts, or for the same price a new Godox lithium ion... and it won't need a fan to work.

It's the red ring around the flash head...

Very best,

.
I refuse to buy anything at inflated prices. . If Canon jacks the price of accessories up artificially, to help compensate for the fact that they are not able to sell many cameras these days, then that right there shows that these accessories are not a good "bang for the buck" value.

A few weeks ago I shopped (online, of course) for an angle finder for my Canon DSLRs. . The Canon angle finder was two hundred freaking dollars! . Third party angle finders were, of course significantly less, but reviews showed that some people had problems always getting a snug, secure fit, and that their angle finders were working their way loose on a regular basis. . But no way I was gonna let Canon gouge me for $200.

So I spend a lot of time searching many classifieds and Craigslist ads all over the country. Finally found that MPB ro whatever it's called had a used one in okay condition for $50. . I thought, "fifty bucks seems reasonable, given the engineering and manufacture that went into it". . So I ordered it and received it less than a week later.

Upon receiving the angle finder, and holding it and looking at it and through it, I thought, "Canon is charging up the arse for these, and the price isn't based on the item itself, it is based on trying to make up for 'lost' revenue from other aspects of their business. . They are basing the price on how much they think they can pry out of us, instead of on the actual value of the item they are selling us.

Any time I buy anything - anything at all, I MUST feel that I am getting a hell of a lot for my money. . If I don't, I simply will not buy something. . If you are contemplating the purchase of a Canon accessory, and don't feel that you are getting a hell of a lot for your dollar, then I implore you to just not buy it. . Don't feed the greed.

If the Canon executives and stockholders are living on triple figures each year, and trying to suck every dollar they can out of common people who are surviving on 20K or 30K a year, that is just wrong. . If we paid less for the accessories, all of these executives and stockholders could still make somewhere around 50K or 60K a year like other normal people, and have okay lives. . No way a poor guy like me is gonna help a wealthy guy maintain his way-above-average wealth - that's just evil. . And if I let them do that, I have only myself to blame.


.

Looks like a darned nice flash.....for about $500. But $1000 is crazy!

The people at Canon are losing their minds. Apparently Canon is trying to make all of the money they didn't make over the last two years.

The price levels of their entire R line have hit the level of insanity, in my opininon.

CyberDyneSystems wrote in post #19194546
EL-1 is retailing for $1K!

https://www.usa.canon.​com …as/flashes/spee​dlite-el-1

Phew!!
Instead of getting 8 of these, I picked up a Broncolor Para 222 and 133 on sale for my existing lights.

...now, where's that model hiding...

CyberDyneSystems wrote in post #19195748
If only that active cooling could be piped down through the hot shoe to cool the R5 sensor during 8K....

Won't ever happen, because doing so makes for a very conflicted name for the shoe...

• a 'cool hot shoe'?!
  
• the cold/hot shoe?!
  

That price is Profoto A10 territory.

rrblint wrote in post #19195801
Looks like a darned nice flash.....for about $500. But $1000 is crazy!

People willing to pay $1K for that flash would be willing to pay $4K. Canon is leaving money on the table.