Pissed off at CANON!(no built in remote flash trigger)

I was at a camera club meeting tonight (I know might sound stupid) ...but I am still in the learning stages of DSLR...anyways I noticed a bunch of people tonight that were using Nikons were able to take off their hotshoe flash and handhold it or put it on a table and it was synched up with the onboard flash. Apparently Canon has not opted to do this and instead want you to buy ANOTHER flash or wireless transmitter to make this work . It is either genius by canon for doing this and making us spend more money on their products or very ancient in their flash technology...which is it?

One of the BIGGEST missing features of Canon DSLR's.

Yeah no iff's and's or but's about it... The Nikon flash system is nicer and more full-featured than Canon's, deal with it...

I own the Canon transmitter (ST-E2) and a few 580EX's and it works okay, not amazing... I'd perfer Pocket Wizard based system. I guess when I want real lighting I go for monolights and pack and head systems. The Strobist stuff is nice, cool and good to have up your sleeve but me likes the big lights best.

I could complain about the Canon system but what good does it do? Nobody from Canon is going to listen to me or read this forum so I'm not going to waste my time, it is what it is...

grinchy wrote in post #2936196
It is either genius by canon for doing this and making us spend more money on their products or very ancient in their flash technology...which is it?

I say making us spend more money.

And if Canon were to ever implement this it would be a copycat situation essentially admitting defeat and that a competitor's product is better. Not going to happen.

Is having off camera flash control built into the camera body fairly new for Nikon?

I think it's just a few years they've had that.. but I could be wrong. I hope it's recent and that Canon will follow there example soon.

CyberDyneSystems wrote in post #2936350
Is having off camera flash control built into the camera body fairly new for Nikon?

I think it's just a few years they've had that.. but I could be wrong. I hope it's recent and that Canon will follow there example soon.

yes, a quick google reveals that the wireless i-TTL is onhttp://www.kenrockwell​.com/nikon/d2h.htm D80, D200, D70, D70s, F6, D2X, D2H, so it appears to be relatively recent. Canon should do this too

I don't think it would be all that useful for me, but there are those who swear by Canon's wireless E-TTL system and such a feature would essentially eliminate the need for the ST-E2 (well, except for the AF assist light).

I guess if Canon integrated wireless master capability into the camera, then at least the built-in flash would be good for something.

In the meantime, there are alternatives that aren't very expensive and sometimes more versatile. An old-fashioned automatic flash can be fired off-camera via PC cord, radio slave system, or digital slave attachment.

I would just like manual control of the on board flash, so it can be fired with out the pre-flash.
If they can do it on most of the compact range they can definitely do it on the SLR range.

The Canon system has a steap learning curve, but once you master it you will ba able to see how much more flexable it is than Nikons.

With the Nikon System if you change the Cameras exposure you must re set all your flashes.

Ie. If you want One flash to be 1 Stop over one set at 0 and the camera at -1 and you change the camera to 0 your flash will change to +1 and +2.

With the Canon system the Flash and Camera are independant of each other. So you can afjust the Flash esposure or Camera whenever you want and the other will maintain whatever setting you have set.

CyberDyneSystems wrote in post #2936350
Is having off camera flash control built into the camera body fairly new for Nikon?

I think it's just a few years they've had that.. but I could be wrong. I hope it's recent and that Canon will follow there example soon.

One big area where Canon has been slow, wide angles and flashes. At least there's a new 16-35 coming out, which hopefully improves what it was lacking. Now onto the flash!! I wonder if the new 580 will bring more of what they should have.

Moppie wrote in post #2936937
I would just like manual control of the on board flash, so it can be fired with out the pre-flash.

Is this true (that it uses a pre-flash)? I have been wondering for quite a while if the built-in flash used a pre-flash the way that the Speedlites in ETTL-II mode do. I have not been able to find anything in Canon's documentation about this.

wilvoeka wrote in post #2936991
The Canon system has a steap learning curve, but once you master it you will ba able to see how much more flexable it is than Nikons.

With the Nikon System if you change the Cameras exposure you must re set all your flashes.

Ie. If you want One flash to be 1 Stop over one set at 0 and the camera at -1 and you change the camera to 0 your flash will change to +1 and +2.

With the Canon system the Flash and Camera are independant of each other. So you can afjust the Flash esposure or Camera whenever you want and the other will maintain whatever setting you have set.

Yes but the n00bs want bells and whistles not ACTUAL benefits. An ST-E2 isn't a big purchase and it is far more robust than the built in Nikon system.

I own a relatively new Nikon flash. It's good for a remote pocket wizard mounted flash as it can calc (on screen) what output you beed from distance/iso/aperture etc. But it's clunky and can't even be used on a new (Nikon) DSLR. WTF?

The Nikon system is fun to play with and show Grandma the tricks. The Canon system takes a nice picture of Grandma. Yes, a little "blending" of features and benefits would make people happy but it's a big picture sorta thing.

bill boehme wrote in post #2937092
Is this true (that it uses a pre-flash)? I have been wondering for quite a while if the built-in flash used a pre-flash the way that the Speedlites in ETTL-II mode do. I have not been able to find anything in Canon's documentation about this.

The on board flash uses either ETTL or ETTL-II depending on the camera model, so yes there is a preflash.
The compacts also use some version or form of TTL flash exposure metering, although its no where near as advanced as the SLR ETTL versions, however, on the compacts with manual exposure control, there is also manual flash control.

Moppie wrote in post #2936937
I would just like manual control of the on board flash, so it can be fired with out the pre-flash.
If they can do it on most of the compact range they can definitely do it on the SLR range.

What is on-board-flash??
;0