please help! bright flash question, on s410 and other canons

Hi everyone,

I just purchased a Canon S410, and while I am very impressed with the picture quality, I'm having some problems with the flash. The flash is so bright that it's almost blinding. When I take photos indoors, the flash hurts everyone's eyes, including mine -and I'm behind the camera! Usually the shock of any camera flash takes a second or two to wear off, but this one leaves my eyes burning - enough that I don't want to take any more pictures indoors...and I'm not even looking at the camera. My questions are:

1.) Is it normal for the S410's flash (or the flashes on Canons in general) to be so bright that they hurt? My old digital camera was a Fuji, and I have two friends who each have a Nikon and an Olympus... neither flash hurts my eyes like the flash on this camera.

2.) Is there any way to turn down or control the brightness of the flash? (I've heard of putting tape over it? That doesn't seem safe...)

3.) Do all Canons have a flash with this amount of brightness? Here's why I ask - I'm thinking of returning the S410 for a camera that is a bit bigger and has more manual controls - perhaps the Canon A80. But if the flash on the A80 is the same as the S410's, I don't think I'll be purchasing it. Unless, of course, the A80 allows me to lessen the brightness of the flash.

I understand that for good photo quality indoors, a good flash is required...but the S410's is almost unbearable. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Hmmm. I have a 500 and am not seeing the same thing. The flash is bright, but normal enough. I do have some issues with washout if too close, but it's usually the photographer's fault, not so much the camera. Sounds like you got an odd one. I know flashes are controlled by the camera for duration - maybe the control is inoperative for some reason.

I have an IXUS400 and yes, the flash is quite bright although I haven't had any of my subjects complain yet !

As far as I know, the IXUS400 automatically determines the brightness of the flash needed each time and there is no manual control over this.

The Canon website seems to suggest that the A80 has 3 power settings to chose from :

FLASH
Modes : Auto, Manual Flash On / Off
Slow Sync Speed : Yes
Red-eye Reduction : Yes
Manual Power Adjustment : 3 levels with internal flash
Built-in Flash Range : 45cm - 4.4m (W) / 2.5m (T) (at ISO AUTO equivalent)

The A80 does allow for manual adjustment of the flash level, but that is only when in manual mode (setting the aperture and shutter speed)
If you want to shoot by allowing the camera to set up the exposure (auto or program mode) you have to rely on the camera auto exposure set up.

When in Aperture priority, you can open up the aperture, and thus reduce the amount of flash required to attain a therotical perfect exposure.

Thanks for the replies everyone : ) You were all more helpful than the salespeople I visted at Best Buy yesterday. I started talking to one guy and asked him about the S410 vs. the A80, and he told me, "They are the same camera. They do the exact same things. The a80 is just bigger. It's just a matter of looking at your S410 manual and learning to work it." From reading reviews and such, I was pretty sure he was wrong. I also told him about the bright flash problem and he said to up the exposure and not use the flash. While this makes indoor pics brighter, they are very blurry while taken freehand - only clear if I sit the cam on a counter and press the button. Pain in the butt...

Anyway, I've been looking over my s410 user manual, and I don't see anything about Manual Power Adjustment and flash - so I guess that is an advantage of the a80 over the s410. Please correct me if I'm wrong...

OK thanks again everyone!