I bought myself the Speedlite 550EX!

They are soon to be extinct as new items, so I nabbed one for $479.95 CDN, a good $100 less than they usually sell. I want to retire my aging 540EZ, which I use on my EOS A2 film bodies and use the 550EX, plus, of course, I will use it with the G6 if I'm asked to shoot 'serious' flash pics. The 220EX is great to have with me as a pocket flash, but it has obvious limitations.

I tested it out, already, with direct and bounce flash. Perfect exposures. Although it's a bit top-heavy, it is quite usuable and will be a welcome addition to my ever-growing family of photogear. Maybe I should get a Stofen Omnibounce at some point. It's a Canon Japan product with superb build quality.

As a bonus, I can use Canon's external battery pack and Off-Camera Shoe Cord with both the 540EZ and 550EX.

Any other 550EX lovers out there?

I guess this isn't that exciting.

Good for you, bro! The good thing about the 580EX is that the 550EX and 420EX tumbled a bit in price. I have the 420EX but I wouldn't mind getting a 550EX myself.

Good for YOU! I have the 550, and find that it does a SUPER job with my G-5 as well as my 10D. I think you'll be very happy with it.
-Bruce

Thanks.

I have another quandary - I have the opprotunity to sell off all my EOS film gear, including the older 540EZ flash. I'd opt for getting the Pro 1 if that happened, having the 550EX and the smaller 220EX as my flash duo and being *all* digital. I'm not sure if I can let go of some luxuries I have with film, such as exposure lattitude with negative film plus being able to go from 20mm to 400mm with my EF lenses, or being able to get excellent results with ISO 400 emulsions.

I have zero interest in getting a DSLR, at this time. I'm sure the Rebel and 20D are OK cameras but the 1.6 x cropping factor is useless for the shooting I do.

I can live with the 28-200mm range on the Pro 1 if its optics are as good as claimed.

IMHO, You should hang on to some of your film bodies. As you noted, they leave you with more options. I still have a few EOS film bodies, as well as a bunch of even older Pentax "M" bodies for those times when I want to remember how it was to shoot all mechanical, manual focus cameras. In fact, lately I've been picking up non interchangeable lens rangefinder cameras off of ebay. They are fun and fast to shoot, and should work very well with T-Max or Ilford B&W film.
As for the Pro 1, I've heard a lot of "Pros" and "Cons" about it, but have no hands on experience with it, so maybe a Pro 1 owner will jump in here.
-Bruce

That's my intial thought. Can you imagine trying to shoot a large group picture with the Pro 1 or G6 at ISO 400? The noise would not be acceptable for a quality enlargement. Although I'm sort of retired from shooting weddings, I can only imagine the fun and games trying to get properly-exposed JPEG's with a digital cam - unless I shoot RAW and spend years in front of the PC doing corrections.

Then, what about prints? I have a sweet HP 7960 and can knock off gorgeous proofs, but it's costly and time-consuming.

With film, simply drop them off at a good lab and they take care of all that stuff.

I'm sure I'll own a DSLR within my lifetime, but I really like compacts.

Then it looks like the DRebel XT is just for you

What lenses do you have?

Best regards,
Andy

My collection - 28-105mm f/3.5-f/4.5, 100-300mm f/5.6 L, 20mm f/2.8, 85mm f/1.8 and the 200mm f/2.8 L. The cropping factor on the Rebel XT would be great for the longer lenses but makes my 20mm almost useless.

I think I will be keeping the film gear, at least a while longer.

Just so you know, Adorama has the 550 for $299.00USD (368.76 CDN). You might want to go for that one. The 580 is 379.95 (468.59)

Add to that the usual taxes and the possibility of getting a broker's fee, and I still got a good deal.

I don't know if Canon USA honors any warranty for international purchases.

Nice to see you got the good version of the 28-105.
-Bruce

The 28-105mm is a good lens, nothing more. I have seen decent 11x14's taken with it. Of course, it's not in the same league as the 85mm and 200mm optics.

The G6's 35-140mm equivalent zoom blows it away, it seems.

So True! Granted, it wont compete with either a prime, or an "L", but my point being that the F/4 version is not as good.
-Bruce

Ah - the crappy 28-105mm f/4~f/5.6

There should be a law against making such miserable lenses.