External flash with G6

This question may have arisen before, but basically what I want to do is get an external flash unit for use with G6. I note the manual recommends 220ex, 420ex, 550ex and 580ex units. My questions are as follows:
1) Will an external flash unit on a G6 work in TTL mode?
2) Is E-TTL better than TTL and if so can it work on a G6?
3) Is the basic 220ex much more powerful than the built-in flash on the G6?
4) Apart from power and range, what quality advantages are got by using an external flash unit?
5) Are the more expensive units worth the extra outlay?

I would not be a habitual flash user, but would like to get more natural results taking people, and to be able to get adequate results in a large room.

I would appreciate any help/opinions on these points.

Pros:
a) Higher flash power output
b) can use bounce

Cons:
a) heavier
b) moves center of gravity higher (unwieldy)

Thanks Robert, those are helpful points.

The G6 and the Canon flashes are E-TTL compatible. I use the 420EX and love it. Basically, you place it on the hotshoe, lock it in, turn the flash on, and it's good to go. The 420EX is fully automatic with the G6, and for an amateur like me, that makes it very easy to use. Other than tweaking the output using the flash compensation in the G6 menu from time to time, there's not much to it.

From what I have read, the 220EX works fine with the G6, but does not present a huge difference from the built-in flash. Sure it works better than the built-in, but you'll need to step up to the 420 or better for exceptional performance.

Since you asked about the quality advantages in using the external flash, I would say in layman's terms that my pictures are dramatically "richer" with the 420. If I am taking indoor pictures of my son in our living room, using the built-in flash, the pictures come out fine, but are lacking something. He'll usually be exposed fine, but the rest of the picture might be flat. With the 420, especially using the bounce, it is a better, richer picture. Hard to describe, but you would see for yourself.

Good luck.

Thanks Jeffry for those comments and greetings from ireland!Yes from what you say I think the 420 (or 430, as I think the 420 has been discontinued) makes more sense and would be worth the extra outlay over the 220. Also I don't think the 220 can swivel for bounce shots. Also I may later move to a Canon digital SLR, so the 420 would work with that also.
All the best for now

After some consideration I went ahead and got the 420EX today. My first impressions are favourable, but I will put it through its paces over the next few days, and will post my comments for anyone interested.

The first impressions quote is telling. I have been frustrated by the poor manual and lack of information on my 420ex. It has lots of buttons and lights that I don't really understand.

On the other hand, it helps me take excellent pictures right out of the box. Just turn it on and make sure the slider above the on-off slider is on the green dot. Adjust the strength of the flash from the camera in the FUNC button menu.

I use fill flash in daylight almost as much as I do indoors or at night.

It bugs me that I don't really understand it (I guess I do understand when you hear the thing whirring it is adjusting the focus and strength of the flash based on the camera's exposure and focus distance determination) but I guess if it works, .........

Another alternative is the 550EX, of course. Since it is now discontinued, the price should be quite good on one if you can find it. It has a bit more power (25% actually) than the 420EX and can use an external battery pack for faster recycling times.

you could find a used 550ex for $220-$250 if you keep a look-out ... bought mine out of POTN marketplace forum for $225 back in march, I believe, and it was in like-new condition. The only negative would be that it looks enormous mounted on a G6.

I'll start with saying I'm not a pro, but I decided to go for the 420eX with my G6 and am very happy. In my experience so far I have 2 suggestions if you go with this unit.

1.) Get an Omni Bounce for approx $15.00 more, I found that the 420EX was WAY to harsh of lighting for nearly all indoor photo's. over exposure all over, even if you turn down flash in camera or even if you try and bounce the light (which seems to distort color). Outdoor it's great, we had a late evening BBQ and the flash was so powerful the photo's came out like it was daytime. Problem is this power is way too much for indoor pictures, especially for family shots like I'm using for our new baby being 10 feet away, it's very crisp lgiht coming out of this flash. Adding the Sto-fen Omni bounce was the best add-on to my kit.. I'd take it over a 2nd battery anyday!

2.) Have PLENTY of extra flash batteries and make sure they are always charged! IMO there is a bug with this flash/camera combo. First, there's no battery life indicator, so it's a guessing game, as the batteries get lower, the flash still works, however it improperly communicates with the G6 causing horribly blurry pictures. Basically what the flash does is tell the camera, I'm working fine, flash is fully charged, but you should open your shutter to 1 or 2 seconds. Obviously with a shutter speed that long no hand will keep it steady... so the result is terrible pictures. To a novice it seems like the camera is not working because you see the flash and everything appears to be normal, when actually it the flash's batteries causing all your blurry pictures.

As a novice it took me a while to read the forums get advice and figure out the issues. I absolutly love this combo and nearly all of my pictures are take with the 420EX w/Omnibounce. it's a great combo overall once you understand these two issues which could be very frustrating. I don't think anyone has regrested adding the 420ex in my time reading the forums.

Agree with the Omnibounce. I've never noticed the battery problem. The batteries do last a long time and I usually charge them before going out on a "shoot".

Side note. In my photography class, several of the old ladies have dSLRs with the flash extenders (the L shaped brackets that raise the flash above the camera). Not a bad deal, but they leave them on all the time. Wouldn't that look cool on a G6?

If you look on Canon's website, they don't sell the 420 EX anymore. Now, they have the 430 EX. So, it's just something to let you aware of.

I also have a G6 and 420ex. I use non rechargable Energizers and carry and extra set in my bag. I never wanted to have worry about charging batteries for the flash. Canon says you should get like 200 to 300 flashes and I'd say that is pretty acurate. So at about $4.50 for 8 at walmart I thought it was the way to go.
Anyway I was more interested in your experience with the OmniBounce. I too have at times had that "harseness" you talked about. I thought though that the 420ex trottled down the flash in some modes? Could it be the mode you are using? The other question I had was do you need to increase the intensity of the flash any when using the OmniBounce?

The 420EX I believe has some control based on it's pre-flash exposure test, it seems it can only increase flash and I believe it looks at overall exposure (from what I understand) it doesn't really look to see that everything is well exposed, I would find that the on subjects forehead or if they have a light pastel color shirt, that becomes unrepairably overexposed while the rest is good, if you turn down the flash, now the whole picture is underexposed... too much post processing for just shooting family photo's. The harshenss I see is because it's a direct blast of focused light, like a flashlight (it has a limited cone of light)pointed at the subject and the center is extremely concentrated. The omnibounce is more like a flood light in the room, it's very well difussed light, and when going off it's much easier on the subjects eye's. I did not need to make ANY adjustments to my flash settings. I just put it on and started shooting, perfect pictures everytime!

Think of it like looking directly into a clear light bulb vs looking into a frosted glass light fixture. they both light the room, but the frosting makes for much softer light. The Omnibounce is just a frosted peice of plastic.

If your doing Indoor shot's it's a must.

Thanks for the response. I orderd one last night.[Smile]

Can't wait till it gets here.

StoFen says they ship first class mail for only $2, so it should be here soon.