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Canon - 220EX Speedlite flash unit
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bkovacs's Review
Nice small flash for the Canon G7/G9 camera
a Canon G7 user, serious about photography, looking for lightweight products
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DEC
21
2007
Canon - 220EX Speedlite flash unit —
I have a Canon PowerShot G7 camera, which was Canon's best compact camera until the G9 and now G10was introduced. I like the G7 but one of the things that could be improved is the camera's built-in flash. It's not bad as built-in flashes go but it causes a bit too much shine on skin and it always gives me red eye. The built-in flash is also good for only about 10 feet or so, and its light falls off rapidly after that.The solution is the Canon Speedlite 220EX, a small external flash that will mate with the G7's hot shoe atop the camera. I bought my 220EX from Amazon for $122 minus a $15 coupon I had.
What it is
The Canon Speedlite 220EX is a small external flash unit that will work with most of Canon's digital SLR cameras. It will also work with Canon's G7 and G9 cameras. It's small, about 3.75 inches tall and 2.5 inches wide, and it weighs about 10 ounces when filled with four AA batteries. It has a mount that slips into the hot shoe on top of my camera and a small lever then locks it in place. The 220EX is about the smallest external flash that I could get for my G7 -- it's certainly the smallest one offered by Canon.
You can see all of the 220EX's controls in one of the pictures posted with this review. There's really not much, just an on/off switch, a test button, a high-speed sync switch and a couple of status lamps to let you know how the unit is set. Mostly, it works with the E-TTL II communications standard, which is built into my Canon G7 camera. I'm not going to get into all the technology but the important thing to remember from this is that the camera will know automatically when the 220EX is mounted and revise its operation to take the 220EX into account. In other words, all the exposure settings are handled automatically when the 220EX is mounted on the Canon G7 or other compatible camera. That's why I wanted to get a Canon G7 and the 220EX Speedlite.
The Canon 220EX uses four AA batteries and a set of fresh alkaline batteries will last for 500 flashes or so. I'm using alkalines at the moment but will switch to rechargables when the disposable alkalines are used up.
Using it
Immediately, I saw that the flash from the 220EX reached further into the shadows and lit things up more evenly than the camera's built-in flash. It also works wonders on skin, just about eliminating the shine that you can get on faces when using a flash. Also important was the way that the 220EX eliminated red eye. With this review, I posted shots of my wife's eye with the camera's built-in flash and with the 220EX, and you can see that there is no hint of red eye at all when using the 220EX. My wife is very susceptible to red eye, so eliminating it will be time saver for me when I adjust all my pictures in Photoshop.
These two things -- more realistic skin tones and no red eye -- are the two main things I like about the 220EX. The unit is also exceptionally easy to use. All I have to do is turn it on and the camera does the rest.
What I don't like is the added weight of the 220EX atop my camera, and how the camera now is more unstable if set on a flat surface. However, adding a flash will do that so I got the smallest flash unit I could find that would work automatically with my camera. I also wish that the 220EX had the ability to pop in diffusers or gels.
Summary
I could write a much longer review but want to keep this to the point. I occasionally take pictures professionally, mostly snapshots of people interacting with various bits of high-tech equipment. One problem I've had is that I can sometimes get a lot of shine back from people's faces and the Canon 220EX reduces that by quite a bit. The 220EX also saves time by eliminating red eye, something I used to spend minutes on each picture cleaning up.
The trade off is the the G7 camera is much heavier and more awkward to handle with the 220EX flash unit mounted. I will not always use the 220EX but do plan to use it when its advantages will save me time and make better pictures, which it definitely does when taking pictures of people. I recommend the Canon 220EX Speedlight flash unit.
Last edited on Mar 03, 2009
Canon - 220EX Speedlite flash unit is recommended by bkovacs
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