Canon officially announces the Canon Speedlite EL-1

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MELVILLE, N.Y., October 14, 2020 –– As a photographer, the equipment you invest in needs to measure up to the standards you set forth as a creator. In the true spirit of exemplary creativity, Canon U.S.A., Inc., a leader in digital imaging solutions, today announced the Speedlite EL-1. This new generation professional Speedlite provides higher performance and reliability unlike ever before, in comparison to previous models, with a new rechargeable Li-ion battery and newly designed user-friendly interface.
“As an extended form of expression, we understand that integrating a flash into your photography is an art form, and having the right equipment to meet your artistic demands is imperative to client service,” said Tatsuro “Tony” Kano, executive vice president and general manager of the Canon U.S.A., Inc. Imaging Technologies & Communications Group. “We’re excited to bring the...

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Profoto's £1000 speedlight has sold well despite it being a little flakey. If this is solid, it has a market.

I would agree if Canon made strobes/accessories like Profoto. The change in battery technology improves recycle time, but it would have added value if it natively controlled its own ecosystem of monolights. That way, Canon would provide the entire solution. The EX-600s helped to killed off pocketwizards with its own radio syncing built in. Canon would similarly pressure Profoto if it came out with a native line of strobes with some innovations (i.e. more flexibility/features with wireless technology).
 
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H. Jones

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Now waiting for the EL-5 and the EL-x0. The EL-100 already exists.
Good point on naming. I was wondering where they might be headed, EL-5 and EL-10 seem like a good start to complete the line-up

EL-1: new flagship line, $1100
EL-5: 600-series replacement, $600
EL-10: 430EX replacement, $300
EL-100: existing, $150

I said this on the other post, but I'll crosspost my thoughts here in this thread:

So unfortunately I guess Canon saw that with the Profoto A1, people were willing to pay $1000 for a flash :( Unfortunate because I see this as a big update over my 600EX-RT, but will definitely try one out through Canon CPS and see if I decide it's worth the investment. I'm sure the pandemic may have upped the price with how delayed this thing was anyway. I wish it had more power output for a higher price, though. You can buy two Paul C Buff Einsteins or one and an external battery for the price of this, which is a lot more power and makes this a bit frustrating. But it's definitely a new line above the 600, so I can understand this is aimed at 1DX customers.

Looks like the new LP-EL battery is almost identical to the LP-E6 but is slightly longer and hangs off the LP-E6 charger. Should be enough to not confuse the batteries with LP-E6, but I'm sure I will anyway.

Nice that it includes the LP-E6 charger. I already have 3 but it I do enjoy having more to be able to charge more camera batteries anyway.

In one video I was pretty pleasantly surprised by the output of the modeling lights, they seemed to be pretty effective and directional even inside of a softbox. Also seems like it will be a nice autofocus assist, since you can turn it on and off just by double tapping the shutter button.

Canon hasn't mentioned it yet, but I get the impression the modeling lights could work well for video in low light, especially since they have adjustable color temperature. 3 hours runtime is somewhat short, but would be fine with a few batteries for long events.

I still think the biggest single thing for me is the 1/8192 power level. I shoot a lot of low light and long exposure portraiture where often I end up avoiding flash altogether to be able to see ambient light. I can see this being super useful for F/1.2 portraits in low light where you just want to add a pop to the face of your subject and some catch light in the eyes. Previously I've used cellphone flashlights on low power for some of these uses, but a flash in a softbox or umbrella would he endlessly better. Even just the modeling light would work great for those uses.
 
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H. Jones

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Here's a look inside the flash head of the EL-1

1602687737172.png

Looking at the bottom of the flash in this product image, there's not exactly an opening for the fan. It's hard to tell if the joint where the head connects to the body of the flash is where the air would be moved, or if it is actually within the joint between the two, but I don't get the impression that this is any less sealed than the 600EX, and instead I actually get the impression that this is better sealed than the 600EX, especially since they claim the same level of resistance as the 1DX.
1602688062978.png
 
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