Canon Speedlite EL-10 rumored for later this year [CR2]

[Del Paso]

Yes! No more AA's. I have a Leica flash (Metz rebrand) that uses AA's and I hate it... worthwhile batteries are expensive and pretty dirty once they're dead.

Me too, but I use Eneloops without any problems. I encountered the same issues as you, leaking batteries, almost exclusively with Duracell brand AAs. As to recycling AAs, I'm a bit skeptical, it remains a wasteful operation.
That's why I started using rechargeables. If they happened to be discharged during a city trip, I'd just buy a set of cheap AA cells. Of course, for someone constantly using and needing a flash, a dedicated rechargeable battery (LP-6...) would be far better.
PS: the new Leica strobes are rebadged Nissins, but twice as expensive...

 

[chasingrealness]

The v1?

If so, does the round head change things?

I'm in need of a Canon Speedlite, but I don't use them often and I have no desire to spend $1000 on the EL-1... even the $400 EL-5 feels like too much money for the number of times I'd mount it to a camera. Used Speedlites without warranties tend to turn me away.

$250 for the v1 seems like a nice spot to be (bonus for the rechargeable battery). 76W of power is nice if I want to blind people or light-up a big room, which likely will never be needed. Nice to have it available in case I'm wrong on my future usage.

The round head does change things a little. The quality of light is ever so slightly less harsh.

The kit with the magnetic attachments can come in handy, too. The little magnetic dome that comes with it is pretty useful. And maybe you want to create a sunset look? V1 with the magnetic CTO filter slapped on the front of it on a stand through some leaves does the trick. Definitely buy it with the kit. If not for those reasons then simply because mini snoot is just too cute to pass up.

Other bonuses of going for the Godox instead of the canon speedlights is the ability to use the V1 as a flash trigger or in conjunction with off camera flash units like the Godox 100/200/300 watt lights is a nice touch. I had a rehearsal dinner I was shooting a while back and I needed a hair light but didn’t have room for a stand. The V1 on a wall shelf using the little flash foot that comes with it did the trick.

As for canon speedlights, I still have a 430ex ii (along with a Godox remote flash trigger) but I haven’t touched it in years.

 

[danfaz]

Mama!

 

[Walrus]

I switched over to GODOX and not been disappointed.

Agreed

 

[Old Sarge]

The above picture made my day. Thanks,danfaz! Now, a (slightly) off topic question. Having always had crop frame cameras, up to the R7 they have had a little built-in flash. Usually, if I needed a flash, I would use the 580ex. But sometimes I would use the built-in flash as a fill light. For example, if I was inside a family event and taking pictures of folks entering and the light outside caused them to be silhouetted a little fill would do the job. With the R7 I don't have this option. So I would like the smallest possible speed light to toss in my camera bag. Does anyone have a suggestion for me?

 

[danfaz]

The above picture made my day. Thanks,danfaz! Now, a (slightly) off topic question. Having always had crop frame cameras, up to the R7 they have had a little built-in flash. Usually, if I needed a flash, I would use the 580ex. But sometimes I would use the built-in flash as a fill light. For example, if I was inside a family event and taking pictures of folks entering and the light outside caused them to be silhouetted a little fill would do the job. With the R7 I don't have this option. So I would like the smallest possible speed light to toss in my camera bag. Does anyone have a suggestion for me?

Glad I could put a smile on you face!
You can still use the EL-100, which is very tiny, on your R7. The older flashes just don't have the proper weather sealing gasket to fit the multifunction shoe (the EL-100 doesn't have any, regardless). If you had a flash with weather seal gasket, you'd need the AD-E1 to maintain that sealing.

 

[neuroanatomist]

With the R7 I don't have this option. So I would like the smallest possible speed light to toss in my camera bag. Does anyone have a suggestion for me?

The smallest Canon flash is the 90EX, and it will work on the R7. It's slow to recycle, not very powerful (guide number is 9, for comparison the GN of the popup flash on the 90D is 12), but it is small. Personally, I'd recommend the 270EX II. Also pretty small, but more powerful (GN 27) and has bounce capability. That's the flash I use with my M setup, and also the one I drop in the bag for my R3 or R8 if I doubt I'll need a flash but there's an outside chance. Both of them are discontinued, so you'd be looking at used versions.

The smallest current Canon flash is the EL-100, with an GN of 26 it’s essentially a replacement for the 270EX II. It has swivel that the 270 does not (meaning you can bounce off a ceiling in portrait orientation), but personally I prefer the less upright form factor of the 270 (though technically, getting the head further from the lens axis is better).

 

[dbcooper]

The new hotshoe business and lack of compatibility is pure madness. Especially for those that will have difftbidies with different hotshoes.

I’m still using 600EX on the R5 and and can’t buy a replacement at the moment once the units I have die. The EL1 is stupid expensive and can’t justify it for work. I also prefer AA batteries and they always last me well on the 600ex.

Adapters also suck. Especially with massive flashes on tiny bodies. More things that can go wrong in a shoot.

I never hated Canon as much as I’m hating them now.

 

[Walrus]

The new hotshoe business and lack of compatibility is pure madness. Especially for those that will have difftbidies with different hotshoes.

I’m still using 600EX on the R5 and and can’t buy a replacement at the moment once the units I have die. The EL1 is stupid expensive and can’t justify it for work. I also prefer AA batteries and they always last me well on the 600ex.

Adapters also suck. Especially with massive flashes on tiny bodies. More things that can go wrong in a shoot.

I never hated Canon as much as I’m hating them now.

A Godox TT685II cost around 120€, has the same power of your 600EX, and goes with AA too and, like I think the 600EX too, can be powered by a PB960 battery pack; if I recall correctly the PB gives you something like 1800 flashes at full power, which is basically like an entire wedding season on a single battery charge (but yes, the cable from strobe to PB s*cks).

 

[neuroanatomist]

The new hotshoe business and lack of compatibility is pure madness. Especially for those that will have difftbidies with different hotshoes.

I’m still using 600EX on the R5 and and can’t buy a replacement at the moment once the units I have die. The EL1 is stupid expensive and can’t justify it for work. I also prefer AA batteries and they always last me well on the 600ex.

Adapters also suck. Especially with massive flashes on tiny bodies. More things that can go wrong in a shoot.

I never hated Canon as much as I’m hating them now.

I get the frustration. I imagine there was even more with FD to EF. But in the same way, there are benefits to the new hotshoe (at least for some).

Having said that, it’s a relatively short term problem. My four 600EX-RT flashes that I bought in 2012-2013 all work fine on my R3 and R8, mounted directly. I bought the AD-E1 adapter but I haven’t used it (other than in initial test) because it’s only needed for a weather sealed connection. There are used units readily available.

Future FF cameras will almost certainly all come with the new shoe. The EL-5 is the replacement for the 600EX, and it’s great (although it’s too bad Canon didn’t make an adapter for backward compatibility, I get why).

The main advantage to the EP-EL vs. AA batteries isn’t the number of flashes you get, it’s the rate at which you get them. A full power recycle on the 600EX II-RT is 5.5 s, while on the EL-5 it’s 1.2 s. Practically, that means with ‘typical’ flash use (which is much less than 1/1 for me), the EL-5 can actually keep up with a 30 fps burst.

 

[jdavidse]

Canon has made a grave error in this rollout. It is one thing, and understandable to have incompatibilities with an actual camera, when going from old to new technology. An example here is how an EF camera cannot use an RF lens. It is a side effect of the march of technology, and is fixable by getting an RF camera, which would be compatible with all lenses, EF or RF. Because the camera is the \"trunk\" of the technology tree, all lenses or accessories should be compatible with the new version (RF).

But here we have an accessory (flash system) that is NOT compatible with most Canon cameras on the market, including their current flagship the R5. So now, we have a branch in technology where you must have a camera with the new multi-function shoe. Essentially, you have two tree trunks now: cameras with the new multi-function shoe and cameras without. The accessories (flash) are not compatible with both. Some will say this is not a problem going forward, because you just buy gear that is all compatible with each other. But that does not help the photographer who needs to rent gear last-minute because of a gear failure. If I owned all Canon R3s and had the new multi-function flashes, what happens when I have a flash or body failure and the only thing I can rent at my local shop is an R5 or a 600EX-RT?

 

[jdavidse]

The v1?

If so, does the round head change things?

I'm in need of a Canon Speedlite, but I don't use them often and I have no desire to spend $1000 on the EL-1... even the $400 EL-5 feels like too much money for the number of times I'd mount it to a camera. Used Speedlites without warranties tend to turn me away.

$250 for the v1 seems like a nice spot to be (bonus for the rechargeable battery). 76W of power is nice if I want to blind people or light-up a big room, which likely will never be needed. Nice to have it available in case I'm wrong on my future usage.

I don't think round vs rectangle makes a huge difference in the light quality unless you are pointing your flash directly at the subject. If you are bouncing or using modifiers, it's mostly irrelevant. However, the V1 has magnets on the edge, and together with the round accessory kit, it makes a huge difference. It is so convenient to just slap a grid or filter on, without having to use a Magmod-type system. Also Godox in general is a better idea because it's a whole ecosystem of lights that all talk to each other. And of course having li-on battery is 1000x better than owning 2 dozen rechargable AAs.

 

[koenkooi]

Canon has made a grave error in this rollout. It is one thing, and understandable to have incompatibilities with an actual camera, when going from old to new technology. An example here is how an EF camera cannot use an RF lens. It is a side effect of the march of technology, and is fixable by getting an RF camera, which would be compatible with all lenses, EF or RF. Because the camera is the \"trunk\" of the technology tree, all lenses or accessories should be compatible with the new version (RF).

But here we have an accessory (flash system) that is NOT compatible with most Canon cameras on the market, including their current flagship the R5. So now, we have a branch in technology where you must have a camera with the new multi-function shoe. Essentially, you have two tree trunks now: cameras with the new multi-function shoe and cameras without. The accessories (flash) are not compatible with both. Some will say this is not a problem going forward, because you just buy gear that is all compatible with each other. But that does not help the photographer who needs to rent gear last-minute because of a gear failure. If I owned all Canon R3s and had the new multi-function flashes, what happens when I have a flash or body failure and the only thing I can rent at my local shop is an R5 or a 600EX-RT?

The ‘old’ flashes work just fine on the new shoes, with the excepting of the R50. The 600EX-RT would work just fine on an R3, if you don’t need weather sealing.

 

[neuroanatomist]

If I owned all Canon R3s and had the new multi-function flashes, what happens when I have a flash or body failure and the only thing I can rent at my local shop is an R5 or a 600EX-RT?

If you owned an R3 and could only a rent a 600EX-RT, you’d rent it and put it on the R3 and it would work fine (just as any of my four 600EX-RTs work fine on my R3). If your R3 fails all your local rental shop has are the R5 and 600EX-RT, rent both. But probably they’d have an R6II that would work with the EL-5.

At this point there is one flash in the lineup —one— that is not compatible with older bodies (but is compatible with 5 current bodies), and that one flash has been on the market for less than 4 months. The other two current flashes and all of the old flashes work fine on the new hotshoe (unless you’re shooting in the rain, in which case you need the adapter). The R5II will be along soon and have the new shoe.

This really isn’t a ‘grave error’, it’s a minor blip during a technology transition. You’re making a mountain out of a molehill. The sky isn’t falling, Chicken Little, it’s just a rain shower (so you better get out the AD-E1 to use your old flash with your new body!!).

 

[neuroanatomist]

The ‘old’ flashes work just fine on the new shoes, with the excepting of the R50.

They’ll work on the R50 with the AD-E1 adapter.

Really, the only people who are inconvenienced by this ‘travesty’ are those with an R5 or older body who want the EL-5 specifically (or those with an R100, but that’s likely a minuscule number of people). And for those folks, there’s the EL-1, EL-100, and a plethora of used 600 and 430 flashes to hold them over until the R5II.

 

[koenkooi]

They’ll work on the R50 with the AD-E1 adapter.

Really, the only people who are inconvenienced by this ‘travesty’ are those with an R5 or older body who want the EL-5 specifically (or those with an R100, but that’s likely a minuscule number of people). And for those folks, there’s the EL-1, EL-100, and a plethora of used 600 and 430 flashes to hold them over until the R5II.

The R5C situation is unfortunate: you do get the new shoe, but no way to use it due to firmware issues.

 

[neuroanatomist]

The R5C situation is unfortunate: you do get the new shoe, but no way to use it due to firmware issues.

Yeah. Again, a small number of users but that's a Canon fail for them.

 

[neuroanatomist]

The v1?

If so, does the round head change things?

I'm in need of a Canon Speedlite, but I don't use them often and I have no desire to spend $1000 on the EL-1... even the $400 EL-5 feels like too much money for the number of times I'd mount it to a camera. Used Speedlites without warranties tend to turn me away.

$250 for the v1 seems like a nice spot to be (bonus for the rechargeable battery). 76W of power is nice if I want to blind people or light-up a big room, which likely will never be needed. Nice to have it available in case I'm wrong on my future usage.

One consideration with the Godox V1 vs the Canon flashes is the head zoom range, which is 28-105mm with the V1 but 24-200mm with the better Canon flashes (600’s, EL-5, EL-1). The Canon flashes have a built-in pull out diffuser for out to 14mm.

A personal like when using the EL-5 (or ST-E10) with the R3 is that you can access the on-camera flash control settings (which I find much easier than using the display on the flash itself) with a single button press on the flash.

One advantage of the rectangular head is that it allows the simple pull out the catchlight panel on the Canon flashes. I went through a period where I used all sorts of modifiers – diffusers, grids, snoots, etc. The magnetic attachments would have made a little easier than the Honl Velcro system, but it still amounts to a bunch of fiddling around. I continue to use those for portrait setups (a gridded Speedlite on a boom is a great hair light), but for casual shooting I’ve reverted to KISS.

With Canon, I can just mount the flash, pull out the catchlight panel and point the head up, and I get good quality, even lighting with nice catchlights in the eyes. I’m not sure that’s possible with the V1 without fiddling with a modifier, but happy to learn otherwise.

 

[jdavidse]

If you owned an R3 and could only a rent a 600EX-RT, you’d rent it and put it on the R3 and it would work fine (just as any of my four 600EX-RTs work fine on my R3). If your R3 fails all your local rental shop has are the R5 and 600EX-RT, rent both. But probably they’d have an R6II that would work with the EL-5.

At this point there is one flash in the lineup —one— that is not compatible with older bodies (but is compatible with 5 current bodies), and that one flash has been on the market for less than 4 months. The other two current flashes and all of the old flashes work fine on the new hotshoe (unless you’re shooting in the rain, in which case you need the adapter). The R5II will be along soon and have the new shoe.

This really isn’t a ‘grave error’, it’s a minor blip during a technology transition. You’re making a mountain out of a molehill. The sky isn’t falling, Chicken Little, it’s just a rain shower (so you better get out the AD-E1 to use your old flash with your new body!!).

Let's say I owned the whole updated Canon system for weddings: say 2 R3s, 1 R6II and 4 or 5 EL-5 Speedlites (or whatever is coming equivalent to the EX600).

Now let's say I need to rent a body in an emergency. There are no R3s or R6IIs available at my local shop. Only R5, R6, R etc. Now I have a completely unusable fleet of flashes with this replacement camera, which means I have zero options. And all this for what? Controlling the flash from the camera and other tricks worked just fine on the old shoe design.

No, better to stick with the old shoe design, the universally useable kind. And since Canon stopped making these with the 600EX series, Godox and others have more than filled that void, and I would argue are far superior.

 

[neuroanatomist]

Let's say I owned the whole updated Canon system for weddings: say 2 R3s, 1 R6II and 4 or 5 EL-5 Speedlites (or whatever is coming equivalent to the EX600).

Now let's say I need to rent a body in an emergency. There are no R3s or R6IIs available at my local shop. Only R5, R6, R etc. Now I have a completely unusable fleet of flashes with this replacement camera, which means I have zero options. And all this for what? Controlling the flash from the camera and other tricks worked just fine on the old shoe design.

And said local shop doesn’t have a single old-style flash to rent you? Lol.

What if you got hit by lightning or a meteor on your way to the shop to rent that R5 without a flash? That’s an alternate solution with only slightly less likelihood as your problem scenario.

No, better to stick with the old shoe design, the universally useable kind.

Better to use charcoal and parchment. All these new-fangled techno thingies are too much progress.

And since Canon stopped making these with the 600EX series, Godox and others have more than filled that void, and I would argue are far superior.

Guess what? Those work just fine on an R3, too.