Gizmog
09-27-2009, 10:17 PM
After 10 years of being an exclusively Olympus shooter I replaced my aging Oly sp510uz, which I left, lost, or was robbed of at the Anchorage airport at the end of a wonderful late summer tour. Fortunately I had downloaded the all the images so all in all it was a good excuse to spend some more money on a newer/better camera. I loved the Oly but hated its lack of Optical Stabalization. My previous camera was the iconic "2100 UZI" which did have optical IS, (licensed from Canon btw.) Now that I opted to switch brands. I want to get a UV filter for the lens and an external flash for indoors and fill.
The list of accessories from Canon does not include a filter adapter nor any lens attachments other than the lens cap. It came with a plastic lens shade that bayonet mounts to the outside of the lens housng. I am wondering how one adds a filter to the camera and if a filter would cause vignetting? Does the adapter use the bayonet mount or the threads which are pretty close to the glass.
It has the multi contact Canon hot shoe for external flash but the manual warns that "Not all Features of the 430exII or 580exII" will work with this camera, that older Canon flashes may or may not fire, and that non-Canon flashes may damage the camera. I have read in the forum that these current Canon flash's AF light will not function. What else is disabled?
On Ebay there is a slew of "compatable" flash units which resemble the 430 and 580 and have the correct contacts and similar specs. Has anyone used these flashes which claim to be fully EXII Compatible? How well do they work. My old Sunak which predates the digital era still puts out a blast but I don't know anything about their recent performance and I have never seen anything about the Zeikos brand. Any luck with off brands?
I always used guide numbers and have never used any ttl type flash so I am up for a learning experience. I am not a professional photographer so physical durability is not as important to me as basic functionality.
The list of accessories from Canon does not include a filter adapter nor any lens attachments other than the lens cap. It came with a plastic lens shade that bayonet mounts to the outside of the lens housng. I am wondering how one adds a filter to the camera and if a filter would cause vignetting? Does the adapter use the bayonet mount or the threads which are pretty close to the glass.
It has the multi contact Canon hot shoe for external flash but the manual warns that "Not all Features of the 430exII or 580exII" will work with this camera, that older Canon flashes may or may not fire, and that non-Canon flashes may damage the camera. I have read in the forum that these current Canon flash's AF light will not function. What else is disabled?
On Ebay there is a slew of "compatable" flash units which resemble the 430 and 580 and have the correct contacts and similar specs. Has anyone used these flashes which claim to be fully EXII Compatible? How well do they work. My old Sunak which predates the digital era still puts out a blast but I don't know anything about their recent performance and I have never seen anything about the Zeikos brand. Any luck with off brands?
I always used guide numbers and have never used any ttl type flash so I am up for a learning experience. I am not a professional photographer so physical durability is not as important to me as basic functionality.