jamesf99
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brainiac wrote:
I am a professional event photographer who earns his living by taking pictures of people, usually in the evening in dark venues. I don't usually have to do red carpet press stuff - I am inside the event. That means that I am usually a few feet from my subjects, and often the difficulty is getting far enough away. Many wedding photographers use 5D's, and they would all benefit from the OPTION (AS IN OPTIONAL) to use a pop-up flash. Personally, I would use it as my main flash because Canon does not make a 'professional' flash unit that casts a minimal shadow. They are all too far from the lens axis. There are nearly a quarter of a million images on my website. I know of what I speak.
The downside to built-in flash doesn't exist for Canon. Nikon has the unfortunate problem of giving access to the aperture ring on older lenses which means that the bulk of their built-in flash needs to go on top of the pentaprism instead of in front of it. With EOS, there is never an aperture ring, so Canon can put the flash itself in front of the prism (as it does in the amateur cameras). The stanchions which hold the flash unit can be very very thin and strong, AND THEREFORE THERE IS NO NEED TO SACRIFICE VIEWFINDER SIZE TO MAKE ROOM FOR THE FLASH. Nikon has shown that weather sealed pop-up flash is possible. Canon's very cheapest DSLR has a built-in pop-up flash so we know it's very cheap.
So - WHERE IS THE DOWNSIDE? AND WHY WISH TO DENY OTHERS A USEFUL FEATURE WHICH WILL NOT HANDICAP YOUR OWN USE IN ANY WAY?...Show more →
OK, so everyone is worked up over a mythical camera and whether it does or does not have a certain feature. We got that so lets stop screaming at each other...
As one of primary opponents in this debate, and a professional studio photographer, my reasons for stating why I personally don't want a flash were made clear. In almost every situation, regardless of capability to do so, mfgs don't use a 100% VF if they have a flash. A recent exception was the D300, but that is out of character and has little if anything to do with this discussion.
Phrasing it as I or anyone else is "denying others a chance to use flash" is not what I or anyone else suggested and unjustly mischaracterizes the whole debate. Lets face facts about the mfgs, it's not a perfect world and they don't want to give you A unless they take away B. Canon is worse about this than any other.
So where's the downside? I want the best camera for me Period. Sorry, but until you pay my bills, that says forget the pop up flash and give me a feature that I want and can use. And what about all the people crying over weather sealing. It's not as big a deal to me because I'm not a foul weather shooter, but there sure is a direct trade off between that ability to prevent ingress and adding a flash. Every single feature on a camera costs money (some, like AF, is dirt cheap once developed and put into a chip), but other things are expensive like modifying a body to add flash or a 100% VF. I can use that VF every day, morning, noon, and night; regardless of whether I need to bring some Profoto gear or a 580EX I/II, etc. that VF is there for me. It's brighter, it's easier to see what you're doing, it's easier to frame images correctly, etc.
I may be wrong but it's almost guaranteed that Canon will not give you a real VF if they give you a flash. You say there's no need to sacrifice the VF for a flash, but I can't remember any time they did that in the last few decades, but if someone can tell us all when and where they did that I'd appreciate it. I didn't just begin using their equipment, but I didn't obsess over camera models in the past the way we all obsess over digital.
So where's my upside to a flash I don't want, won't use, and may have to sacrifice what I do want to get it? I must be missing something, because I'm just not seeing it.
This discussion is all hypothetical anyway because I sure don't know if the 5d2 exists, or I'm sure not betting my life on it anyway. At least we don't have long to wait to find out.
Edited by jamesf99 on Sep 05, 2008 at 06:07 PM GMT
Edited on Sep 05, 2008 at 06:07 PM
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And it’s “kan”. 
+1
