5D2 3rd party flash incompatibility discussion

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Archive 2008 · 5D2 3rd party flash incompatibility discussion

Mike Hatam
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p.2 #1 · 5D2 3rd party flash incompatibility discussion

Ian.Dobinson wrote:
sorry for the rant above. I just found the sunpak site and see that it has bounce which is quite cool (but is it powerful enough to be of much use?)
so a call to sunpak would be in order to see about an update.

I'll check with Sunpak to see if they know about the issue.

The benefit of the RD2000 is that it's tiny. It folds up to about the size of a card-reader. It's powerful enough for fill-light for portrait shots, and it's powerful enough to trigger other slaves, which makes it a useful "transmitter" from the camera.

Dec 11, 2008 at 03:30 PM

Reg Van Cleave
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p.2 #2 · 5D2 3rd party flash incompatibility discussion

I bought a 3rd party flash for my 20D wouldn't work. Found out that the metal shoe was
not making contact with two of the pins on the camera. Put a piece of paper to lower the
flash to the shoe, worked fine but felt that I shouldn't have to do this each time I wanted flash. Went ahead and replaced it with the 430 and every thing worked fine.
Not saying this is your problem but may want to check to see if the flash is all the way down on the pins in the shoe.

Dec 11, 2008 at 03:39 PM

Mike Hatam
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p.2 #3 · 5D2 3rd party flash incompatibility discussion

Reg Van Cleave wrote:
I bought a 3rd party flash for my 20D wouldn't work. Found out that the metal shoe was
not making contact with two of the pins on the camera. Put a piece of paper to lower the
flash to the shoe, worked fine but felt that I shouldn't have to do this each time I wanted flash. Went ahead and replaced it with the 430 and every thing worked fine.
Not saying this is your problem but may want to check to see if the flash is all the way down on the pins in the shoe.

That's not the problem here. I've checked for this, and also tried using an off-shoe cord.

Dec 11, 2008 at 03:40 PM

brainiac
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p.2 #4 · 5D2 3rd party flash incompatibility discussion

My Sunpak RD2000 works OK with 450D and 1Ds3. It's still not as nice as a $10 Olympus T20 though.

There's no reason why the 5D2 shouldn't have a flash, except marketing to wannabes. You know, the "I'm too pro to avoid spending $300+ on a bulky extra battery-requiring wide-shadow-casting feature-bloated piece of plastic crap with a Canon logo for me to put tape over 'cos my life is like Salvador and I live and die for my art" crowd. The D700 has a very good built-in flash, and it is not a lesser camera for it. It has weather sealing, a great viewfinder, and a TTL system that works. Sorry if I seem a little angry ;-)

A good way to test the shoe is to press a coin against all three or more contacts, although it only takes a second to work out which two contacts need shorting.

Dec 11, 2008 at 04:00 PM

Mike Hatam
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p.2 #5 · 5D2 3rd party flash incompatibility discussion

Any idea on if the Olympus T20 will fire on a 5D2?

Dec 11, 2008 at 05:02 PM

brainiac
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p.2 #6 · 5D2 3rd party flash incompatibility discussion

Mike Hatam wrote:
Any idea on if the Olympus T20 will fire on a 5D2?

Not yet. I'm holding off on that purchase for the moment. Too spendy here in the UK.

Dec 11, 2008 at 05:58 PM

therock
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p.2 #7 · 5D2 3rd party flash incompatibility discussion

I just got one myself and it will flash on my 50D once here and there as I fiddle and wiggle. I have a call and an email into sunpak.

We will see perhaps?

Dec 11, 2008 at 09:47 PM

Mike Hatam
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p.2 #8 · 5D2 3rd party flash incompatibility discussion

I tried pressing a coin against the contacts on the bottom of the flash shoe, and couldn't get the flash to fire. I must have a defective coin!

Seriously - this may mean that I have a defective shoe mount on my RD2000 flash head.

I'd really like to hear from more RD2000 owners on whether or not they can get it to fire on the 5D2.

"therock" - I'll be interested to hear what Sunpak has to say to you about this.

Mike

Dec 11, 2008 at 10:36 PM

acktdi
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p.2 #9 · 5D2 3rd party flash incompatibility discussion

You should contact Sunpak and file a bug report. Their flash is firmware upgradeable and probably just needs new code to operate with the 5dmkii

Dec 11, 2008 at 11:08 PM

Mike Hatam
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p.2 #10 · 5D2 3rd party flash incompatibility discussion

I sent an email to "ToCAD America", who seems to be the North America distributer/supplier for SunPak. I'll report back on what they say.

http://www.sunpak.com/aboutus.html

Dec 12, 2008 at 12:57 AM

tbartick
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p.2 #11 · 5D2 3rd party flash incompatibility discussion

Mike Hatam wrote:
I sent an email to "ToCAD America", who seems to be the North America distributer/supplier for SunPak. I'll report back on what they say.

http://www.sunpak.com/aboutus.html

Please do!!

Dec 12, 2008 at 05:28 AM

skibum5
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p.2 #12 · 5D2 3rd party flash incompatibility discussion

tbartick wrote:
Mike Hatam wrote:
I sent an email to "ToCAD America", who seems to be the North America distributer/supplier for SunPak. I'll report back on what they say.

http://www.sunpak.com/aboutus.html

Please do!!

i'll stop by in peson myself next week, within spitting distance of where I grew up!
literally exactly 1 mile as the crow flies.

Dec 12, 2008 at 06:28 AM

skibum5
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p.2 #13 · 5D2 3rd party flash incompatibility discussion

Ian.Dobinson wrote:
what does the sunpak do that the 220ex cant? They are about the same cost. The OP says he got this flash for the 5d2. why not get the 220ex instead.

And there a couple of comments above saying that canon should have had a built in flash on the 5d2 but just about everyone berates them as useless pieces of cr@p, and that "proper cameras dont have flashes"

For those that have the sunpak maybe talk to sunpak to see if it can be updated as per the sigma issue.

too big.
i rarely use flash and anything larger and no way i will ever have it with me the odd chance when I end up needing a little flash
you can almost pretend this is a pop-up, although not exactly.

Dec 12, 2008 at 06:31 AM

Mike Hatam
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p.2 #14 · 5D2 3rd party flash incompatibility discussion

I received the following response from ToCAD today:
Dear Mike,

The factory is testing the 50D and the 5d MarkII cameras to compatiblity with our flashes. The electronics are different from the other EOS cameras. I hope to hear from them soon with nes of a firmware upgrade.

Thank you,

Sally Wall
Customer Service Supervisor
Tocad America, Inc.
53 Greenpond Road
Rockaway,NJ 07866
973-627-9600 x115
Fax 973-664-2438

Dec 12, 2008 at 10:07 PM

brainiac
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p.2 #15 · 5D2 3rd party flash incompatibility discussion

skibum5 wrote:
too big.
i rarely use flash and anything larger and no way i will ever have it with me the odd chance when I end up needing a little flash
you can almost pretend this is a pop-up, although not exactly.

The killer application of the Sunpak RD2000 is that you can tilt the head downwards to get the bulb even closer to your lens axis, and thereby minimise shadows cast around people's noses, and onto walls behind them. It's not a ring flash, but it's better for shadows than typical DSLR built-ins.

Dec 12, 2008 at 10:23 PM

therock
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p.2 #16 · 5D2 3rd party flash incompatibility discussion

Mike Hatam wrote:
I received the following response from ToCAD today:
Dear Mike,

The factory is testing the 50D and the 5d MarkII cameras to compatiblity with our flashes. The electronics are different from the other EOS cameras. I hope to hear from them soon with nes of a firmware upgrade.

Thank you,

Sally Wall
Customer Service Supervisor
Tocad America, Inc.
53 Greenpond Road
Rockaway,NJ 07866
973-627-9600 x115
Fax 973-664-2438

I also got a response from ToCAD America Inc also stating they are looking into it.

Dec 12, 2008 at 11:39 PM

bobbytan
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p.2 #17 · 5D2 3rd party flash incompatibility discussion

Hope they can fix the RD2000 compatibility issue with the 50D and 5D II. I have not been able to test it yet, as my 5D II is only scheduled to arrive on Monday - but I am pretty sure I will be faced with the same problem. Darn.

Dec 12, 2008 at 11:51 PM

skibum5
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p.2 #18 · 5D2 3rd party flash incompatibility discussion

brainiac wrote:
skibum5 wrote:
too big.
i rarely use flash and anything larger and no way i will ever have it with me the odd chance when I end up needing a little flash
you can almost pretend this is a pop-up, although not exactly.

The killer application of the Sunpak RD2000 is that you can tilt the head downwards to get the bulb even closer to your lens axis, and thereby minimise shadows cast around people's noses, and onto walls behind them. It's not a ring flash, but it's better for shadows than typical DSLR built-ins.

yeah, it's almost as compact as a built-in, but better as a flash

Dec 13, 2008 at 06:10 AM

Mike Hatam
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p.2 #19 · 5D2 3rd party flash incompatibility discussion

So while we wait for Sunpak's response from their testing, has anyone else had a chance to test the RD2000 on a 5DII?

Dec 14, 2008 at 04:41 PM

bobbytan
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p.2 #20 · 5D2 3rd party flash incompatibility discussion

I will be receiving my 5D II tomorrow and will get the chance to test it then and report back.

Dec 14, 2008 at 04:57 PM

jrsforums
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p.2 #21 · 5D2 3rd party flash incompatibility discussion

I just wanted a small flash to work on my 5D...kind of like the popup flash that wasn't there.

When you really want to go "light", even the 220EX, which I have, gets heavy...primarily due to the 4-AA batteries.

I found the Nissin Di28 at B&H. http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/549062-USA/Nissin_NI_DI28_C_Di28_TTL_Shoe_Mount.html#reviews

Quite small and only takes 2-AAA batteries, so it is a gem for the "light' bag.

This thread got me a bit nervous that it would not work with my 5D2, which arrives tomorrow. Happily, I see that Nissin states it is compatible with the 5D2.
http://www.nissin-japan.com/en/

John

Dec 14, 2008 at 07:26 PM

Mike Hatam
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p.2 #22 · 5D2 3rd party flash incompatibility discussion

John - please post a reply here tomorrow when you receive your 5D2 and have a chance to test your flash. If it's compatible, that may be a good choice.

One drawback of the power-source (two AAA batteries) is the fact that it takes 8 seconds to charge (recycle time). The RD2000, which is actually a smaller unit, recycles faster, and has bounce ability. But if it doesn't work with the 5D2, then it's not an option for me.

Mike

Dec 14, 2008 at 07:58 PM

jrsforums
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p.2 #23 · 5D2 3rd party flash incompatibility discussion

Mike Hatam wrote:
John - please post a reply here tomorrow when you receive your 5D2 and have a chance to test your flash. If it's compatible, that may be a good choice.

One drawback of the power-source (two AAA batteries) is the fact that it takes 8 seconds to charge (recycle time). The RD2000, which is actually a smaller unit, recycles faster, and has bounce ability. But if it doesn't work with the 5D2, then it's not an option for me.

Mike

I am not sure where B&H got the 8 seconds from....maybe using fully depleted batteries. Nissen spec is 0.2 - 4 sec. http://www.nissin-japan.com/en/Di28/index2.html

This is pretty much what I have experienced. I use Eneloop AAAs, which are great. The recycle is more than a 580EX, but...

As for bouncing...if I want to "fill a room with light" I am going to use one of my 580EXs. A 20-22 guidenumber flash is not going to do a real good job at that.

I am not sure what you are looking for in this flash, but I want it to replace the convenience of a popup flash...GN =~ 13, no HS flash, and no AF assist (I refuse to use the popup's white light flash). It is when I am "out and about" and all of a sudden need some fill flash or whatever. If I expect to use a flash, I take a FLASH

I will post tomorrow to confirm it works....JOHN

Dec 14, 2008 at 09:11 PM

shrink1
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p.2 #24 · 5D2 3rd party flash incompatibility discussion

I tried mine and have same result - no go. Left email with Sunpak, we'll see...

Dec 14, 2008 at 10:38 PM

Mike Hatam
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p.2 #25 · 5D2 3rd party flash incompatibility discussion

John - one of the uses I like these little flashes for is to trigger some larger monolights that are set for slave. Bounce is nice for that, as you can aim the flash away from the subject, using it only as a remote trigger for the larger slaves.

Dec 14, 2008 at 11:44 PM


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