p.1 #1 · Canon Speedlite 600EX II-RT Discontinued / New EL-5 announced
B&H is now listing the Canon Speedlite 600EX II-RT as discontinued.
Pure speculation here, but I will guess that the R6 and R5 get refreshed with some of the R7 features and the new flash hot shoe soon. R6II is in the rumor mill, and I don't see Canon leaving the R5 out of the party if the R6II has the new hot shoe.
I would also guess that any new flash unit from Canon would have the new smart hot shoe.
p.1 #2 · Canon Speedlite 600EX II-RT Discontinued / New EL-5 announced
Would be nice if they go with a lithium battery like the EL-1, 1.5-2 seconds full power recycling (EL-1 does it in about 1 second), but at a more earthly price point.
Indeed this Canon Japan page, that lists end of support dates for products, shows the 600EXRT II as supported until February 2027. It would appear that once a date is set, a product will soon be discontinued, if it isn't already.
p.1 #3 · Canon Speedlite 600EX II-RT Discontinued / New EL-5 announced
Wouldn't be surprised if the EL-1 is up for refresh soon also since it has the old style shoe. Maybe Canon will use the new shoe design to lock out third party flash manufacturers from future compatibility.
p.1 #4 · Canon Speedlite 600EX II-RT Discontinued / New EL-5 announced
Hopefully a direct replacement will be announced soon. The EL-1 is too pricey for all but working pros and those with very deep pockets, especially if you want a few of them in your kit.
For me, I hope it means the used price drops more on the second hand market.
p.1 #7 · Canon Speedlite 600EX II-RT Discontinued / New EL-5 announced
So here is where it gets complicated. I use a flash bracket and by testing with the AD-E1 adapter...the new hot shoe on the EL-5 will not fit the RRS cold shoe. Will need a newly designed cold shoe and/or a new flash cord. Does RRS even still make flash accessories, and how long a wait to get a compatible flash cord?
p.1 #8 · Canon Speedlite 600EX II-RT Discontinued / New EL-5 announced
I'm surprised how close the performance specs are for the EL-5 compared to the EL-1. In particular, full power recycling speed is 1.2 seconds vs. 0.9, which is much better than I expected (around 2 seconds).
Mixed feelings though about the new hot shoe foot. Hopefully there will be an adapter to allow use with older cameras, including DSLRs.
p.1 #9 · Canon Speedlite 600EX II-RT Discontinued / New EL-5 announced
The EL-1 was priced too high and while I like the EL-5 much better in terms of value, I think the move to a non-standard hot shoe is a problem.
They will sell more of these flashes than they did the EL-1 for sure, but Godox still owns the flash market here, for better or worse. Canon's missteps with flashes over the past 10 years have been very frustrating indeed.
p.1 #10 · Canon Speedlite 600EX II-RT Discontinued / New EL-5 announced
I preordered one the EL-5. As mentioned, I old school shoot with a bracket doing event photography and will need a compatible flash cord sooner rather than later.
p.1 #11 · Canon Speedlite 600EX II-RT Discontinued / New EL-5 announced
What did they do to the flash mount? It's like that Minolta disaster years ago.
Are there two adapters needed, one for normal camera to the new flash and one for the new cameras to a normal flash? How well do they handle the weight of the flash at a 90° angle?
p.1 #12 · Canon Speedlite 600EX II-RT Discontinued / New EL-5 announced
Hopefully Canon will release a new flash cord by the time the EL-5 ships. And hopefully they won't block 3rd party flash cords. I'm also hoping that someone makes new cold shoes to use with flash brackets and off camera setups...That's a lot of hoping. . Might be able to file the stop pin off of an existing cold shoe in a pinch to use the flash wirelessly and just mount very carefully in the meantime. The flash adapter will hang off the back and not fully seat on my RRS bracket shoe, but it was a VERY tight fit, and would not lock down on the RRS arca-swiss cold shoe.
Hopefully another adapter coming to use the new flash with legacy hot shoes as well.
p.1 #13 · Canon Speedlite 600EX II-RT Discontinued / New EL-5 announced
Without a cold shoe or adapter cord it's rather useless. Who mounts a flash directly on the camera I guess the only viable option now for quickly swapping old/new style bodies is to use the honkin' EL-1 with an OC cord and put the AD-E1 on the bodies that use it, like the R7. It could be a year before the R5 is replaced with new flash mount.
p.1 #14 · Canon Speedlite 600EX II-RT Discontinued / New EL-5 announced
Just when I have fully switched to RF and thought I was done with adapters...round two. . My 580EX burned out this last spring leaving me with the 600EX II RT as my only high powered flash. I pre-ordered an EL-5 as a future proof backup flash. I have an R5 and an R7 so I can straddle the line between the old flashes and the new flashes at least until the R5mkII comes out. I do also have a 430EX III-RT that will serve as a last resort backup. If it comes down to it, I may be able to file the stop pin off a cheap cold shoe and trigger the EL-5 wirelessly on the R7 with the ST-E10.
p.1 #15 · Canon Speedlite 600EX II-RT Discontinued / New EL-5 announced
It's not difficult to find either version of the 600 flash on the secondhand market. That's how I've amassed my collection. But apparently according to this Canon Japan page that lists anticipated end of support for their products (https://canon.jp/support/repair/period), the 600 version 1 will no longer be supported/serviced after February 2023. Version 2 is scheduled to lose support after February 2027.
My intention is to enter Canon mirrorless with the R6II to hold me over until the R5II (or similar) is available. One reason, among a few, that I'm not interested in the R6 or R5, is the EL-5. After having demoed the EL-1 courtesy of CPS, and if the EL-5 is indeed about 85-90% as capable, I want to move away from AA powered on-camera flash. Yeah, I know Godox exists, but want to stick with Canon's RT system, given my collection of 600s. Having seen Godox's past missteps and lack of support, I don't really trust them to step up when problems surface. At least with Canon there is CPS and the equipment is serviceable rather than pseudo-disposable.
EB-1 wrote:
Without a cold shoe or adapter cord it's rather useless. Who mounts a flash directly on the camera
, I haven't use a flash bracket since probably 2002 and bounce for virtually all indoor flash use. If it's outside and the flash needs to be above the lens, then just shoot horizontal (I'm half joking). For OCF work, I'm probably using my strobes instead anyway.
p.1 #16 · Canon Speedlite 600EX II-RT Discontinued / New EL-5 announced
I sometimes use the Wimberly system with extension attached to a gimbal for the 600/4 or 500/4. I would rather use the EL-5 than the EL-1, but it's not happening now. It is good to see that they both use the same battery so the EL-1 should be viable years after being discontinued.
p.1 #17 · Canon Speedlite 600EX II-RT Discontinued / New EL-5 announced
rscheffler wrote:
I want to move away from AA powered on-camera flash. Yeah, I know Godox exists, but want to stick with Canon's RT system, given my collection of 600s.
p.1 #19 · Canon Speedlite 600EX II-RT Discontinued / New EL-5 announced
I pre-ordered but I read that Canon has delayed the launch of the EL-5 to this summer. My camera store said there’s no ETA but will get back to me by end of May.
. Might be able to file the stop pin off of an existing cold shoe in a pinch to use the flash wirelessly and just mount very carefully in the meantime. The flash adapter will hang off the back and not fully seat on my RRS bracket shoe, but it was a VERY tight fit, and would not lock down on the RRS arca-swiss cold shoe.
I guess the only viable option now for quickly swapping old/new style bodies is to use the honkin' EL-1 with an OC cord and put the AD-E1 on the bodies that use it, like the R7. It could be a year before the R5 is replaced with new flash mount. 