External Flash = Better Pictures

I have a Canon PowerShot G7 camera, which was Canon's best compact camera until the G9 was introduced. The G7 and G9 are very similar but technology never stops, although I'm mostly happy with the G7. One thing that could be improved about the camera is its built-in flash. It's not bad as built-in flashes go but it causes a bit too much shine on skin and it causes a lot of red eye. Despite possessing an "anti red-eye" setting, the G7 and my other Canon camera (a PowerShot A700) give me a lot of red-eye when shooting pictures of fair-skinned people. The built-in flash is also good for only about 10 feet or so, and anything more distant drops off quickly.

The solution is the Canon Speedlite 220EX, a small external flash that will mate with the G7's hot shoe atop the camera. (A "hot shoe" is a flash mount that has built-in contacts -- the Canon G7 is one of the few compact digital cameras that has a hot shoe, which is one reason why I wanted a G7.) I bought my 220EX from Amazon because I had a $15 discount coupon for Amazon. The undiscounted price for the 220EX was $122 and I paid $107 -- The 220EX sells for about $120 from reputable dealers, so Amazon's price is competitive.

What it is

The Canon Speedlite 220EX is a small external flash unit that will work with most of Canon's digital SLR cameras. It will also work with Canon's G7 and G9 cameras. It's small, about 3.75 inches tall and 2.5 inches wide, and it weighs about 10 ounces when filled with four AA batteries. The unit is small enough to easily slip into a pocket. It docks quickly with the hot shoe on top of my camera and a small lever then locks it in place. The resulting package weighs about as much as a typical single-lens reflex camera without an external flash, and it's quick to break down the 220EX and G7 camera into two pieces that are easily carried in pockets.

There's really not much for controls on the Speedlite 220EX -- just an on/off switch, test button, high-speed sync switch and a couple of status lamps to let you know how the unit is set. Mostly, it works with the E-TTL II communications standard, which is built into my Canon G7 camera. I'm not going to get into all the technology but the important thing to remember from this is that the camera will know automatically when the 220EX is mounted and revise its operation to take the 220EX into account. In other words, all the exposure settings are handled automatically when the 220EX is mounted on the Canon G7 or other compatible camera. That's another reason why I wanted to get a Canon G7 and the Speedlite 220EX.

The Canon 220EX uses four AA batteries and a set of fresh alkaline batteries will last for 500 flashes or so. I'm now using rechargables and they are still working strong after 100 flashes or so. It would be nice to have some sort of battery gauge on the 220EX so that I could swap weak batteries before they die completely.

The 220EX mounts firmly atop the camera. The combination of the G7 camera and the 220EX flash unit is somewhat top heavy. The camera will stand upright with the flash attached but it's easy to tip over. A few hard tips and I'll be worried if the 220EX's mount will break. Otherwise, the 220EX seems to be sturdily built and it feels like a quality piece of gear. I'm pretty gentle with my stuff, so my expectation is that this unit will last me a long time.

Using it

Immediately, I saw that the flash from the 220EX reached further into the shadows and lit things up more evenly than the camera's built-in flash. It also works wonders on skin, just about eliminating the shine that you can get on faces when using a flash. Also important was the way that the 220EX eliminated red eye. My wife is very susceptible to red eye, and pictures taken of her using the 220EX show no red-eye at all -- it's completely gone. This will be a time saver for me when I adjust all my pictures in Photoshop, since eliminating red-eye is something I do manually and it can be time-consuming.

In addition, the Speedlite 220EX works very well for taking shots of products and widgets at distances of two to six feet (70 to 180 cm). Surprisingly, it does not overlight something that's just two feet away. Rather, it casts a bright, even light that looks great and brings out all the detail.

I took some shots of products with the G7/220EX combination where I was positioned close (about three feet) from the product. I used daylight coming through a window for a backlight and set the camera to its "macro" focus setting. I zoomed in a bit to compose the shot and to cause the background to be out of focus. The resulting pictures were excellent, with the object very clear and evenly lit. Better still, the background had natural-looking light but was nicely out of focus. This did exactly what I wanted it to do -- draw the eye to the foreground object. I was able to do this in seconds with just the camera, the 220EX flash and natural light through a window. It saved a bunch of Photoshop time.

I really like the ability of the Speedlite 220EX to make bright, even light, even when working surprisingly close. In addition, I also appreciate the fact that I get more realistic skin tones and no red eye when I use the 220EX. The unit is also exceptionally easy to use -- all I have to do is turn it on and the camera does the rest. One other benefit is that I still sometimes accidentally cover the camera's built-in flash with a misplaced finger, but that's impossible to do with the 220EX.

What I don't like is the added weight of the 220EX atop my camera, and how the camera now is more unstable if set on a flat surface. However, adding a flash will do that so I got the smallest flash unit I could find that would work automatically with my camera.

One more item for my Speedlite 220EX wish list: I'd like it to have the ability to pop in diffusers or gels. Right now, the flash head points toward the subject and slightly upward. A simple way to add a diffuser and/or colored gels would be an excellent addition.

Finally, using the 220EX with the G7 camera is really automatic. Other than mounting the flash unit and switching it on, I do nothing else. The G7 camera talks to the 220EX to set all the settings and handle timing -- all I have to do is think about how I want to take the picture and shoot. I thought that there might need to be things for me to learn when I use the 220EX but all settings are automatic. Nice!

Summary

I occasionally take pictures professionally, mostly snapshots of people interacting with various bits of high-tech equipment. One problem I've had is that I can sometimes get a lot of shine back from people's faces and the Canon 220EX reduces that by quite a bit. The 220EX also saves time by eliminating red eye, something I used to spend minutes on each picture cleaning up. The even light that I get from the 220EX also banishes dark corners that the camera's built-in flash can't handle. One final benefit: Since the Speedlite 220EX mounts directly over the camera's lens, it kills the shadows on the side of people that I get when using the camera's built-in flash. This is another picture-processing time saver and it makes pictures look more professional without that shadow.

The trade off is the the G7 camera is much heavier and more awkward to handle with the 220EX flash unit mounted. I will not always use the 220EX but do plan to use it when its advantages will save me time and make better pictures, which it definitely does when taking pictures of people. I recommend the Canon 220EX Speedlite flash unit.