I'm curious if anyone has seen results of how the new Canon E-TTL metering system works compared to Nikons flash metering system. Nikon has always had the upper edge here and I'm wondering if Canon really has closed that gap with E-TTL or if they still need some work. I don't want to create a brand war here, but rather a sensible discussion between the two systems and their pro's and cons...thanks.

-- Bill Meyer (william_meyer@stortek.com), February 09, 1999

Answers

A friend who edits a major photo magazine was just floored by the new Canon flash and thought it eclipsed even the EOS-3 in importance. He particularly liked using two or three of them at once that I could afford such luxury!). Others who have read the specs still think that Nikon's patents preclude the system from catching up with the Nikon. Most on-camera flash photography is so awful regardless of brand that I wonder sometimes what all the fuss is about. Although I own and use dedicated Nikon flash (with a Micro Apollo softbox and a Stroboframe to get the damn thing away from the line of sight), I'm not convinced that the hundreds of dollars I put into the setup give me any better pictures than I would get with a Vivitar 283, a 3x5 card and some Scotch tape. I too will be very interested in the more substantive responses you get (I realize I've merely added to your question without answering anything). I hope someone on this forum has had a chance to use both systems.

-- Mark Hubbard (hubbard@humboldt1.com), February 16, 1999.

One of the things I've become convinced of is that the Canon flash system is NOT the terrible beast it's been made out to be. I know that from a theoretical design standpoint the Nikon flash metering is more elegant, and it really appeals to the technoweenie in me. Quite simply, it's done right.

Many people have translated this to mean that Nikon's flash system is so superior to Canon's that the results gotten with Canon's system are crap. Nothing could be further from the truth.

I'm not even talking about E-TTL, either. I'm talking about Canon's regular TTL metering. It works, and works very well for people who bother to read the manuals before using it. Glen Johnson (a regular contributor to photo.net) has been trying to convince people of this for a few years now but it appears his arguments have fallen on deaf ears.

I readily admit that I did not completely understand how Canon's flash algorithms worked when I first started shooting flash stuff with my Elan and A2. I occasionally got poorly exposed flash shots; I assumed this was the result of Canon's "inferior" flash system. Glen later managed to convince me that this wasn't the case. It's important to remember that the focus/recompose/shoot trick can screw up the flash exposure. If your subject is under one of the side sensors in an A2, for example, you should manually select that sensor rather than focusing with the center sensor and recomposing. The flash metering is linked to the selected focus sensor and will work properly if you work the camera properly, so to speak.

Since following Glen's advice, I have never (read that again: NEVER) gotten an improperly-exposed flash shot. Even though Canon's flash system may not be as conceptually interesting or advanced as Nikon's, the system is capable of (and will deliver) professional quality results in the hands of someone who knows how to use it.

On a different note, Mark's friend was obviously impressed with the cordless E-TTL operation of the new Canon flash. This is impressive; only Minolta's wireless system offers similar functionality. But for those of us who can't afford $500 flash units and the EOS-3 to drive them, the old standard TTL metering works fine.

-- Russ Arcuri (arcuri@borg.com), February 16, 1999.

For Mark Hubbard,

We are talking about more toward the actual E-TTL metering system for the flash, not exactly toword the flash unit itself. In another word, if u use a Vivitar Flash which is dedicate to work on the Nikon system, you still get 3D Matrix metering with the flash! Now, aside from using the speedlights on Manual Mode...I know the TTL on Canon and Nikon perform the same in most situation except, the Nikon TTL works better when it comes to taking the pics in Extreamly Dark situation, or with 2 subjects @ diff. Distance! Of course they are only my subjective opinions!

Eddy

-- Eddy Lau (laueddy@hotmail.com), May 20, 2000.