Notes on the Canon Speedlite 430EZ Flash Unit.

Copyright © 2000-2007 NK Guy

http://photonotes.org/reviews/speedlite-430ez/

Some notes on my Canon Speedlite 430EZ dedicated flash. This is a long-discontinued external flash unit that’s compatible with all Canon EOS film cameras, though in TTL and A-TTL modes only. The EOS cameras that can’t use this flash in an automated fashion are all the post-DCS digital EOS cameras, which lack TTL flash sensors and thus require E-TTL flash units and the EF-M, which is barely an EOS camera and which did not include autofocus or TTL flash circuitry. For more details please consult my flash article.

The 430EZ is a pretty solid and sturdy unit that worked quite well for me when I was still regularly shooting film. Top of the line when it was introduced back in 1989. Like most external flash units it uses four AA batteries and fastens to the camera’s hotshoe. It’s probably the cheapest Canon flash unit you can find that has a tilt and swivel head and handles flash exposure compensation. And even though I’m shooting mostly digital now, I’ve still had use for this flash - I set it to its lowest manual output and used it to trigger studio flash units from my digital EOS 10D camera.

If you’re reading this because you’re thinking of buying one you should probably take a look at Dave Herzstein’s EOS flash comparison table, which compares the various models Canon has introduced over the years. Or look at PhotoZone’s Canon flash page.

Note that much of the information here also applies to this flash unit’s predecessor, the Speedlite 420EZ. (though not the 420EX) However, the 420EZ has slightly different specs and certain features - most notably flash exposure compensation - are missing. One or two buttons are labelled differently as well. If you have a 540EZ you may want to consult Jim Strutz’s manual.

For more information about using flash gear with EOS cameras I encourage you to have a look at my Flash Photography with Canon EOS article. It goes into considerable detail and explains a lot of things that I briefly mention in this review.

Stuff I like about the 430EZ.

• It’s got decent power output for a portable unit. Not quite as much power as the 540EZ and the 550EX of course, but a guide number of 43 (metres, not feet) is reasonable for most stuff.
  But note that the 540EZ and 550EX have a guide number of 50 at 80mm, which is the maximum range of the 430EZ. So they aren’t that much more powerful than the 430EZ when you’re shooting with short focal lengths, since the apparent power difference is largely a result of the greater zoom range of the newer flashes and not due to a massively more powerful flash tube.


• It has a nice crisp backlit LCD. All the useful information is displayed on a screen with optional electroluminescent lighting for night operation. Sure wish my damned cameras also had backlit LCDs so I could operate them without fumbling with a flashlight.


• It has full tilt and swivel on the flash head. You can tilt from 0° (straight on) to 90°. Left swivel goes from 0° to 180° - facing all the way backwards. Right swivel only goes from 0° to 90°. Unlike the 540EZ and 550EX it has no downwards tilt for macro shots.


• It has flash exposure compensation (FEC), from -3 to +3 stops, in 1/3 stop increments. (the 540EZ and the 550EX also have FEC, but this feature is sadly lacking in the 420EZ, which is why I wouldn’t recommend the 420EZ) FEC lets you dial increased or decreased flash energy to your subject as you like. The compensation amount is displayed on the flash unit’s LCD.
  These manual FEC controls are important. Certain cameras either lack FEC controls altogether (eg: 10/10s) or have FEC controls which affect the built-in flash only and do not affect external flash units (the Elan/100). Such cameras require FEC adjustments to be done via controls on the flash unit itself. Many flash units lack such manual FEC controls, but luckily the 430EZ has pushbuttons on the back of the unit for this. Newer midrange and pro Canon bodies don’t have this limitation - they can instruct most external flash units to apply FEC whether or not the flash unit has FEC buttons.


• Flash zoom is controllable manually as well as automatically. So you could narrow the zoom down to get a spotlight effect with wide angle lenses or adjust the zoom distance when using manual lenses.


• It has second-curtain sync which can be engaged by pushing the + and - buttons simultaneously. In second-curtain sync mode a little arrow symbol appears in the flash unit’s LCD. I don’t know if newer model Canon bodies can instruct this older flash to use first or second curtain sync - I suspect not, as no EOS camera had such a custom function when the 430EZ was released.
  Such manual controls allow you to enable second-curtain sync on all Canons except the EOS 750 and 850 and not just those models which have a second-curtain sync custom function. So even if you have an old EOS Rebel/1000, say, you can still use second-curtain sync with this external flash.


• Sto-Fen sell an Omnibounce flash diffuser that fits the 430EZ. This is just a hugely overpriced but nonetheless useful chunk of moulded milky-white plastic that fits over the flash head and diffuses the light from the unit. The result is much smoother lighting - it reduces the usual rabbit-in-the-headlights look of flash photography. The drawbacks are that it costs a couple stops of light output, so it’s not very good if you need full-on range, and it doesn’t really do anything outdoors or in locations with dark walls or high ceilings, since it relies on light bouncing off white walls.
  Note that Sto-Fen have a Web site with online ordering, but it might be cheaper and quicker for you to buy your diffuser from a local retailer or somewhere. That was my experience, anyway. Worth checking it out.


• It has a strobe mode, up to 10 Hz. (10 flashes per second) So you can do fun tricks like this photo here. The 540EZ can strobe up to 100 Hz, but frankly I don’t really feel any need for such high-frequency strobing. The 420EZ can only strobe at 5 Hz.


• It has a power jack for an external battery pack, unlike the 420EZ. Sadly, external battery packs are all big and monstrously expensive, but there you go. Also, the flash’s rapid-fire option doesn’t work with external batteries, unlike like later Canon flash units.


• It has a red autofocus (AF) assist light, though the light is subject to the limitations noted below. (note particularly the flash mounting bracket problem)


• Reasonably quiet - just the usual whining noise when powering up. The 540EZ and 550EX make a lot of noise when idle, but the 430EZ is nearly silent. The zoom motor does make a buzzing noise when adjusting settings, however.


• Fully compatible with Canon’s off-camera shoe cord, which can preserve all flash metering functions. The cord is expensive as hell, though.

Stuff I don’t like about the 430EZ.

• The 430EZ uses A-TTL (Canon’s “advanced” through-the-lens flash metering system) in bounce mode, unlike the 540EZ which only works in TTL mode when bouncing.
  When used in straight-on mode the 430EZ emits an A-TTL pre-flash using the near-infrared emitter on the front. (This isn’t the same as the AF assist light - it’s a lamp located above it.) But when used in bounce mode the 430EZ emits a pre-flash using the main flash tube set at reduced output. This blinding flash of white light during the metering phase is really annoying to human subjects. It also makes them think you’ve taken a photo when in fact you haven’t.
  The 540EZ only uses A-TTL flash metering for the P mode and the idiot (PIC) modes. The 430EZ, however, uses A-TTL metering for Av and Tv modes as well, which is quite useless since the whole point of the preflash is to set a small aperture to ensure depth of field (pointless, especially in Av mode) and to test for the out of range confirmation light (a feature found only on the EOS 630, RT and 1 cameras - no others). Consult my flash photography document for more details about this.


• It’s pretty big and heavy and inconvenient. When it’s installed on the camera you can’t wear the camera easily around your neck anymore, unless you have a big pro camera like the 1, 1N or 1V, or unless you have a gigantic lens on your camera. The centre of gravity gets shifted way up and the whole thing flips down. The flash also looks pretty daunting to a lot of subjects. This is the case with all of Canon’s larger flash units, of course.


• No flash exposure confirmation lamp. The 540EZ and nearly all EX flash units have an LED on the back that lights up to confirm adequate flash output for your foreground subject. This light should be in the damned viewfinder of the camera, so you don’t have to lift your head up and look at the back, but apparently Canon doesn’t support such a feature for patent reasons.


• It lacks E-TTL (evaluative through-the-lens) flash metering and related Canon flash technologies such as FP (focal plane) high-speed flash sync and flash exposure lock. Neither does it have a modelling light option or wireless capabilities. Of course, it lacks these features for the simple reason that none of them existed when the 430EZ was released. So if you have a type A camera body (one which supports E-TTL) or are thinking of upgrading to a type A body at some point I don’t recommend this flash. Buy an EX series Speedlite so you won’t be stuck with old flash technology. TTL flash is okay but easily fooled and A-TTL flash is pretty well useless. E-TTL is a much better automated flash technology.


• When the batteries run low my 430EZ tends to start behaving erratically. It’ll fire the flash at random, buzz the zoom motor. Very disconcerting. It stops misbehaving when you put new batteries in.


• It lacks downwards tilt. The 540EZ and 550EX can tilt downwards 7 degrees for macro photography. This is less of an issue if you use a diffuser, of course.


• This is more an observation than a complaint, since the problem stems from basic geometry. But if you mount the flash on a flash bracket like a Stroboframe you’ll find that the AF assist light no longer lines up properly with the centre focus point, rendering it useless. If you have a camera with more than three focusing points you can probably compensate for this by choosing an upper focus point, but this isn’t an option for me - my Elan has only a centre focus point.
  If you have an adjustable bracket you can adjust the tilt angle so the AF light is more or less correctly aligned for near or far distances. But not both, since you can’t adjust the angle of the AF LED itself relative to the flash body. Just something to keep in mind - ditch the bracket if you’re doing low-light shooting. Rely on bounce flash or a diffuser to cut ugly shadowing and stuff.


• Its zoom motor can’t go wider than 24mm. The 540EZ and 550EX have a wide-angle adapter panel, which flips down to widen the range a bit. Or you can just buy an Omnibounce (see above) or something. Note that using the plain flash set to 24mm with a wider-angle lens is a bad idea, as you’ll get vignetting - darkened edges of the picture that aren’t illuminated.


• Its zoom motor can’t go narrower than 80mm. The 540EZ and 550EX can go to 105mm, which would be very convenient for me since I have a 28-105 lens. Note that unlike the wide angle problem you can still use longer lenses at an 80mm flash zoom setting - having zoom flashes which concentrate the beam down further simply means you get increased range.


• You can’t switch between imperial and metric units for the rear-panel display of coupling range distance in manual and stroboscopic mode. There were two versions of the 430EZ sold - one for the US market that measures distances in feet, and one for every other country in the world that measures distances in metres. I can think OK in metres, and so my Canadian-bought flash is fine for me, but it could be a problem for some people. The 540EZ and 550EX have a better solution - there’s a small switch tucked away inside the battery compartment that lets you switch between the two measuring systems.


• It takes a few seconds to recycle between flashes if you’re going for reasonable output. Oh well. Basic physics. Not much you can do about this from 4 AA batteries, though NiCads are faster than alkalines are recycling - they just have shorter lifespans.


• If you have a camera with multiple focusing points then the 540EZ is better since it’s got a wider AF assist light beam compared to the 430EZ, which can only cover the central AF point. Note: this does not apply to the EOS 5/A2(E) and to the EOS 10/10s, since those cameras will not ever activate the AF assist light on a flash unit because of a huge lack of foresight on Canon’s part.


• Manual flash setting goes down only to 1/32 (6 levels), not 1/128 (8 levels) like the 540EZ. In practice I don’t find this a huge problem. Mainly because I don’t really use flash in manual mode much anyway - except for firing studio strobes, as mentioned above. In this case I point the flash head away from the subject, so it doesn’t contribute much light.


• Apparently you can’t use lithium AA cells with the 430EZ, but you can with the newer models. Something to do with the output levels not matching or something like that. As noted above you can use NiCad AAs with the 430EZ which offer faster recycle time than regular alkaline AAs, because NiCads have lower internal resistance. However NiCads also don’t last very long so you have to replace batteries a lot more often.

- NK Guy, PhotoNotes.org.

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