Weighing Canon Digital SLRs Based on Infrared Flash Features

If you will be doing any amount of studio photography, then you really should practice how to use non-wired flash. Some people love available light. This has its moments. But in the end, the best portraits necessitate a designed lighting solution.

Does this bring about any issues to weigh? First, you will need to possess the lights, and that’s some money. After that, you need to plan a way to set off those speedlights wirelessly. When you start to try out strobist style photography, this other part can be quite complicated and intimidating.

Less recent Canon dSLRs didn’t have default radio abilities. Either a pair of pocket wizards, a OEM Canon infrared transmitter, or some cheaper knock off radio triggers are among the things you'll need. I needed to buy a pack of radio triggers when I started to use lights with my Canon EOS Rebel t1i. It didn’t come with a built in commander flash.

A on camera commander flash has become a default feature on a lot of Canon  cameras, and let's hope this pattern continues. So which Canon dSLR cameras start with the power to set off speedlites?

The built in commander flash is a standard on each of the most recent Canon digital cameras. That means that the Canon EOS Rebel t3i 600D, the Caon EOS 60D, and the Canon EOS 7D will all work. On any of these cameras, the built in flash can be used as a commander flash, and it will without wires set off the main flashes in the group. The pop up flash sets off to put out this signal, but the power strength of this initial flash is low enough that it can't alter the brightness of your image (unless of course you set it to and you jack up the strength).

Past cameras, like the Canon EOS t2i and the Canon EOS 50D, don’t include this feature. The professional end Canon digital SLR cameras, like the Canon EOS 5D and the Canon EOS 1D Mark IV, don’t sport on board flashes at all. So those cameras don’t include that feature either. But honestly, if you’re paying upwards of $2,000 on a camera, it isn't a giant issue to invest a couple hundred USD on a Canon ST-E2 IR transmitter.

If you’re still comparing the t2i vs t3i, then this is a perfect reason to opt for the more recent camera. If, though, you’re still deciding between the Canon 60D vs 7D, this isn’t gonna be much help. They’ve both got the same possibilities for flashes.