Author: Martin
With the micro-single camera gradually becoming the mainstream of the market, high-speed continuous shooting + extreme speed focus has become the standard of the current camera, even if the non-flagship camera like the EOS R6, its continuous shooting speed has reached the exaggerated level of 12 frames per second (under the mechanical shutter), which has reached the continuous shooting speed that can only be achieved by the original Canon flagship machine. I have to sigh that the advent of the micro-single era and the simplification of the mechanical structure have greatly improved the shooting performance of the camera.
Canon EL-1 flash appearance
< h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > appearance part</h1>
Canon SPEEDLITE EL-1 this flash, the first thing that catches the most attention is his red circle. All along, the most iconic Canon lens is the red circle lens, see the red circle you know that it represents nobility and luxury, the original intention of Canon to give the red circle itself is luxury, that is, the meaning of Luxury, so the Canon red circle will write L after the lens number. And this flash, also cleverly used the L lens design concept, adding a red circle in the position of the flash head. Although it doesn't feel like the finishing touch to the lens, it also brings a little different freshness to the flash.
Iconic red circle
The workmanship part of the flash, in fact, there is nothing particularly good to say, as canon flagship flash, there will be no iterative products in the next few years, so there is definitely nothing to be picky about in the workmanship. Frosted plastic texture, feel very good, lamp head angle adjustment paragraph is clear, completely worthy of the overall use of texture, and Canon is very intimate in the battery compartment and lamp head position to do anti-slip treatment, so that in the operation to prevent slipping and reduce efficiency, when shooting a sweat is easy to appear slippage.
Canon has added a non-slip treatment
About the flash button feel, this point I have to take out a good boast, as Canon's flagship flash SPEEDLITE EL-1 button feel is very good, tight and not rough, even the wave wheel feel is very solid, reflecting the canon flagship camera workmanship, especially the flash wheel in the middle of the lever, although it looks small, but it is also very cool to use, the feedback is clear and very tight, there is a sense of familiarity of 5D4. In short, the feel, SPEEDLITE EL-1 has nothing to say, really good.
The keys feel very solid in the hand
On the back of the flash, Canon uses the ink screen as an information display, compared with the previous flagship, it seems to be more advanced, the overall display effect is very clear and comfortable, the menu operation is more intuitive when using, and even feel that the manual can be operated directly, compared to most of the flash, it is too convenient, and I have to admire Canon's menu design, which has been kept logically clear and easy to understand, even for novices The threshold for use is relatively low. The only thing to note is that this screen is getting bigger, so it is easy to stick fingerprints or scratches, and you still have to be a little careful when using it.
The angle of the lamp head is clear
In the flash lamp head position, we see that there is an LED light, this is also in this generation only added to the modeling light function, in the shooting process to provide a constant light source, to a certain extent to ensure the camera focus of the illuminance, sometimes the photographer switches to video shooting, can also provide a simple lighting fill function, although the light is still relatively hard, but there is always better than nothing, after all, this is only a modeling light.
Styling light provides focus assist light as well as temporary shooting emergencies
Flash with the bag gifted two color warm film, a soft light cover, these two parts can be used overlapped together, the fixing method or the traditional snap mode, this I still want to complain, why not choose a more convenient magnetic fixing? Although this snap-on installation is not slow, but it is still a lot slower than the magnetic suction type, and the installation is slightly unfamiliar with the situation that the snap-on card does not go in, and even accidentally pops up to fall on the ground, the jingle-dongling sound may appear a little awkward on the spot, and it is relatively not very convenient to store it, it is strongly recommended that Canon's next flagship can make the diffuser into a magnetic type, the use experience will rise a lot, and it looks more advanced isn't it.
Snap-on soft + color temperature adjustment accessory
A diffuser and two color warmers are given as a random gift
< h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > performance portion</h1>
Canon "micro flash" new concept
When it comes to performance, it's basically the most powerful part of the SPEEDLITEEL-1, and the first thing that surprised me the most was Canon's "micro-flash" concept. Everyone familiar with flash knows that the maximum power of the general flash is 1/1, and the minimum power is 1/128, which basically covers all the power of the flash, and indeed it is more common to all the power. But Canon is not, on the basis of 1/128 further expanded to 1/8192, you are not mistaken, it is 1/8192. Such a low flash power I still wondered at first, why do you need to be so low, and then I found out: real fragrance. Lower power to give users a more flexible fill light experience, in some of the more dim scenes, photographers must have encountered both want to maintain a sense of atmosphere, but also want to use flash to supplement a little facial light, even if 1/128 or appear some light, at this time 1/8192 micro flash is very suitable, both can supplement a little facial light, but also can maintain the overall picture of the sense of ambience, I have to say that Canon this is very intimate. In my impression, this should be the first manufacturer to do this, very intimate.
Flash 1/8192 microflash mode brings more possibilities for shooting
Canon EL-1 flash full view
Call back speed + battery life measured
After talking about the "micro-flash" function of the flash, the point where the flagship flash is settled is the return speed, as a high-power flash lamp with a flash index of 60, to ensure the return speed must use a higher voltage lithium battery. Now many powerful flashes can do a relatively fast return speed is because of the addition of lithium batteries, before the Canon flagship flash or the use of the No. 5 battery, with a slow return speed, battery life is relatively poor problems, and the No. 5 battery has to be purchased by a third party, the battery quality is uneven and also very affects the use experience. Now that the SPEEDLITE EL-1 uses Canon's LP-EL battery specially developed for flash, its endurance is also very useful. In the actual test, the continuous full power output, from full power to no battery, can reach 327 shots, this value is my actual test (the eyes are almost blind), compared to the previous use of the No. 5 battery, the battery life improvement is very huge.
Of course, there is a natural problem with the use of lithium batteries, that is, if you want to prevent the scene shooting from suddenly running out of power, you must buy another battery in case of emergency, compared to the No. 5 battery is still troublesome, and it has increased some costs. Fortunately, the battery life is relatively long, so this problem has not yet occurred when the shooting intensity is not high, but it is necessary to pay attention to this situation. There is also a point of more intimate is that the LP-EL battery charger and the Canon camera battery are universal, this battery looks very similar to the battery of the Canon camera, that is, it is a long section, so there is L in the model, and it is estimated that it represents Long bar.
Lithium batteries make a great contribution to the return performance
In order to test the actual callback speed, I tested according to the relatively high power of 1/1, 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, and took the method of shooting with 5dsr high-speed continuous shooting (5 shots per second) to detect the interval between returns. After each test, the flash battery will be fully charged again to ensure that the flash battery is in the best state, and the test results are as follows:
1/1 power:
Due to the full output of power, it is basically to shoot 1 shot, 3 missed flashes, and after shooting 20 consecutive shots, start shooting 1 missing 4 shots, which is maintained for a long time. It can be seen that the full power output high-speed continuous shooting is still more difficult, the official website data is full power 0.9s recycling speed, the actual measurement began to shoot 1 leak 3 photos, the return speed is between 0.6-0.8, and then keep shooting 1 leak 4 shots for a long time, the return speed is between 0.8-1.0s, and maintain for a long time, the basic performance is slightly better than the official website.
1/2 power:
The first 10 shots are 1 shot per shot, 1 missed flash, and after 10 consecutive shots, there is an alternating situation of shooting 1 missed 2 shots and shooting 1 missed flash, which is maintained for a long time.
1/4 power:
After shooting 13 consecutive shots, there was a leak, then 8 shots followed by another 1 miss, and after 5 shots, there were 7 consecutive misses.
1/8 power:
After shooting 218 shots in a row, there was no leakage, in fact, it was still possible to shoot, but the shutter did not continue.
It can be seen that the Canon SPEEDLITEEL-1 flash can maintain a continuous output of 5 shots per second if it is used in daily use of 1/8, which is quite practical, because 1/8 is more than enough in most scenes. If the full power output, the basic return speed is about 0.8s, which is also considered to be the flagship level in the flash.
Flash to dissipate heat
In the test process, even if it is a violent test, I found that the Canon SPEEDLITEEL-1 flash also basically does not appear to be overheated, compared to most of the flash has a significant improvement, in order to test the overheating situation, I full power output, after shooting 182 shots, the flash appeared overheat alarm situation, basically can meet 99% of the use of the scene, and at this time is not unable to shoot, just a sign of overheating, and Canon speedlite El-1 increased active heat dissipation, when the lamp head temperature is high, the fan will actively dissipate heat to ensure high power output, so even if it is forced to shoot when the high temperature alarm is not impossible, it is a little painful not to continue to test.
Flash coverage uniformity
In addition to the flash speed and flash index, the uniformity of the flash line is also very important, canon SPEEDLITE EL-1 in order to make the shooting screen flash more evenly, the lamp head is also much larger than the previous generation, which helps to evenly distribute the time line in the wide-angle shooting.
To test the light uniformity of the SPEEDLITEEL-1, we used Canon's 16-35 f2.8L III as a test lens, and it can be seen that at 16mm, the flash maintains incredible uniformity, which is something I have rarely encountered before, and the brightness drop from the center to the edge of the picture is not very obvious at such a wide angle of view. Later at 24mm we saw that it was also very good uniformity. The basic picture in 35mm is the same all white.
So in terms of flash uniformity, I think Canon's SPEEDLITE EL-1 is doing very well.
Wide-angle 16mm flash coverage
Wide-angle 24mm flash coverage
Wide-angle 35mm flash coverage
As a contrast, there is no flash screen
< h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > flash tips</h1>
For ordinary users, flash use has always been a very distressing thing, most users get the flash is confused, today I will explain to you the basic flash use skills:
1. Use a top-of-the-air soft hood
In general, the flash directly to the subject when the light will be more stiff, while the subject's face will be a lot less light and shadow excessive, at this time the use of Canon's built-in soft light hood, shooting will reduce the direct flash of the hard feeling, the picture quality will be improved to a certain extent.
Use the flashed screen directly on the camera
Screens using the top flashing soft light mask
2. Use Jump Flash
The name Jump flash sounds very tall, but in fact the principle is very simple, the flash can even not leave the top of the camera, just point the lamp head to the ceiling, let the flash flash to the ceiling, through the reflection to reach the subject, so that you use the ceiling as a huge reflector, which will make the whole picture become very soft, and very natural.
However, the jump flash is not a panacea, first of all, it will make the light become very average, because the ceiling as a reflector is still a little too big, so that the light will become particularly soft, so that the subject and the background can not be separated, that is, the subject in the photography is not prominent enough, so the jump flash can make the light softer, but if you want to color, you have to think about what to do.
Of course, there is also a BUG, if the ceiling is not white, or the ceiling is too high, the jump flash is powerless, sometimes some conferences or venues are such a scene, so the use of jump flash is very limited by the environment.
Use the splash screen
3. Use a large diffuser
If you use a diffuser, it means that you have reached the flash into the class of use, the use of the diffuser, basically the flash has to leave the camera, the camera through the flasher to trigger the flash to work. The advantage of the flash leaving the camera is that the angle of the light can be changed, so that the shape that can be taken is relatively rich, this article due to the limited space, explain the effect of shooting from the right front of the subject 45 degrees, so that everyone has an intuitive feeling.
From the name we can see that the diffuser is mainly to make the light soft, indeed the use of the diffuser can change the hard light when the direct flash, and as long as the diffuser is relatively close to the subject, the light will be very soft and rich in transition, most of the commercial shooting, the main light source is a soft light cover can be solved, other light is only modified, and the soft light is the main light source. You can see the effect of the diffuser.
The use of the diffuser is more test of the use of the environment, sometimes the space or manpower is not enough when it is still more difficult to achieve, conditional small partners can try it.
Screens that do not use large diffusers
A screen using a large diffuser
4. Use a radomes
Radomes, can also be called beauty covers, English name buyaty dish, directly translated as the beauty cover, as the name suggests, is specially used to shoot models used in the lighting accessories. In fact, compared to the soft light cover, the radome light is more rigid, the transition is not so soft, but the corresponding texture will be much better. You can see the picture effect, compared to the soft light cover, the picture will be more layered, if the angle is right, it will play a very stunning effect.
The picture using the radome is more stereoscopic and the transition is softer
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > summary</h1>
First of all, thank you very much to Lando for giving me this opportunity to experience the Canon SPEEDLITE EL-1 flagship flash, this flash from my personal point of view, basically is a very perfect flash, the only spit is to hope to have a magnetic type of top diffuser, the current fixing method is still slightly cumbersome. Other parts basically have nothing to complain about, whether it is the stability of the machine, the speed of the call back, the flash coverage are worthy of the flagship title, that is, the price is really very flagship, the National Bank of China pricing 7399, not the general enthusiast can easily bear. However, there is no way to do a good product with high prices, after all, it is not the shortcomings of manufacturers, but our own shortcomings.
Regarding the recommendation of this lamp, I personally feel that if the demand for flash is not so high for users, in fact, they can wait, and it is not too late to buy it when the price has fallen. SpeedLITE EL-1 is designed for productivity in my opinion, with flagship price corresponding to flagship performance, and in real business needs, this flash can be your right-hand man. After all, in the project, shooting time is a matter of seconds, and the lamp's fast recycling ability + uniform flash range will indeed greatly improve the shooting efficiency, and stable and fast output is the strongest place of this lamp.
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