kli
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Veteran Member
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Posts: 4,589
Re: R50 - no hotshoe pins??
3
ChrisPCrunch wrote:
Did anyone else notice in the product shots for the new R50 that there doesn't seem to be any hotshoe pin contacts?
Oh yeah. I'd been waiting for something like that to happen ever since the multifunction hotshoe was announced on the R3. It looks like it's similar to the removal of the sync pins on the T7/T100/SL3: it's only on the entry-level bodies that they're doing this (so far), since all the higher-end R bodies still have the standard Canon five-contacts on the shoe.
BTW, this also matches the foot of the new EL-5 speedlite (which won't work on any body older than an R3) if you hadn't noticed:
Foot of the EL-5 as taken from B&H product images; it's not an image you'll find on the Canon USA website.
How is the hotshoe even suppose to work - it looks more like a cold shoe?
It's like the Sony multi-interface hotshoe;only without a sync contact. All the contacts are under the lip at the back of the shoe. It can service not only flash functions, but also EVF, microphones, displays, power supply for accessories, etc. It's more for video shooters than stills shooters, and one really wishes they didn't have to break ISO-compatibility with the hotshoe, but Sony's already been down this path, and Canon is mostly just following.
I honestly don't think this is going to break 3rd-party compatibility that much, though, given that (mostly, hopefully) all a third party has to do to reverse-engineer is take apart the AD-E1 adapter to figure out how the wiring via the old five-contact layout works with the new hotshoe, and then copy the EL-5 foot, or just make their own AD-E1 adapter.
See also: all the Godox for-the-Sony-multi-interface-hotshoe gear.