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G9 Flash Gun Tests – Part 2

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Guerito

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Please look for part one of this thread entitled "G9 Flash Gun Tests - Part 1" for some background. Tested were the following auxiliary flash guns from Canon: 220EX, 430EX, 580EX and for good measure the new 580EX II. Also tested was the Sunpak PZ40X II. Please note, this is version II (two) of this flash and it comes in a black box, not the white box of the older version. The non-II version does not support Canon's E-TTL II and you will not get proper exposure on newer Canon cameras like the G9. For the tests, I set the camera on a tripod so that all of the shots would be taken from the same distance, focal length and angle. The camera was set to Program mode, auto ISO (low) because this is probably how most people shoot (you may not be most people however). All of the exposures parameters consequently were the same. This is good because we are now comparing apples to apples, but I still wanted the camera to have control for the aforementioned reason. I left the EXIF data intact should you want to browse it. All flash was done from a distance of 6½ feet (198cm) from the subject. In all cases except for the 220EX, the flash was bounced at a 45 degree angle off of an off-white ceiling at roughly eye-level while standing (you may be taller or shorter than me). I took one shot with an Omni-Bounce and one without because I know some people use them extensively like myself. The 220EX had an eBay diffuser sock in place of an Omni-Bounce because there is not one made for the 220EX. The ambient lighting was what I would call "evening entertainment lighting", not very bright, but not dark either. I shot two subjects, one to represent people with darker skin tones on a typical living room background, and one to represent people with very light skin tones. For the lighter shots, I also used a white background. The reason for this is because your camera will meter differently with a light scene versus a dark scene and I wanted to show how well the exposure was represented for each. One last note, for the Sunpak, with the darker background, I took one picture with the flash head zoomed to 80mm which is what the camera chose, and one with the flash head zoomed to 24mm which I manually set. You'll see how this can affect the images whey you view the pictures. The zoom didn't seem to affect the lighter scene for some reason. The images are labeled as to what flash was used, any zoom figures, and with an "OB" for shots taken with the Omni-Bounce. I hope I'm not forgetting anything or have not made any glaring errors in my typing. I have also included a shot of the G9 with each flash gun attached taken from the same position to show relative size. Having said all that, here is a link to the images. You can click on any one to expand it. PS, this took way longer than I had planned. I did not do this for me, I already know how the different flashes perform, I did it for you. Enjoy, Don.
http://s84.photobucket.com/albums/k28/Don_Guerito/G9%20Flash%20Tests/?start=all
--
'The primary purpose of any business is to make a profit.'
Canon CEO Fujio Mitarai

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home ;jsessionid=GX90G0k1Qp!1508707039?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=186095&is=REG&addedTroughType=search
 
Hi Gorden, thanks. The Sunpak doesn't have a built-in bounce card (neither does the 430EX), nor a pull-out diffuser plate that covers the flash head. Sto-Fen claims that the flash output is reduced by about 2.5 times of the normal flash using the Omni-Bounce. There was no real advantage using it with the way the flash was positioned in this example, but rather it was to show that the PZ40X had enough power to light the subject properly.
--
'The primary purpose of any business is to make a profit.'
Canon CEO Fujio Mitarai

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home ;jsessionid=GX90G0k1Qp!1508707039?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=186095&is=REG&addedTroughType=search
 
Please look for part one of this thread entitled "G9 Flash Gun Tests - Part 1" for some background. Tested were the following auxiliary flash guns from Canon: 220EX, 430EX, 580EX and for good measure the new 580EX II. Also tested was the Sunpak PZ40X II. Please note, this is version II (two) of this flash and it comes in a black box, not the white box of the older version. The non-II version does not support Canon's E-TTL II and you will not get proper exposure on newer Canon cameras like the G9.

For the tests, I set the camera on a tripod so that all of the shots would be taken from the same distance, focal length and angle. The camera was set to Program mode, auto ISO (low) because this is probably how most people shoot (you may not be most people however). All of the exposures parameters consequently were the same. This is good because we are now comparing apples to apples, but I still wanted the camera to have control for the aforementioned reason. I left the EXIF data intact should you want to browse it. All flash was done from a distance of 6½ feet (198cm) from the subject. In all cases except for the 220EX, the flash was bounced at a 45 degree angle off of an off-white ceiling at roughly eye-level while standing (you may be taller or shorter than me).

I took one shot with an Omni-Bounce and one without because I know some people use them extensively like myself. The 220EX had an eBay diffuser sock in place of an Omni-Bounce because there is not one made for the 220EX. The ambient lighting was what I would call "evening entertainment lighting", not very bright, but not dark either. I shot two subjects, one to represent people with darker skin tones on a typical living room background, and one to represent people with very light skin tones. For the lighter shots, I also used a white background. The reason for this is because your camera will meter differently with a light scene versus a dark scene and I wanted to show how well the exposure was represented for each. One last note, for the Sunpak, with the darker background, I took one picture with the flash head zoomed to 80mm which is what the camera chose, and one with the flash head zoomed to 24mm which I manually set. You'll see how this can affect the images whey you view the pictures. The zoom didn't seem to affect the lighter scene for some reason.

The images are labeled as to what flash was used, any zoom figures, and with an "OB" for shots taken with the Omni-Bounce. I hope I'm not forgetting anything or have not made any glaring errors in my typing. I have also included a shot of the G9 with each flash gun attached taken from the same position to show relative size. Having said all that, here is a link to the images. You can click on any one to expand it. PS, this took way longer than I had planned. I did not do this for me, I already know how the different flashes perform, I did it for you. Enjoy, Don.
http://s84.photobucket.com/albums/k28/Don_Guerito/G9%20Flash%20Tests/?start=all
Guerito said:
--
'The primary purpose of any business is to make a profit.'
Canon CEO Fujio Mitarai

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home ;jsessionid=GX90G0k1Qp!1508707039?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=186095&is=REG&addedTroughType=search
Click to expand...
--
'The primary purpose of any business is to make a profit.'
Canon CEO Fujio Mitarai

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home ;jsessionid=GX90G0k1Qp!1508707039?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=186095&is=REG&addedTroughType=search
 
Thanks for reformatting and the very informative effort. Much appreciated.

I have a question regarding shutter lag when using flash. Did you get a chance to observe (or measure) the shutter lag, with and without flash? For onboard and external flash both? This has been a topic of much interest in past threads and just wondered since you have done extensive tests with flash.

--mamallama
 
Your kind words are appreciated. There is a more prominent delay when using an external flash but there does not seem to be a consistent amount of delay - and that is taking pre-focus into account. I wouldn't shoot an event with the G9 for that reason alone, the delay can be as much as 1 second which seems like forever if you are trying to capture a moment.
--
'The primary purpose of any business is to make a profit.'
Canon CEO Fujio Mitarai

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home ;jsessionid=GX90G0k1Qp!1508707039?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=186095&is=REG&addedTroughType=search
 
Thank you! When I've posted once or twice on the unfortunate flash lag with the G7/G9 I get denying responses, like "What lag? There's no lag -- weeell, maybe a teensy bit."

I regret having bought a 430 for my G7. Now that I have it, I'll continue to use it occasionally, but only for still lifes and other inert subjects.
Guerito said:
I wouldn't shoot an event with the G9 for that reason alone, the delay
can be as much as 1 second which seems like forever if you are trying
to capture a moment.
Click to expand...
--
http://www.pbase.com/morepix
 
Yeah, there was a lot of hubbub about the lag on the G7 several months ago, too bad Canon carried over this "feature" to the G9. Something I find equally annoying is Canon disabling flash TTL in manual mode.
--
'The primary purpose of any business is to make a profit.'
Canon CEO Fujio Mitarai

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home ;jsessionid=GX90G0k1Qp!1508707039?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=186095&is=REG&addedTroughType=search
 
With a non-Canon flash (like Nikon SB-28) in pure manual mode, and using pre-focus (half press of shutter button), the delay is significantly reduced. Of course, you must set the camera controls and the flash power. Typically, I can set ISO 80, 1/60 and f4, set the SB-28 at half power and do OK in a normal room with bounce flash as long as I'm close to the subject.

I know all the above is awkward, but I'm trying to learn off-camera flash anyway. More and more often I'm setting up two flashes and triggering them with the cheap wireless units.

--
Gordon
http://hornerbuck.com
http://lightdescription.blogspot.com
 
I am not following what you are trying to accomplish with this test. What was the outcome ?

BTW: Were the images corrected for white balance ?
 
Thanks for the excellent work! I have been considering the Sunpak flash and your tests were very helpful. Also, thanks for taking shots of the flash units on the camera.

I don't know if you took a baseline shot with just the G9 flash, but if you did it would be nice to include it in the series.

I own the 580EX, 430EX and ST-E2. The 580EX and 430EX seem too large for the G9 ... I would probably just prefer to use one of my DSLR's with the flash.

In the end, did you have a final personal preference?

--
Guerito said:
Bill.
Click to expand...
 
UCSB said:
UCSB said:
Bill.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Thanks for the kind words Bill. Please understand that I haven't had a lot of time invested in the Sunpak, but so far, I think that's what I'll be using. I did try to give an example of each flash mounted on the G9 pointed at a 45° angle taken at the same focal length to show the relative size of each unit. I like the way the 220EX handles the best, but as you know it doesn't have a tilt head like the other units. The Sunpak is the next smallest and lightest unit. One thing that helps to keep the size and weight down is that it only used two AA batteries whereas all of the other units use four. Or course this also means that it takes longer to recycle, (the 430EX, 580EX/II recycle almost instantly), but I didn't find that to be a problem shooting in the confines of my living room. Except for the 220EX, I find all of the other Canons to be somewhat awkward and top-heavy on such a small camera. The 580EX II is actually a little bit larger than the old 580EX and looks silly sitting atop the G9 - kind of like the G9 is trying to compensate for something ;-). OTOH, the Canons seem to give the most consistent results, and that's to be expected. But the Sunpak does work with Canon's TTL flash system so I'll be using that unless I find a problem or a better option somewhere down the road. Though really, as long as I can remember to zoom the head, it gives results almost identical to the Canons in most cases. I especially like the bare-bulb look that the Omni-Bounce adds.
--
'The primary purpose of any business is to make a profit.'
Canon CEO Fujio Mitarai

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home ;jsessionid=GX90G0k1Qp!1508707039?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=186095&is=REG&addedTroughType=search
 
Thanks for the insights. I shot a lengthy series (300+) of images of a Christmas party at my home this evening. Most of the shots were with a 40D/580EX+Joe Demb Diffuser Pro. I got some truly exceptional results. But, I also shot a portion of the party with my G9 with and without a 430EX+Joe Demb Diffuser Pro. My feelings are that the G9 absolutely needs an external flash when you are going for quality shots ... and with an external flash it can produce some compelling results. The Sunpak looks like it would be a nice item to evaluate/own. I'm going to order one for my G9 and see how it works. Thanks again.

--
Guerito said:
Bill.
Click to expand...
 
Don, let me add my thanks and appreciation for your work and for sharing this. I'm sort of quickly glancing through this, so if you covered this question somehwere else, please forgive me ...

... regarding the Sun Pack unit PZ40 X II I believe, is this unit completely compatible with the G9, i.e. does the G9 recognize and automatically work with the PZ 40 in the same way that is works with the 220EX, et al?

Thanks!

Harry
 
Just a note - I couldn't even read your post because it's just one huge paragraph and I would have gone insane reading it without breaks.

"Enter" or "Return" creates paragraphs. Nice things, they are.

;-)
 
justharry said:
... regarding the Sun Pack unit PZ40 X II I believe, is this unit
completely compatible with the G9, i.e. does the G9 recognize and
automatically work with the PZ 40 in the same way that is works with
the 220EX, et al?

Thanks!

Harry
Click to expand...
Hi Harry, as far as I've seen so far, the Sunpak works just like the Canon flash guns, it even has an AF assist beam, but as with the Canon units, the AF assist beam does not work on the G9. It does work properly with my DSLRs though, albeit, a little weaker beam.

EDIT: I just remembered one thing the Sunpak doesn't have is an FP mode that all of the Canon's have. Probably not a big deal on a P&S, but nice to have for a DSLR. Also, they could have thrown in even an el cheapo case.

--
'The primary purpose of any business is to make a profit.'
Canon CEO Fujio Mitarai

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home ;jsessionid=GX90G0k1Qp!1508707039?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=186095&is=REG&addedTroughType=search
 
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