Canon HF-DC1 High Power Wireless Flash for Canon PowerShot Digital Cameras

Comments about Canon HF-DC1 Flash:

Happy with the power, lots of light. I like the fact you have three levels of power output. Great recycle time. The small size is perfect for my needs.

Comments about Canon HF-DC1 Flash:

Good fill flash. Shoots when detects another flash (i.e., camera's built in flash).

Comments about Canon HF-DC1 Flash:

Greatly extends the on-camera flash range. simple to use and effective. Well designed.

Comments about Canon HF-DC1 Flash:

It makes up for the lack of distance on most built in flashes. But it is too much flash for shooting in a living room. I am glad I bought it because I have used in outside in the various settings.

Comments about Canon HF-DC1 Flash:

I tried to use this on a light stand several feet from my Powershot. Hard to get the right angle, but when it did fire, indoors, it gave off plenty of light. Won't fire in direct sunlight but sometimes in shadow. However, mounted on the bracket next to your camera, it will extend flash range indoors or at night.

Comments about Canon HF-DC1 Flash:

I have used it for indoor and outdoor night portraits as well as sports shots in low light with a canon s90. Overall I am satisfied with the performance, especially considering price and weight.

Performance is outstanding compared to the built in camera flash alone for taking photos of people and other close, slow moving objects in low light or indoors. Having 2 light sources gives the photos more depth also reduces red eye and reflections from the eyes of people and animals. I will use it for all indoor shots.

You can also have interesting shadows with the remote flash if desired.

As far as for sports shots in low light, it is not really the right flash, not a big suprise. The output is just not enough to use as high of a shutter speed and low of an iso as I would like.

One limitation is that you cannot fire the flash manually. If you want to add interesting light to long exposure shots, that is not an option here.

The biggest liomitation is a result of the Canon s90 not the flash, apparently Canon decided that people would not want to use external flashes in any of the manual modes of operation. From what I can determine the flash will only fire in automatic or scene modes, not in full manual or priority modes.

The last limitation, which is really to be expected that the flash even when set to max power is relatively weak.

Comments about Canon HF-DC1 Flash:

I purchased this flash to augment the weak flash on my small camera. I did not know something like this was available until I happened to see it in the camera literature. It fills the void which the camera needed.

Comments about Canon HF-DC1 Flash:

For such a small flash unit it has ALOT of power!!!

I usually keep it on the lowest setting for subjects within 10-15 feet!

Comments about Canon HF-DC1 Flash:

Got it as a gift for someone and they were able to start playing with it right away. Can use with mount for convenience or held in the other hand for some interesting lighting angles.

Initially closeup test shots using the mount were blown out because obviously this isn't meant to be used at close range. However, for distanced night shots or some creative fill flash, this is a quick handy dandy little instrument.

I'd advise to be careful when using it during an important event like a wedding though, don't want other people's cameras setting it off and messing up their shots.

Comments about Canon HF-DC1 Flash:

We use the HF-DC1 flash for all low light and night scenes. It makes the pictures look bright and sharp. The small flash on the camera is far too weak. The negative is the price; just too expensive for a feature that should have been a part of the camera.

Comments about Canon HF-DC1 Flash:

Have not used it enought to give much feedback,[...] attaching was easy directions weak could have used a little more info, could have used more info on manual and auto mode maybe examples, info on whether I can use it at a remote location away from camera. The flash has worked well in all my test shots, and I can see that it will improve most all of my flash shots, including fill flash.

Comments about Canon HF-DC1 Flash:

I use this flash unit with a Canon SureShot A550 and this duo can produce more balanced, natural flash lighting. Just experiment a bit with the power settings (min/mid/max). After that, it's a snap to take better flash pics, compared to just using your camera's built-in flash.
The advantages:
1. the off-axis external flash eliminates redeye without the annoying blinking pre-flash
2. prevents single-person or group portraits with everyone's faces reflecting brightly, because your camera's flash is largely supplemented by this add-on flash
3. allows a more natural 3D lighting effect for most pics
4. can be used off-camera to prevent shadows on indoor subjects
5. overall, your pics will put to shame dSLR users' shots that use built-in flash
6. everyone will ask "is that a wireless flash?" or "is that a light/exposure meter?" (Bonus: it's an instant icebreaker if you're at a party; I got that kind of response at Thanksgiving)
7. because it's wireless (and can be used with any brand of camera), I got to hand-hold the flash high up so that my hostess could take a shot clear across a long table--an otherwise impossible shot with her excellent Panasonic compact, with limited flash range (as with most compacts).
If you have a compact camera, this should be your first accessory if you take a lot of indoor shots, or need a powerful fill-flash for outdoors.

Comments about Canon HF-DC1 Flash:

I have a Cannon Powershot SX100IS and it is a great camera. The only problem I had was that the built in flash was terrible and all the pics I took in low light looked horrible. I would also have to stand very close to the person when using the flash. I purchased the HF-DC1 flash and now all my pics in low light are exceptional. I am very pleased with the flash, just wish it came in black to match my camera.

Comments about Canon HF-DC1 Flash:

My PowerShot A570IS seems to have a wimpy flash that's fine for short distance shots, but isn't strong enough when you're farther away for large group shots. This flash adds a nice boost for those kinds of shots. It attaches easily and securely to the camera using the tripod mount screw hole. And it has its own tripod mount screw hole so you can still mount the flash/camera combination on a tripod.

You can't do bounce with it mounted on the camera, but if you hold or mount it elsewhere, it will provide nice bounced light, or direct light from a second angle.

It either doesn't activate or doesn't have much effect at close distances unless maybe you bounce it.

Overall, it's a nice addition to a PowerShot.

Comments about Canon HF-DC1 Flash:

All the new powershots and in fact any P&S suffer from terrible flash power. Canon finally released this welcome addition. It does the job perfectly and really worth the purchase. The added bracket fits into the shoe-mount of the camera and the other screw, screws in the flash on the SIDE of the camera. Not sure of the guide number here, but for P&S in decent indoor settings - does the job really well. I have tried a strobist setup too and amazingly worked with my 590 series! The wireless functionality is seamless and thus no difficulties in integrating the unit. I have a DSLR too, of Canon and it would have been great if Canon included wireless support for the unit (like the powershot series) in their DSLR line too. That way, a 2nd. SLAVE flash can be used - cheap, effective and Made by Canon.

Comments about Canon HF-DC1 Flash:

Works very well to light up larger groups and interiors. Fairly easy to dismount and hand-hold for bounce flash use. I only wish that the flash element (only) was able to be tilted up to avoid having to dismount for bounce flash. Recycle time is only a little longer than the camera's built-in flash. It matches my SD1000 Elph well for size and color with NO mounting problems. A good investment if you know how to use off-camera flash techniques.

Comments about Canon HF-DC1 Flash:

We use this flash to illuminate objects in low light situations. It has plenty of power to produce acceptable results in most situations. The only problem is the mount is a very tight fit on our Canon SX100IS.