The EF-530 Super DG is Sigma's flagship TTL flash, and has been updated with improved coverage range and a stronger power output. It features a powerful Guide Number of 174'/53 m at 105mm, and covers a focal range from 24mm to 105mm.
The EF-530 Super DG is also fully compatible with the latest digital SLR cameras that use a pre-flash, and supports full E-TTL II operation (where supported by camera). You will find features designed for the professional, at a much more attractive price than the comparably equipped manufacturer's flashes. The perfect all-around flash for any digital or 35mm autofocus SLR shooter.
| Type | Shoe Mount |
| Guide No. |
92' (28 m) at 24mm 132' (40 m) at 50mm 174' (53 m) at 105mm |
| Angle of Coverage | 84° to 23° (24-105mm lenses in 35mm format) 103° (17mm with Wide Panel supplied) |
| Variable Power | 1/1, 1/2, 1/4th, 1/8th, 1/16th, 1/32nd, 1/64th & 1/128th |
| TTL Dedication | Yes (E-TTL II) |
| Bounce Head | Yes |
| Swivel Head | Yes |
| Zoom Head | 24-105mm autozoom (flash senses focal length & adjusts) |
| Off Camera Terminal | No |
| Recycle Time |
6 seconds (based on fresh alkaline batteries & full power) 4 seconds (based on fresh Ni-MH batteries & full power) |
| Power Source | Four 1.5-Volt "AA" batteries (alkaline, lithium, NiCad & NiMH) |
| Dimensions | 3.0 x 5.5 x 4.6" (76 x 140 x 117mm) WxHxD |
| Weight | 11.8 oz (335 g) |
REVIEW SNAPSHOT®
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Most Liked Positive Review
Great flash great price
Though the menu interface is not as nice as others, and the buttons look like they were taken from an 80's era toy, and the fact that the plastic feels cheaper than other ...Read complete review
Though the menu interface is not as nice as others, and the buttons look like they were taken from an 80's era toy, and the fact that the plastic feels cheaper than other brands this flash can hold its own against the best Canon can through at it. I had a 580ex I and while it was nice it weighed about twice as much as this 530 and did not put out a noticeable amount of power beyond this. I tested the flash on both at various f stops and power levels using full manual shutter/fstop/iso and flash power levels and found that for each fstop/power level combo I used for the 580 that the 530 provided just as much light output and my pictures were just as bright, with a slight difference at full power with f18 or higher where the 580 did push a tiny bit more light into my shots, but it is not enough matter in ANY of the other shots.
The recycle time is great on all but the 1/1 full power manual mode, where it is still better than a 580 or my 430 and heads and shoulders above a 550. It keeps up with me as well as the 580 does a stop down. It also outlasts a 580, which I always felt eats batteries more than uses them. The EF-530 seems to last about the same as a 430 somehow even though it puts out light like a 580. I am no electrical engineer but I am not sure how this is possible, but in my experience that is how it is.
It costs less than a 430, half of what a 580 runs you and does more than either one.
It does FP i.e. High Speed Sync with great results. It does second (rear) curtain sync, it can strobe based on a custom frequency you set up, so it can for instance pulse out a flash every second for 4 seconds or 5 per second for 1 second. This is cool for getting water drops, or bouncing balls, or any other moving object exposed multiple times in a single frame.
It can be a master flash, a slave flash, a non firing master, it has an optical trigger so it can be an optical slave. It works with all manor of remote triggers, albeit not as easily as a Canon does, you have to set the Sigma to the right mode first. It controls multiple slave groups via wireless, it works with ettl for automatic flash exposure, supports EV adjustments.
It does not have a sync port or pc port of any kind, it requires a hot shoe to fire or to be a remote wireless or optical slave. It pans and tilts though with 2 buttons like older flashes, not 1 button like the newer flashes do. That is more annoying than you might think.
The only real downside to this is how cheap it feels compared to the Canons, but with 2 Signas for the price of 1 580 and the fact that I have yet to actually break it in any way no matter how hard I have treated it I can honestly say that while it feels like it is of lesser quality it really isn't. Plus it is lighter than a 580, at least as light as a 430 give or take, so that may affect the feel of quality too.
I can honestly say that I would recommend this to anyone. In fact I do, to everyone who asks, because there is no good reason to pass this up. It does more, costs less, puts out roughly the same power, lasts longer, weighs less, looks good and works great. You won't regret it unless you are Brewster and need to spend your millions wastefully, at which point you would not care about reviews anyhow.
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Most Liked Negative Review
NOT COMPATIBLE WITH CANON 50D!
ABSOLUTE NIGHTMARE!!!Here it is:- I've purchased this flashgun for my friend oversea as a Christmas present.- After receiving and testing it, he complained that on his Canon 50D both the zoom...Read complete review
ABSOLUTE NIGHTMARE!!!Here it is:- I've purchased this flashgun for my friend oversea as a Christmas present.- After receiving and testing it, he complained that on his Canon 50D both the zoom and exposure would malfunction.- He'd tested it on other Canon models with no problems at all.- After we've researched the issue, we would find out that in fact, there had been a compatibility issue on the Canon 50D, but theoretically this problem had been resolved with a chip-upgrade a long time ago. But, evidently it had not been resolved.- The local Sigma repair representatives over there REFUSED to do anything about the unit and sent it back to my friend, even though the flash comes with a 1 year worldwide warranty!- He sent it back to me, [...] so I've contacted Sigma in New York. - They told me that they would replace the incompatible unit with the latest, new one if I paid the extra price difference, which was fine with me.- Then they'd changed their mind and told me that they can only replace this unit with another one, completely ignoring the original issue of incompatibility! Also told me that the latest model has the same issue with Canon 50D! GREAT!- I'd told them not to replace it with the same brand because the new unit would be just as incompatible and we are not interested! If they can't provide the latest model and guarantee that it would work properly, then we just want a refund and that's it!- Tech support acted ignorant, said that it would be a mess for their accounting (THEIR !!! accounting, no concern about the customer!!!) to replace it with the new model or provide a refund, and the Japanese support said that the malfunctioning zoom and exposure are "normal" operations on the Canon 50D, and my friend should use the unit in manual mode instead of auto mode!!! HUH????!!!!!!!!!!!! :-(- Then I just lost it completely and got into a screaming match on the phone with the irritating customer support guy that kept repeating his nonsense and refused to address my problem.[...] Then I sent a really angry letter to both the New York and the Japanese Sigma and let them know about my opinion about them, their product, their "worldwide" support and also that we will start an advertising campaign against their brand name and product to warn their future victims of all the pain and headache this company would cause them with their faulty products! Things to know:- This model, according to tech support, works "differently" than normal on both Canon 50D and 7D! Instead of auto-zoom, you should use manual zoom on a top-of-the-line model (at the time of purchase) flash-gun! But in fact, this is called incompatibility, malfunction, error, design and production problems, only Sigma calls it "different" when things don't work and the want to lie, mislead and cover-up a well known technical problem!- There is no label, notice, warning or any other message or information that it has this issue with these two Canon models, so unsuspecting customers are completely mislead!- Sigma tech support is all about how NOT to do things right, irritate and antagonize their customers to the point where the customers get angry, so they can hang up on them and leave them with their problems on their own! - The flash itself feels a bit cheap and not well designed, the battery door is hard to close, slips out in an angle that could lead to breaking it off completely. This purchase, beyond the original price, had caused me an extra $160+ in expenses in shipping there, up to the local service center, back from the service center (they even charged my friend for shipping after doing NOTHING with the unit to fix it or solve the problem), then came the price of shipping back to me, then my shipping to Sigma in New York. Since it was supposed to be a "gift", I paid for my friend's expenses as well, so thanks a lot Sigma, I really love you and your ways of ripping-off your customers and especially your tech support! Be VERY-VERY careful when dealing with this company! I've got many of their products and even though there had been significant improvements in quality, they've got a LONG way to go! For e.g.: Some of my brand new lenses had significant dust and fingerprints (!!!) inside! After a lengthy argument (fights actually) they replaced my super-zoom, but it took several back and forth shipping and calls. At this point I would NOT recommend anyone buying ANYTHING from this company! They knowingly and deliberately concealed this incompatibility issue, refused to stand by their own product, their so-called "worldwide" warranty is a big fat lie, the local service center oversea in Europe is a joke, and their NY customer service center is a NIGHTMARE! BUY SIGMA PRODUCTS AT YOUR OWN RISK!!! :-([...]
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Reviewed by 60 customers
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Comments about Sigma EF-530 DG Super Flash for Canon EOS:
POWERFUL!! IT SIMPLY GETS THE JOB DONE!!! WITH SUCH A GREAT PRICE AND GREAT QUALITY THIS FLASH WILL NOT LET YOU DOWN!!! YOU CAN NOT GO WRONG IF YOU PURCHASE THIS FLASH!!!
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Comments about Sigma EF-530 DG Super Flash for Canon EOS:
i bought this for my 7D and i was very surprised at with the build quality of this flash, its very easy to use and surprisingly cheap
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Comments about Sigma EF-530 DG Super Flash for Canon EOS:
I have tested this unit on camera in ETTL auto with all my digital Rebel auto modes and camera manual and found flash to work flawlessly. Manual flash mode on camera successfully triggers my slave in non-preflash mode. Off camera, the 530DG in slave mode will properly respond to the built in flash (ignoring the preflash) and to a shoe mounted IR trigger (no preflash). The manual was no help here but experimenting I was able to get the 530DG to respond properly to both setups. I don't have a wireless so don't know how it performs there.
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Comments about Sigma EF-530 DG Super Flash for Canon EOS:
Works well as a slave flash, good functions and reasonable weight. But it's noisier than my car and it sounds like a mini rocket launch every time it charges itself. I've used both more expensive and cheaper flash units but this one is really noisy. Furthermore, it takes an engineering Ph.D. to fully appreciate the menu and button system. Very hard to use. Why couldn't they copy Nikon's design?
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Comments about Sigma EF-530 DG Super Flash for Canon EOS:
Where can I start??? This flash is amazing. I purchased this as a replacement for an older flash. I've used this flash for almost 7 photo shoots so far and I'm very impressed by the quality and power of the light. The built-in wide angle accessory is great for those wide group shots. It gives you full coverage. If you are looking for a professional quality flash you can't go wrong with this one! Price is only around $200.00, unheard of from the other over priced flashes out there. WAY TO GO SIGMA! It has worked perfect for me, hope it does for everyone else as well!
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Comments about Sigma EF-530 DG Super Flash for Canon EOS:
Feeble - probably a faulty unit. Waste of time and money in my case
This unit is not fully compatible with Canon 5D Mk II - several menu items on camera remain dim when flash is set to ETTL.
Pros
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Best Uses
Comments about Sigma EF-530 DG Super Flash for Canon EOS:
ABSOLUTE NIGHTMARE!!!Here it is:- I've purchased this flashgun for my friend oversea as a Christmas present.- After receiving and testing it, he complained that on his Canon 50D both the zoom and exposure would malfunction.- He'd tested it on other Canon models with no problems at all.- After we've researched the issue, we would find out that in fact, there had been a compatibility issue on the Canon 50D, but theoretically this problem had been resolved with a chip-upgrade a long time ago. But, evidently it had not been resolved.- The local Sigma repair representatives over there REFUSED to do anything about the unit and sent it back to my friend, even though the flash comes with a 1 year worldwide warranty!- He sent it back to me, [...] so I've contacted Sigma in New York. - They told me that they would replace the incompatible unit with the latest, new one if I paid the extra price difference, which was fine with me.- Then they'd changed their mind and told me that they can only replace this unit with another one, completely ignoring the original issue of incompatibility! Also told me that the latest model has the same issue with Canon 50D! GREAT!- I'd told them not to replace it with the same brand because the new unit would be just as incompatible and we are not interested! If they can't provide the latest model and guarantee that it would work properly, then we just want a refund and that's it!- Tech support acted ignorant, said that it would be a mess for their accounting (THEIR !!! accounting, no concern about the customer!!!) to replace it with the new model or provide a refund, and the Japanese support said that the malfunctioning zoom and exposure are "normal" operations on the Canon 50D, and my friend should use the unit in manual mode instead of auto mode!!! HUH????!!!!!!!!!!!! :-(- Then I just lost it completely and got into a screaming match on the phone with the irritating customer support guy that kept repeating his nonsense and refused to address my problem.[...] Then I sent a really angry letter to both the New York and the Japanese Sigma and let them know about my opinion about them, their product, their "worldwide" support and also that we will start an advertising campaign against their brand name and product to warn their future victims of all the pain and headache this company would cause them with their faulty products! Things to know:- This model, according to tech support, works "differently" than normal on both Canon 50D and 7D! Instead of auto-zoom, you should use manual zoom on a top-of-the-line model (at the time of purchase) flash-gun! But in fact, this is called incompatibility, malfunction, error, design and production problems, only Sigma calls it "different" when things don't work and the want to lie, mislead and cover-up a well known technical problem!- There is no label, notice, warning or any other message or information that it has this issue with these two Canon models, so unsuspecting customers are completely mislead!- Sigma tech support is all about how NOT to do things right, irritate and antagonize their customers to the point where the customers get angry, so they can hang up on them and leave them with their problems on their own! - The flash itself feels a bit cheap and not well designed, the battery door is hard to close, slips out in an angle that could lead to breaking it off completely. This purchase, beyond the original price, had caused me an extra $160+ in expenses in shipping there, up to the local service center, back from the service center (they even charged my friend for shipping after doing NOTHING with the unit to fix it or solve the problem), then came the price of shipping back to me, then my shipping to Sigma in New York. Since it was supposed to be a "gift", I paid for my friend's expenses as well, so thanks a lot Sigma, I really love you and your ways of ripping-off your customers and especially your tech support! Be VERY-VERY careful when dealing with this company! I've got many of their products and even though there had been significant improvements in quality, they've got a LONG way to go! For e.g.: Some of my brand new lenses had significant dust and fingerprints (!!!) inside! After a lengthy argument (fights actually) they replaced my super-zoom, but it took several back and forth shipping and calls. At this point I would NOT recommend anyone buying ANYTHING from this company! They knowingly and deliberately concealed this incompatibility issue, refused to stand by their own product, their so-called "worldwide" warranty is a big fat lie, the local service center oversea in Europe is a joke, and their NY customer service center is a NIGHTMARE! BUY SIGMA PRODUCTS AT YOUR OWN RISK!!! :-([...]
Pros
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Comments about Sigma EF-530 DG Super Flash for Canon EOS:
Does a great job. Would recommend this unit.
Pros
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Comments about Sigma EF-530 DG Super Flash for Canon EOS:
No more red eye, Natural lighting images. Very pleased with product although this represents only 1 week of use. Tolerable recycle time. Co-worker spent 2x$ for Canon unit. I'll share feedback later on durability. No lite-weight but manageable. Slightly out of scale for my EOS XS but should fit nicely on 60D or 7D in future.
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Comments about Sigma EF-530 DG Super Flash for Canon EOS:
Bought this flash to use with my Canon XSi specifically for low-light indoor situations. Coupled with a Gary Fong Lightsphere, I am very pleased with its performance thus far. The flash feels like it is of good quality and the additional case that comes with the flash is a nice addition to the package.
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Comments about Sigma EF-530 DG Super Flash for Canon EOS:
Amazing product, but within minutes of shooting vertical portraits the foot gave out an fell from the hot-shoe. A very sad moment indeed. Still works and has enough shoe to hold on to my camera but im a little upset that it even happened. Still think its as reliable as Canon if your shoe stays intact!
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Comments about Sigma EF-530 DG Super Flash for Canon EOS:
The plastic diffusor flap broke out of the box, disabling all the zoom controls for this zoom flash. If you just want the power and aren't concerned about reliabilty or robustness, it's a steal compared to it's $400 Canon equivalent.
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Comments about Sigma EF-530 DG Super Flash for Canon EOS:
This is a nice flash for the money. The Canon equivalent is quite a bit more expensive and I just couldn't afford it. While the Canon flash is probably faster, this one work well. I can't imagine my shots coming out much better with the more expensive flash.
The flash is on the larger side and doesn't recycle extremely quick sometimes, but I'd still recommend it for the budget photography.
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Comments about Sigma EF-530 DG Super Flash for Canon EOS:
I started taking photos two years ago when my wife bought me a Canon Rebel XS for Christmas. After taking 4 serious photography classes, I now qualify as a seasoned amateur (i.e. I get paid for taking pictures now.) I purchased the Sigma DG Super because I wanted to use it in conjunction with my Canon 430 EX II Speedlite, Impact umbrellas and the CANON ST-E2 Speedlite transmitter to take portraits and three quarter shots on chroma-key backgrounds. To my surprise, the Sigma out performed the CANON 430 EX II. It was much more reliable than the 430 EX II. As a slave flash, the Sigma DG Super fired 90 percent of the time while the 430 EX II slave fired only 60 percent of the time. As a matter of fact, I could stand almost any where and the Sigma flash would fire. The Canon flash didn't allow that. I used fully charged batteries for both slaves. I am much happier with the Sigma DG Super than I am with the Canon 430 EX II. (I refuse to purchase the CANON 530 EX II because it is over priced.) I like the Sigma so much that I plan to purchase my second one this Christmas and sell my 430 EX II.
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Comments about Sigma EF-530 DG Super Flash for Canon EOS:
I need a flash that has most of the functions of the 580EXII -- IR assist, fill flash -- but I don't need to the ability to trigger remotes, or even to have very much power. I use my flash in high-impact (literally) situations, and if it breaks, I'd rather not be out the 490.00 for the EXII. It's also smaller and lighter -- also valuable to me, as I'm often forced to shoot one-handed.
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Comments about Sigma EF-530 DG Super Flash for Canon EOS:
Great flash for the money. It is built well, fires quick and has great features.
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Comments about Sigma EF-530 DG Super Flash for Canon EOS:
I got this flash for 2 weeks now, and enjoy everytime I use it, little problem is focus making noise just a little, other than that this flash is great compare to the canon brand that cost twice this much. great for slave and multi shot.
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Comments about Sigma EF-530 DG Super Flash for Canon EOS:
I'm using this unit with a Canon 60D to shoot mainly portraits and fashion editorials. It works great but the focusing system is a little loud. The wireless function is very helpfull and works as a charm.
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Comments about Sigma EF-530 DG Super Flash for Canon EOS:
This is used as master in a duo flash set up. I had a EF-500 DG Super and when I had the need for a second flash, I mulled the choices of the Canon 580EX vs EF-530 DG Super and the $300+ savings won out.
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Comments about Sigma EF-530 DG Super Flash for Canon EOS:
I bought this flash because I wanted something with similar potential and power to the Canon Speedlite 580EX II but I didn't want to have to spend the cash. I certainly haven't regretted my purchase.
I've been using it as one of three flashes I have in a home studio and I bought it as the master to trigger the two slaves. Everything is straight forward about this flash and even though I haven't used every feature on it so far, I've had an easy time getting used to it.
It felt a little lighter than usual when I first picked it up and I wondered if the quality was there, but it is. Again, no complaints and well worth the purchase.
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