Flash

[Eggle]

I have just bought a 20d and am looking for a cheap-ish flash
Will any flash gun work with this camera, or do I need a specific one?

[SamHH]

If all you want is for the flashgun to fire and are happy to set it manually then a variety of models will work and some of them are quite cheap. If you want a flashgun that will work with automatic metering (i.e. it will talk to the camera to decide how brightly to flash and what settings the camera will use) then you need a Canon EX-series flashgun or there are some Sigma and Metz models that function similarly.

Manual is probably acceptable for static or posed subjects but an automatic flash is a great help and allows you to concentrate on other things when time is limited. The cheaper of the two main Canon EX flashes is £200 new; second hand ones start at about half that. Metz flashes are similarly priced I think and Sigmas a bit cheaper.

Edited by SamHH on Tuesday 20th April 10:23

[AdamGP86]

As far as I'm aware not all flashes are compatible with all cameras and using a flash that isnt meant for your camera can damage either the camera or the flash. However you can buy 3rd party flashes that have versions for each camera make.
As I didnt want to spend ~£200 on a canon flash i bought myself
http://www.jacobsdigital.co.uk/index.php?target=pr...

Which support E-TTL ( The flash and camera automatically decide how bright it should be for you ) and you can manually set how bright the flash is.