Digital Camera Canon Powershot Review

This flash does what it shound but don't expect wonders. It essentially "brightens" your flash photo. I am using it with a PowerShot S2 IS.

When reading reviews, you might see it said that this is a wireless flash. While true, that's a bit misleading. The flash works by simply sensing that the primary flash has occurred and then firing as well. This means that you *must* fire the primary flash to have it work.

Another thing that you might read is that this flash "focuses". I can't imagine what the reviewers mean. This is a simple slave flash. You can set the "range" in 3 basic increments but that seems to be it for adjustments. The manual is slim and gives no hint that there is anything sophisticated occurring.

A few notes:

- The flash is very compact and lightweight.

- You can easily hold the flash in your hand to position it for better coverage.

- The recharge time is extremely fast with a new battery -- essentially immediate.

- It uses a non-rechargable lithium battery. These tend to be pretty expensive. The manual says it will get over 250 flashes on a battery.

- This flash *does not* eliminate the shadow that the PowerShot S2 IS wide angle lens creates. It does reduce the shadow.

Overall this is a good flash but seems a bit pricey.

This is an excellent add-on to the Canon series of Powershot cameras, I am using it with an A620 and it produces beautiful pictures. The flash is a "slave" in that it triggers when the camera's built-in flash fires, so there is no cord needed to connect it to the camera. It comes with a fixed bracket but you can also hand-hold it for bounce flash effects very easily. It uses a 123A lithium battery which recharges very quickly (generally less than 2-3 seconds, about 7 seconds for a maximum-brightness flash), Canon claims approximately 250 shots from a new battery. There is an adjustment for low-mid-high intensity but the flash does not, to my knowledge, focus or adjust for subject distance (the camera auto-exposure does an excellent job of that). Finally, there is a "manual" mode which only means that you have to press and hold the indicator button to enable the flash to fire, this is to attempt to avoid having the slave trigger on someone else's flash if you are in a roomful of cameras. The guide number is 18 meters at ISO 100. I have found that, for example, taking pictures of actors in a high-school play from the audience, about 30 feet away, with relatively dim stage lighting, this flash was more than powerful enough to get excellent face shots, even with the camera moderately zoomed. This is a very useful and high-performance accessory, definitely worthwhile if you do a lot of indoor shooting where you can't get close to your subject.

I tried to save money by buying a Sunpak slave that was triggered (like the HF-DC1) by the camera's built in flash and was supposed to work with all digital cameras, but it failed to work with my Canon S3 IS. Even though my Canon S3 IS did trigger the Sunpak, it would not fire in sync with the S3 since the S3's (other Canon Powershot cameras do the same thing) flash sent out an imperceptible pre-flash that caused the Sunpak to fire before the real full flash on the S3 fired. I called Sunpak and they had no clue what was happening. A call to Canon, however, got me answers and also got me to return the Sunpak and buy the HF-DC1. In summary, don't play games and save money just buy the flash that is made to work with this and other Canon Power shot cameras. In any case, the HF-DC1 is really, really, tiny and light and uses the funky and expensive CR123a battery. Buying a rechargeable CR123a with a charger is also an expensive proposition. What to do if you want to save money on batteries? Nothing! Buy the CR123a on the WEB cheap and be thankful that each one will let you take a tremendous amount of flash photos before you need another. This Canon flash is quite efficient in its power usage. The HF-DC1 also comes with a bracket that lets you use the tripod socket on the S3 and other Canon Powershot cameras to mount it on the side of the camera. You can also experiment and hand hold the flash at different angles without the bracket. The HF-DC1 is silver in color and doesn't really match the S3's black body but it still looks OK. The flash has three buttons. The first allows you to set the power of the flash from min to mid to max. You will need to think this through since there are no wires going from the flash to the camera so how far the subject is from you will determine the setting you choose. Figure the HF-DC1 working with the flash on the S3, for example, will extend the distance from 15 to 30 feet and play with the setting accordingly. The next button allows you to set the flash to fire automatically or manually and is also the power on button. The word "automatic" here means nothing more than the flash firing without you touching it as soon as it sees a flash, any flash. Thus, if you are in a crowd and everyone is taking flash photos your HF-DC1 will be triggered by the flash of other cameras in this setting. What to do? Set the flash to manual and hold down the third button on the flash when you are ready to take the shot. This prevents the flash from being fired by another flash until the button is pressed This is truly a great feature and it did not exist on the Sunpak flash. The HF-DC1 is not cheap but it seems help make fairly well exposed photos most (not all) of the time. These exposures would not be possible with the camera's built in flash alone. HF-DC1 is extremely small (smaller than you think!) and is truly a featherweight. Since the Canon Powershot cameras in question have no hot shoe, you must buy a slave that is triggered by the flash built into the camera. The HF-DC1 is worth the money and I highly recommend it.

It works as advertised, no more, no less. It allows you to take flash shots at distances impossible with the camera flash alone. However, since there is no automatic exposure control, its easy to wash out a picture because of too much light, so you need to draw on your experience learned from prior photos. Its a good idea to take some practice shots to gain that experience.

Amazing little flash gun. Without it, most point & shoot cameras will allow you only 12-13 distance between you and your subject. With this, it'll go up to 30 feet. You can go even further out if you put the flash gun closer to the subject while you stand back. Can be used as a bounce flash too. Doesn't work for fill in flash in bright light, though. Most point and shoot cameras will boost its ISO to lighten the picture. Downside of that is when you blow up the picture, you'll see lots of grains. Using a flash will reduce the graininess. I would recommend setting your camera on manual to prevent the camera from selecting the ISO by itself.
The batteries can cost you around $7, so it is expensive. I bought a bunch for $2 online. I took over 400 pictures on one battery and it's still going strong. I think the instructions said you can get up to 500 pictures on a battery.
I was so happy with this flash gun that I ordered a Phoenix D92-BZS Digital Slave Flash. It's almost half the price with more power. The advantage of the HF-DC1 is its compact size. You can stick it in your pocket very easily. I'd like to get a Nikon D200 but I hate to go around carrying that heavy camera with a huge flash gun sitting on top of it. I can stick my Canon A640 in one pocket and the HF-DC1 in another. The Phoenix is quite large but more powerful.
The HF-DC1 will work with most Canons and it even runs on my Minolta.. so I guess it'll run on many different brands. It senses the multiple flashes the camera puts out and then fires on the second flash. Some cameras fire on the first or third. So caution here. The Phoenix has a selectable flash for 1st, 2nd or 3rd flash. I would guess that it'll run on almost all digital point & shoot cameras. But it's big. Can't stick it in your pocket.
Your camera has its mind and the HF-DC1 has its mind too, so sometimes they battle each other. So set your camera on manual and take an experimental shot. Make necessary adjustments and then fire away. I found that I could extend the range a bit by covering, with my finger, the sensor hole that the HF-DC1 uses to determine how bright a flash to give.
All of this may sound a bit complicated but without the flash, you will end up with too dark pictures. At my son's wedding, my relatives and I took lots of digital pictures but all the shots over 12' were dark. With the HF-DC1, I went to our club banquet and took 250 shots using the HF-DC1 and I was able to get good pictures out to 40+ feet. I did not set the camera to manual so some pictures came out too bright and some came out too grainy. But I was happy with 95% of the pictures. With digital cameras, take a lot of pictures and throw the bad ones away. Without an external flashgun, you'll throw a lot more away. Precious ones too.

I had problems with the built in flash in my canon Ixus 40 when taking pics in the dark..

so i decided to try the HF-DC1 power flash and the result is way better .. You can place the flash anywhere in the room and take a perfect picture .. or simply attach it with the camera..

Great product .. recommended.

The unit performs exceptionally well. It truly lights up subjects that are 20 to 25 feet away, well beyond the range of the flash built into the camera. It is also suitable for hand holding a foot or more from the camera and fires with the built-in camera flash so as to avoid the "flat lighting" normally expected with on camera flash pictures. I have no serious complaints. My only negative is that the so-called "manual flash" does not work as I expected it to. The instructions could be a bit better on this point. Overall performance I would rate a 5 out of 5.

The problem with built-in flash is not only that it can be weak, but that it's right in line with the lens. This gives, at best, flat lighting and, at worst, bad red-eye. This unit solves both problems.

I was jazzed to receive mine today. It's very small and light, and seems to work as advertised. I put the unit in several different positions and it always fired. It's so great to get off-camera flash on a P&S!

It worked, that is, until I tried it with the G7's flash output set to manual. Won't work.

Turns out the optical slave doesn't react to the flash, but to the pre-flash. That might not matter to most people, but I'm bummed because I had seen use for this mixed in with studio flashes, perhaps on location, as a way to add an extra pop of light to hard-to-reach places. Oh, well ...

All in all, this is a very cool little item. I'm not going to use the bracket, because I see a great advantage in being able to move the flash off-camera. Do that and your flash pictures will never look the same. And that's a good thing ... :-)

The Canon HF-DC1 is a great addition to the line of accessories I have for my Canon Powershot A610. The built in flash in my camera hasn't really been a big issue since my photography needs aren't too demanding. However, with the 58mm lenses I recently purchased blocking a huge portion of the flash, I decided to get the HF-DC1. It totally solved my lighting issues and it offers me a lot more shot flexibility. As the term "slave" flash indicates, you can place the HF-DC1 any where around a 30 ft. radius of your subject and let your camera's on-board flash trigger it to help minimize ghosting and shadowing on you pictures. The aesthetic of the flash is a typical Canon and compliments the Powershot line of digital cameras very well. It is small enough to put in your pocket and easily attaches to your camera with the supplied bracket. You can also hold it for better lighting placement and effect. As you can see in the pictures I uploaded, the controls on the back are very straight forward and easy to use. I use Manual mode almost exclusively as it gives me total control of the flash while Min and Mid flash intensity produce ample lighting for my needs.

Overall, although the price of the HF-DC1 is a bit higher compared to non-OEM flashes, I have no regrets from buying it with all things considered.

Being an old-time fan of bounce flashing, this allows you to do that with almost any digicam. I've used it with a Canon S3 and A620 with excellent results. I can lower the main flash output and use it to trigger the external. It's really versatile in the hand-held mode, allowing me to position it where I want at most any angle. When used mounted with the full-strength onboard flash, it can be truly blinding to those on the other side.

The only "con" is the use of an odd-sized lithium battery. Even AA lithium would have been much more economical.