Canon Speedlite 470EX-AI

£455/$399 Smarter than the average flashgun

This Canon Speedlite takes clever tricks to a new level. In AI Bounce mode, for example, it fires a pre-flash pulse at the target, then flips up 90 degrees and fires a second pulse at the ceiling. It then sets the optimum bounce angle and power output. A semi-automatic mode enables bouncing the flash off a white wall or an adjacent reflector card.

However, other features you’d expect to find in a flashgun costing this much are absent – including RF (Radio Frequency) wireless linking, featured on Canon’s cheaper 430EX III-RT. And it can only work in optical slave mode: there’s no programmable repeat mode, nor even a pull-out reflector card.

Performance

The artificial intelligence gets things right for bounce flash photography, although the process required does slow things down a bit.