On the face of it, the Canon Speedlite EL-5 looks a bit of a bargain. It shoehorns most of the features of the flagship Canon Speedlite EL-1 into a more compact, lightweight build. These include a 24-200mm motorized zoom head with a powerful Gn 60 maximum power rating, a secondary, twin LED lamp for constant lighting, modelling and AF-assist, and advanced flash modes including high-speed sync, rear-curtain sync and programmable strobe (repeat). It also runs on the same rechargeable Canon LP-EL rechargeable Li-ion battery, boosting stamina and recycling speed between flashes. And compared with the Speedlite EL-1, the EL-5 costs less than half as much to buy.
