The Canon Speedlite 90ex Flash
Still Worth It?

Speedlite 90EX

The Canon Speedlite 90ex Flash. Designed with the Canon mirrorless EOS M camera in mind, this flash has the standard shoe mount and is compatible with all EOS DSLRs.

Its features are accessible through the EOS M camera's menu system, not on the outside of the flash. The Auto-focus assist beam is one of the features that I like. It's very useful for low-light situations where focusing mechanisms often can struggle.

FE lock and flash exposure compensation. Color temperature information can be transmitted back to the camera.

Is The Canon 90EX Flash still any good

The Speedlite 90EX is a good choice for Canon mirrorless M shooters who want a simple, compact flash, that's easy to use, and will give better flash performance than the built in flash that may come with the EOS M mirrorless cameras.

In addition to lighting up the scene in front of you, the 90EX can also control multiple flash units from its lightweight perch upon your Canon camera. That's its best feature.

• It's maximum guide number is 30 ft./9 meters at ISO 100.
• It weighs less than 2 ounces as is about 2 x 2 inches total.
• It takes 2 AA batteries and has an auto-off time of 5 minutes.
• It covers as wide as a 24 mm (full-sized sensor) lens.

The  90EX can control up to three groups of slave-enabled flashes, controlling power from an 8:1 ration down to a 1:8 ratio in 1/2-stop increments. It can transmit up to approximately 16.4 ft. indoors, up to 23 ft. outdoors.

Canon 90EX

You can see the simplicity of this flash by looking at the back of the 90EX. The power lamp is on top and can be seen from up above or behind.

The back of the has the mounting foot lock lever, the on-off switch and the sideways sliding battery compartment cover.

The manual that comes with this speedlite has about 12 pages of easy to understand instructions for wireless settings for single and multiple flash use. The 90Ex comes with a soft case the manual and a one year warranty. 

90ex DISADVANTAGES

1. The 90EX does not have a bounce feature and it can not swivel. You can soften the shadows a bit with a diffuser. Another option-it's more creative, but not convenient, is to use a hot shoe extension cord.
2. It's not overly powerful in terms of its light output. Fortunately, you can offset that with newer cameras by setting your ISO to a higher number.

If you want a few more capabilities in your flash, or you're not a big fan of the M mirrorless cameras Canon has a full range of alternatives to the 90EX speedlite. See the table below, with all of the links to the articles on those flashes.

The speedlite 90EX Siblings:

Speedlite 600EX-RT Speedlite 320EX

Speedlite 580EX II Speedlite 270EX II

speedlite 470EX AI speedlite EL-100

Speedlite 430EX II Speedlite 90EX

Some photographers buy this Canon flash unit simply to use as a remote trigger instead of the Canon ST-E2.  They use the menu within the Canon EOS M to control the settings/ratios.  The fact that it is a flash also then becomes a bonus.

Speedlite Diffuser

Also worth considering, if you don't feel that you must have a flash made by Canon, are other flash guns.  Here are some thoughts on Canon Speedlite alternatives.

Bruce Lovelace is the publisher of Canon Camera Geek. Read more about him on the About Page. He also publishes how to articles and camera gear reviews at the Photography Tips website.

View some of Bruce's photos on Instagram  and Flickr.   Join the tribe of followers on YouTube. Bruce also runs photo workshops and provides 1 on 1 digital photography coaching.

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