Unravel the LCD display of Canon - and compatible - Speedlites

If you use a TTL flashgun with extensive information at the back you might get a bit lost with all the digits and letters. You may ask yourself “what is important and what does it mean?”

Below we highlight the most relevant data and its meaning.

Although your particular flash may look slightly different, the LCD image below is generally recognisable for most types of Canon and Canon compatible flash units.

1. Indication for TTL flashmode.
2. Indication for High Speed Flash Sync.
3. Indication for automatic zoom. When zooming in or out with the lens on the camera, the flash automatically spreads the light over the image based on the focal length. Certain flashguns may not indicate A-zoom. Nevertheless, automatic zoom will be recognised, unless manual zoom is set.
4. 24mm is the focal length of the lens. It changes along when you zoom in and out with the lens (provided that A-zoom is activated).
5. F5.6 is the aperture set on the camera. It automatically changes when a different aperture is set.
6. Distance range indicated by numbers and a black bar chart. It is the range of distances where the flash can properly reach the subject. Ignoring the distance will result in an over- or underexposed subject. The minimum and the maximum limits are indicated in meters, but can be changed to feet in the menu of the flashgun. Please note that Canon 430, Metz Mecablitz 58 and 400 only show the maximum distance. However, a certain minimum distance should be taken into consideration.
7. Indication for flash compensation.

Flash unit with limited data

Your flash unit may not show all the data as mentioned above. However, the camera settings are recognized by the flash. With those settings, the flash offers a certain minimum and maximum distance.

The following flashguns don’t show flash distances, but it’s important to be a aware that a minimum and maximum distance must be taken into account.