What happened to the A.I. Speedlites???

[mkabi]

Out of curiosity, what happened to Canon’s AI speedlites… example the 470EX-AI.

I thought it was a great idea, never actually used it but it was on my wishlist to buy.

Did it get discontinued because no one was buying it? Some other faultiness?

 

[neuroanatomist]

Seems like Canon is focusing their flash lineup on the newer EL series (EL-1, EL-100 and the delayed EL-5).

 

[danfaz]

I never bought a 470, as it looked like it moved a bit too slow. Fine for posed shots, but at events it might not be quick enough.

 

[GMCPhotographics]

Do any of the new EL flashes work in the Fully Electronic Shutter mode on the R3/R6ii & R8?
I got caught out the other day where the camera was in Electronic shutter mode and the flash wouldn't flre.
It took me ages to work out what was going on with my 600EX-RT's!
The R6ii has a menu help that informs you that the flash won't fire in this mode (although it's not clear what mode actually means in this context).
The R8 doesn't have a help menu item for this error..so it just doesn't fire and the flash fire in the menu shows disabled and is greyed out.

 

[neuroanatomist]

Do any of the new EL flashes work in the Fully Electronic Shutter mode on the R3/R6ii & R8?

Only the R3 supports using a flash in full electronic shutter. That is made possible by the high readout speed of the stacked sensor, so presumably future Canon bodies that use a stacked sensor will also support flash with electronic shutter.

It doesn’t require an EL flash, I can put a 600EX in the hotshoe of my R3 or use a group of them controlled by an EL-5 or STE-10 and it works with electronic shutter.

 

[bergstrom]

Canon developed a new A.I flash, but because it was so intelligent, it killed everyone in the R&D lab, so out of concern for its customer base, future flashes will be dumbed down purposefully and the customer will now be smarter than the flashes, so as to not have a repeat of that unfortunate incident. Why Canon voted for a takeover of Skynet, we'll never know.