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Before deciding to use Non canon non dedicated flashes with Canon EOS cameras, you will need to be aware of its trigger voltage. Canon Speedlites flashes uses no more than 6 volts in their trigger circuits. As such you have to ensure that the non canon Flashes should also comply within this tolerance. The Canon EOS cameras like the EOS-1,A2/A2E,10s,630,Elan,RT and Rebel are all designed to operate with no more than 6 volts passing through their trigger circuits.

Triggering circuits using more than 6 volts can damage the X-Sync contact point of the camera, the connecting wires and shutter units. You might not be aware of the damages as it could be happening gradually. In addition, the high voltage that is conducted through the Camera connecting wire will also generate electro magnetic noises which can create undesirable effects on the Camera functions. Problems can arise from the metering system, shutter speed, aperture settings etc. The effects will depend on which part of the camera circuitry system is being interfered with.

If you wish to test the Voltage of the triggering circuit of the flash, simply use a voltmeter. These can be purchased at any Radio Shack stores. Connect the positive lead to the positive point of the Camera Sync cord and the Negative lead to the ground of the Sync cord. For Shoe mounted Flash units, the positive lead must be connected to the center of the mount. The negative lead should be connected to the ground contact which is located on the side of the Lock nut. All the voltmeters have varying settings. If the voltage of the Flash unit is unknown, just use the highest settings and work your way downwards.

There is also a way which you can fire a flash without a Sync cord. To do this, you need the Speedlite 420EZ or 430EZ set at 1/32 power under the manual flash mode. Make certain that the optical slave trigger of the flash are turned on. In essence, you are making use of the bounce feature of the flash to redirect the flash light to the optical slave trigger. You can also use wireless radio transmitters and receivers which are connected to the PC contact and Flash Power pack to fire the Studio flash. These wireless gadgets are available from companies like Lindahl and Quantum Instruments.

If the Studio flash does not work with the Canon EOS Camera, you have to check on the following listed below:

1. Ensure that the PC socket adapter does not come with metal shoes. Metal shoes will cause a “short” in the triggering circuit. To avoid this problem, use a Canon PC socket adapter made from plastic.

2. Make sure that the flash units polarities are in the correct order with the X-Sync of the camera contact point. The reversed polarities are normally caused by a diode which is coupled to the camera’s X-Sync contact for the protection of the camera internal flash. To correct this problem, simply reverse the polarity of the Sync Cord.

3. If after having tired these two suggested solution and the Flash still wont fire, then just adopt the method described above to fire the Flash without the use of the Sync cord.