Can I use my Canon Speedlight 199A with my Canon T2i?

[legaldr]

I have a 199A from my days with my AE-1.  Both work!  Can I use the 199A with my T2i?

[cicopo]

Yes you can use it but the camera won't control it's output & it can't control the camera. It will fire at full power so you will need to use manual mode & adjust your settings as needed for each situation. If that sounds like a big thing to learn it's not but like everything it's time to think about modernizing. I shot an older flash for roughly 1 year when I switched from my A 1's to a 20D & really regret selling that flash which was a big sidemount Vivitar.

[MikeSowsun]

Yes, you can use it and you CAN have Auto Exposure Flash as well.  

I have a Canon 199A and also a Canon 299T. Both of these flashes are old enough to use Auto Thyristor flash which can still give you auto exposure flash with today's digital cameras. This is because the auto sensor is in the flash itself and needs no communication with the camera in order to get an auto exposure.  

Later film flashes like the 300TL, 300EZ, 420EZ etc. used TTL or ATTL flash metering which read the exposure off the film plane.  These will only fire at full power on a Digital camera since there is no film plane to read the exposure from.

The 199A when used with your AE-1 was very automated. You could just leave the lens set to "A"and the camera would do everything else for you.  With today's cameras you need to set the shutter speed, aperture and ISO on the camera, and then the flash will be able to match those settings and give you Auto flash exposure. 

They actually still have limited communication with today's Canon cameras and will limit the max shutter speed to 1/200 on your T2i. ( max flash sync speed)  The "Flash Ready" icon will also appear in the viewfinder.

Here are two places you can download the 199A manual:

http://www.alice-dsl.net/michaelmetan/anleitungen/canon_speedlite_199a_engl.pdf

 http://www.cameramanuals.org/flashes_meters/speedlite_199a.pdf

The controls are pretty basic:

On the left is the on/off switch and on the right is the Manual/Red/Green/Yellow switch. Manual will fire the flash at full power. (GN 100 feet/ISO100) The /Red/Green/Yellow selections are for Auto exposure flash. You can set the circular ISO calculator dial to match the ISO on the camera and it will show you which aperture to use with each color. It will also show the Auto Flash coupling distance range for the aperture (color) you have selected.

You can disregard the shutter speed selector on the front of the flash ("Auto;Manu 1/60-30S") as it is only useable with the Canon A-1.

 
When using it with your DSLR it is best to use the camera in Manual mode. Set the ISO to 400 and set the shutter speed to something like 1/125. Then set the aperture on your camera to match what "Color" auto flash you want.

With ISO 400:

Red is f/5.6
Green is f/11
Yellow is f/22

With ISO 100:

Red is f/2.8
Green is f/5.6
Yellow is f/11

[TCampbell]

Automatic flash exposure with an AE-1 (btw, I still have my AE-1) and modern Canon E-TTL of today are VERY different.  

While you can use your flash as a "manual" flash... you may want to invest in newer gear.

On your 199A, there was no "TTL" capability of the flash.  That flash has 3 "auto" power levels... a high, medium, and low.  It merely told the camera to set the f-stop to either f/2.8, f/5.6, or f/11.

The flash unit has a thyristor sensor on the front that measures the light return to the flash and then cuts off the flash when it thinks it's received enough light.  Highly reflective surfaces could fool it into thinking it had recevied enough light and shut down even if the subject of interest was underexposed.

Modern E-TTL II flash is MUCH MUCH smarter.  As the name implies, it is actual "TTL" metering... meaning the camera and flash are have bi-direction communication.

E-TTL does the following:

• It meters the scene with no flash whatsoever -- using "evaluative" metering and noting the amount of light present in each zone of the scene.
• It fires a pre-flash at low power level.  Typically the default is 1/32nd power, but you can configure the flash to change that.
• While the pre-flash is illuminating the scene, the camera meters the scene again.
• The camera then compares each zone of the scene WITH the pre-flash to each zone of the scene WITHOUT the pre-flash.  Respective zones with very big difference indicate reflective objects (e.g. mirrors).  Zones with almost no difference indicate probable light sources (e.g. a light source in the scene... such as a table lamp, street light, etc.).  Zones with a more reasonable difference indicate actual elements of the scene benefiting from flash.  Having isolated zones which aren't reliable indicators of flash... the camera concentrates on calculating needed flash power by looking at the remaining zones.
• If the flash is mounted on-camera and also pointed directly ahead (and ONLY if both of these conditions are true) THEN the E-TTL system will also request lens focusing distance information and take this into account when calcuating flash power.  This is because the "inverse square" law can be applied.  If the flash is off-camera then the computer cannot assume that the lens distance and flash distance are the same.  Also if the flash is being bounced then the distance the light will need to travel will not match the lens focus distance.  Hence, it only uses this info if both conditions are true.
• With all of the above considered, the computer decides how much power should be used for the "real" shot and the camera opens the shutter and the flash fires using the calcuated power level.

All of this happens so fast that most people presume the flash just fired once.

Thyristor flash would be fooled by a strong light source (e.g. shooting into the sun and trying to use the flash as "fill" would fool the unit into thinking enough light had been delivered -- there are many things that could trick a thyristor-based auto flash.

Modern E-TTL does much more... that was just the basics, but you can see how the system is much more clever about figuring out how much power is really needed and knows how to isolate areas of the scene that used to fool auto-flash technologies of the past.

Modern flash can provide high-speed sync (rapid successive pulses of light as the curtain shutters sweep across the sensor at speeds faster than the flash "sync" speed.

Modern flash can also provide "2nd curtain" sync... where the flash fires just before closing the shutter rather than just after the shutter opens.  When shooting a subject to imply motion while using flash, this provides more directional blur that the eye expects.

Some (but not all) modern flash can provide "multi-strobic" flash... where the flash pulses several times at a slower speed (you control) during a very long exposure.  E.g. if I photograph an athelte "throwing a ball" you get images of them at many different points throughout the "throw" all in one exposure due to multi-strobic mode.

Most modern flash can participate in multi-light shooting scenarios where one flash acts as a "master" to tell the other units when to fire (and at what power level) and the others act as "slaves" (taking orders from the master) to provide better lighting (read specs carefully... some units can only be "slaves", some can only be "masters", and some can be either.)

Modern flash technology really has evolved and refined what you can do with flash.

[ebiggs1]

"Can I use the 199A with my T2i?"  

If you mean will it work or not damage your T2i, than "yes". But if you mean will it really work, than no, it won't.

Oh, I suppose you can luck out and get a shot or two to come out. It did with your old AE-1 after all. Didn't it?

But like Tim said, the new flashes are really marvels in new technology and worth upgrading to one.

We are rapidly approaching the time when all flashes will become obsolete. But for now E-TTL is where it's at.

[MikeSowsun]

"Can I use the 199A with my T2i?"  

"If you mean will it work or not damage your T2i, than "yes". But if you mean will it really work, than no, it won't.

Oh, I suppose you can luck out and get a shot or two to come out. It did with your old AE-1 after all. Didn't it?

But like Tim said, the new flashes are really marvels in new technology and worth upgrading to one.

We are rapidly approaching the time when all flashes will become obsolete. But for now E-TTL is where it's at."

ETTL is better, but it is not without faults either. ETTL can also get fooled by bright reflections or dark areas.  Canon must have recognized this because they added External Auto metering (Thyristor Auto flash) to the 580EX II and 600EX flash units for users to have another option.

Here is what Canon says about it:   

 "This type of automatic flash has worked for many photographers for several decades.  While there is no question a modern TTL flash and camera can combine to perform tasks simply not possible using an external flash sensor (like automatically balancing ambient and flash exposure), auto flash using an external sensor is a proven method of flash exposure control.  The Speedlite 580EX II now gives users this option."

You can read more about it here on the Canon USA website: Speedlite 580EX II External Automatic Flash Exposure Sensor   

Since the Original Poster already has a Canon 199A flash unit that will do Auto Flash with his T2i, I think they should at least give it a try.  

I rarely use Canon Thyristor Auto flash, but when I do, I get consistent, well exposed results. It's not luck. The Canon 199A was a "Top of the Line" flash back in the 1980's. Nothing has changed in the way it operates. It works just as well today with Digital SLR's as it did back in the 1980's with Film SLR's.

[ebiggs1]

"ETTL is better, but it is not without faults either."

Oh, so right you are.  I can not wait, even at this latter stage in my life, for a camera that doesn't need a flash at all.

It's coming! 

I have three 580 EX II's and if I need flash I generally use all three. The wireless feature is fantastic.  I also use three of my old 285's with either triggers or as optical slaves.

But if someone has a newer Rebel, than E-TTL is the way to go. Even if it is going to cost more. Sometimes it is best to leave that old technology where it belongs, in the past.

[JohnAvery]

You won't have any sign in the viewfinder if the199A  is prepared to fire or not, and you won't get the automatic aperture control. It will be I would say inconvenient.

[links removed per forum guidelines]

[MikeSowsun]

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@JohnAvery wrote:

You won't have any sign in the viewfinder if the199A  is prepared to fire or not, and you won't get the automatic aperture control. It will be I would say inconvenient.

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Canon puts a lot forward/ backward compatibility into their products:

With the 199A, you WILL get the flash ready icon in the viewfinder of your T2i.

Shutter speed will be automatically limited to the max sync  of 1/200. 

Yes, you will need to use Aperture or Manual mode set the Aperture. Once it is set to match the selections on the flash, you just leave it alone, and the flash will conveniently automatically vary the power to properly expose the photo. 

I would use Manual mode so you have more control over the ambient lighting exposure.  Shutter speed (Tv)  mode will always 

try to expose for ambient light and you will get very slow shutter speeds in dark conditions.