External flash for Canon SX70 HS

[JohnRostron]

I have been looking for a external flash to go with the Canon Powershot SX70 HS"] which has no hotshoe. I found
this but it appears to be out of stock. Is there anything else?

John

[inkista]

Forget the Gloxy. I'd say get a Godox TT600 instead (amazon.co.uk has 'em for about £60), if all you want is a single-pin manual flash that has S1/S2 "dumb" optical slaves in them so you can pop 'em via the pop-up flash on the SX70 HS.

Without a flash hotshoe or a sync port, optical slaving is your only option, really.

Nearly all the 3rd-party cheap Chinese speedlights offer S1/S2 optical slave modes. The big differences between the Gloxy you found and the TT600 are that you get a control wheel instead of four-way buttons, and built-in remote radio control in an expansive lighting system.

Optical slaving works great indoors in studio conditions where ambient light levels are low and there are plenty of bounce surfaces around. Once you go out on location, optical slaving can become less reliable with smaller range, since sunlight may overpower the signaling, and bounce surfaces will require strictly line of sight. Radio doesn't have these issues, which is why it's preferred for on-location shooting.

You can jury-rig a dumb optical peanut slave up to a radio transmitter (i.e., put the peanut in front of your pop-up flash, connect/cable the peanut to a sync input on a radio transmitter [not all of them have input btw]) if you're in the mood to rube Goldberg things for a Strobist setup, and with a TT600 that could also give you remote group/power control with an X2T or XPro transmitter. But TTL and HSS are not in the cards.

[rpcrowe]

John here is a YouTube video about syncing a flash with your SX70.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYV6-YSaOVA

Sometimes Canon really drops the ball when it introduces a camera. I love my SX50 and use the hotshoe flash frequently. I always bounce the flash when I do.

I have a Canon 420EX which is left over from the days when I shot Canon. I am pretty sure this flash will work as a slave with your on camera flash. The 420EX is a small but, full size flash. It can be operated inTTL mode but doesn't have manual capability.

If you can ascertain that the 420Ex flash will work with your camera. I'd be glad to give it to you for just the postage (which shouldn't be too expensive).

[JohnRostron]

Thanks to Kathy and Richard. I will look into your suggestions hen I get back home.

Sunlight will not be a problem. My intention is to photograph flowers and fungi in woods.

John

[Daryddi]

Thanks to Kathy and Richard. I will look into your suggestions...
John

Hi,

I was wondering if, over the last 6 months, you have found a solution to this please? I have just purchased a SX70 HS as it is the best for my family but like you am wondering if there is a way to get it to wirelessly trigger slave flashes?.

Cheers for any info regarding this particular model.

[William W]

Hi,
I was wondering if, over the last 6 months, you have found a solution to this please? I have just purchased a SX70 HS as it is the best for my family but like you am wondering if there is a way to get it to wirelessly trigger slave flashes?.
Cheers for any info regarding this particular model.

Interesting question.

I think the "solutions" are written above.

The fact is the SX70 neither has an Hot Shoe nor Flash Sync Port, therefore the only solution is to use the Pop Up Flash on the SX70HS as an Optical Trigger.

As Kathy mentioned, you can rig an Optical Trigger, placing it in front of the Pop Up Flash, and then connect that to a Radio Trigger.

WW

[AshleighLindsey]

You can buy it from the online store.