A guide number depends on the sensitivity and coverage behind it · review
Canon Speedlite EL-5, guide number 60, weather-sealed review
The dearest flash of the five here at 325 €, with weather seals, eleven stops of manual control and 350 full-power shots from its own lithium pack — and a compatibility list that rules out every reflex and several mirrorless bodies.
The bottom line Fast recycling, eleven stops, a published burst count, weather seals and a lithium pack good for 350 full-power shots: the specification behind the 325 € is real and mostly complete. The guide number arrives without conditions, no radio is named, and the compatibility list is the line to read first.
On the listing
Four bullets, and they are unusually dense. A guide number of 60 for distant subjects and large groups, with recycle times of 0.1 to 1.2 seconds and about 85 flashes at full power in a continuous burst; a compatibility bullet naming the EOS R50, R10, R8, R7, R6 Mark II, R3, R1, R5 Mark II, PowerShot V1 and R50 V, warning that it is not compatible with any reflex model nor with the EOS R, RP, R5, R5 C, R6 and R100, and that a firmware update may be needed; the LP-EL lithium pack giving up to 350 shots at full power, with manual levels from full down to 1/1024; and improved passive cooling against overheating with weather-resistant seals for shooting in poor conditions. The title adds FP high-speed synchronisation.
Sixty, and no conditions
The biggest number on this shelf and the hardest to use. The hub above asks for the sensitivity and the coverage behind a guide number, and this page gives neither. A flash of this class has a zooming head, and an unqualified figure is normally quoted at the longest setting — so 60 and the qualified GN38 two places down are not two points on one scale.
Three hundred and fifty at full power
The battery figure, and it is the one that describes a working day. Three hundred and fifty full-power flashes from the LP-EL, with recycling between 0.1 and 1.2 seconds and eighty-five flashes available in a single burst. No AA-powered flash on this shelf approaches any of those three numbers.
Eleven stops, which is four more than anything here
Full down to 1/1024. At the quiet end it becomes a fill light at arm’s length or a way to trigger something else; at the loud end it is doing what the guide number claims. The range is published at both ends, which is more than most pages manage.
Weather seals, and a compatibility list that excludes
The seals and the improved passive cooling are the only claims of their kind on this shelf, and they are what a photographer working outdoors is paying for. Then read the second bullet twice: every reflex is excluded, and so are the EOS R, RP, R5, R5 C, R6 and R100. Supported bodies may still need a firmware update.
Availability
Between 325 € and 359 € on the German, French, Italian and Spanish Amazon stores when this page was last checked.
The British Amazon store carry it too, priced in local currency. Those amounts are deliberately absent from the range above, which reads euro stores only.
Listed in the American Amazon catalogue with nothing on sale against the entry: the camera has a page there and no seller behind it.
Everything in this section is the figure Keepa carried on the day of the last update to this page. Availability and prices shift without notice.
Prices quoted in this text were read on 13 September 2026. The live price is at the top of the page.
What it does well, and what it gives up
Strengths
Recycle of 0.1 to 1.2 seconds with about 85 full-power flashes in a burst, the fastest on this shelf
Eleven stops of manual control, from full down to 1/1024
Weather-resistant seals and improved passive cooling, the only sealing claim among these five flashes
Compromises
Guide number 60 with no sensitivity and no coverage, so the largest figure here is the least checkable
The compatibility list excludes every reflex and the EOS R, RP, R5, R5 C, R6 and R100
No head movement, no zoom range and no radio system published
Specifications
Guide number with its stated conditions
Sixty, in the first bullet, with neither a sensitivity nor a coverage figure. It is the largest number on this shelf and, by the hub above’s standard, the least verifiable: the 51 € flash here publishes GN38 at ISO 100, and an unqualified 60 cannot be set against it. On a flash with a zooming head the figure is normally quoted at the longest setting
Head tilt and swivel
Not published on the listing. Four bullets cover the output and recycling, compatibility, the battery and manual range, and the cooling and sealing — and none of them describes the head moving. Canon flashes of this class do tilt and swivel; this page does not say so, and nothing here should be read as a claim
Zoom range
None published. No focal range appears, which matters more here than elsewhere because an unqualified guide number of 60 is usually measured at a long zoom setting
Metering support
Named only by category. The title calls it a system flash with FP high-speed synchronisation, and the second bullet lists the bodies it works with — which together imply full communication with the camera. No metering protocol is named in any bullet, so the page states the capability by implication rather than by specification
Recycle time
0.1 to 1.2 seconds, in the first bullet, with about 85 flashes at full power in a continuous burst. It is the fastest recycle on this shelf — the NEEWER takes up to five seconds — and the burst count is published alongside it, which nothing else here does
Power source
The LP-EL rechargeable lithium pack, credited in the third bullet with up to 350 shots at full flash power. A proprietary cell rather than AA batteries, which is what makes the recycle time and the burst count possible
Built-in radio
Not named on the listing. No radio system appears in the four bullets, and no optical slave mode either — so nothing on this page describes how the flash would be fired off the camera
Amazon reference
B0BTHYZ2SB (same reference on 6 Amazon marketplaces)
EAN
8714574672694
What people ask before they commit
Why is the compatibility list the most important bullet?
Because it excludes more than it includes among cameras people already own. The second bullet names the EOS R50, R10, R8, R7, R6 Mark II, R3, R1, R5 Mark II, PowerShot V1 and R50 V, and then rules out all reflex models plus the EOS R, RP, R5, R5 C, R6 and R100. A firmware update may be required even on the supported ones. This is a flash for a specific generation of bodies.
What do eleven stops of manual control give?
Reach at both ends. From full power down to 1/1024 is eleven stops, the widest manual range of the five here — the flashes below manage seven or four. At the bottom of that range the flash becomes a subtle fill at close quarters or a trigger for other lights; at the top it lights a group at distance. The third bullet publishes both ends.
How much does the weather sealing matter?
It is the only such claim on this shelf, and it pairs with the improved passive cooling named in the same bullet: sealed against bad conditions, and able to keep firing without overheating. For anyone photographing outdoors in weather — events, sport, wildlife — that combination is a large part of what separates this from a flash costing a sixth as much.
Sony fit · TTL, manual and stroboscopic modes · high-speed sync to 1/8000 s · first and second curtain sync · flash exposure compensation · Godox 2.4G X system, X5S detachable and controlling the flash from up to 20 m · touchscreen · 7.2 V 900 mAh cell, about 70 minutes at full power, recharged in about 70 minutes over USB-C · 10-step LED modelling light · magnetic diffuser, colour filters and a mini stand supplied · no guide number published
A TTL flash sold with its own radio trigger for 107 €, with high-speed sync to 1/8000 and a touchscreen — and no guide number anywhere on the page, which is the one figure this shelf is ranked by.
Best for: A Sony body that needs one small flash working both on and off the camera, inside a system that can grow to studio heads later.
Universal single-contact hot shoe · GN38 at ISO 100 · 8 manual levels from 1/128 to 1/1, seven stops · 5600K plus or minus 200K · recycle 0.1 to 5 s · flash duration 1/300 to 1/20,000 s · head tilts 0 to 90 degrees and swivels 0 to 270 · S1 and S2 optical slave modes and PC sync · 4 AA cells, not supplied, with a socket for a CP-E4 external pack · no TTL, no high-speed sync, no camera-menu control
The only flash here that publishes its guide number with the sensitivity behind it — GN38 at ISO 100 — and a head that tilts through 90 degrees and swivels through 270, for 51 €, with a first bullet that is four warnings.
Best for: Bounced flash on a budget, on almost any camera with a centre-contact shoe, for someone who sets the power by hand and owns rechargeable AA cells.
Single-contact hot shoe · GN8, no sensitivity or coverage stated · 6500K · four manual levels from 1/8 to 1/1 · about 375 flashes at full power · no head movement published · no zoom · no metering support, manual only · 250 mAh internal cell, charged in about an hour over USB-C · no radio
The cheapest flash of the five here at 23 €, with four power levels and a cell that charges over USB-C — and a guide number of 8 published without either of the two conditions that would make it comparable.
Best for: A little fill light on a mirrorless body where the flash has to be pocketable, and the photographer sets the power by hand.
