Is Canon's $1,000 flash (with a red ring) actually worth it?

Is Canon's $1,000 flash with a red ring actually worth it?
(Image credit: Canon)

Canon's brand new professional Speedlite E-L1 has just launched – and for the princely price of over a thousand bucks. It's a beautiful flash, with the same signature red ring typically reserved for Canon's premium L-mount lenses, but is it worth the asking price? 

The Canon Speedlite E-L1 is now hitting stores, with an eye-watering RRP of $1,099 / £1,299 / AU$1,699. Obviously, for that price, you're getting the best Canon flashgun on the market – and one of the best flashguns, period. At the end of the day, though, it's a lot to pay for a strobe – in fact, it's almost as much as a Canon EOS RP with a Canon RF 24-105mm f/4-7.1 IS STM. So what do you get for the cash? 

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James Artaius
Editor

James has 22 years experience as a journalist, serving as editor of Digital Camera World for 6 of them. He started working in the photography industry in 2014, product testing and shooting ad campaigns for Olympus, as well as clients like Aston Martin Racing, Elinchrom and L'Oréal. An Olympus / OM System, Canon and Hasselblad shooter, he has a wealth of knowledge on cameras of all makes – and he loves instant cameras, too.