Canon EOS M5 Flash

Coverage and Range
A weak flash with very narrow coverage. Average positive exposure compensation required.

Coverage. Flash coverage at wide angle was very narrow leaving very large, dark corners and edges, but keep in mind the kit lens is wider than most (15mm or 24mm equivalent). We no longer test flash coverage at telephoto, as it is invariable better.

Exposure. Indoors, under incandescent background lighting, the Canon EOS M5's flash underexposed our standard flash test scene without any flash exposure compensation, even with Auto ISO enabled. The camera produced a good exposure with +0.7 EV flash exposure compensation, but the camera boosted ISO to 800 to achieve that, and the resulting image was quite warm and orange because of the relatively high sensitivity and ambient lighting.

Manufacturer Specified Flash Test. The Canon EOS M5's built in flash has a rated Guide Number of only 5 meters or 16.4 feet at ISO 100. At ISO 200, that works out to about 6.6 feet at f/3.5, the maximum aperture of the kit lens at wide angle. In the shot above at those settings, we can see that the Canon EOS M5's built-in flash performed to specification, producing a well-exposed central area in the flash target at the rated distance.