Rolf said:Thanks for looking.
The red colored hatch is to help the camera focus under dim light conditions.
The preflash(es) on all cameras are so fast that you can not see them. Canon have a system called TTL that communicates with their dedicated flash units. Here is what I am talking about: **broken link removed**
None of this you can see with the naked eye except the main flash.
Edit. The pre-flash is used to set the white balance before the picture is taken.
I would guess that if you can see the 20ms main flash, the 5ms pre flash would be visable. I am taking those numbers from your scope image.
Is anyone familiar with the scan back digital cameras? They have a small ccd sensor which is mechanicly scanned accross the focal plane. Often a small 10,000 pixel sensor, can create a 50 or 60 megapixel image. This is of course at the cost of a 4-5 second exposure time. Of course with such a back, no flash would work anyhow.