 Kevin Harley |
which speedlite should I get I'm curious as to what speedlite I should buy. I'm really starting to get into photograhy now and my main type of photography I have been doing is involving people. Some artistic nudes, child photos, family photos and even one wedding that I did for free. So that being my type of photography which speedlite do you think would be best for me to get. I was looking at the canon 430ex and the 580ex. I'm not a pro when it comes to speedlites and i'm not sure if the little thrills the 580ex has over the 430ex are worth the extra money. If someone could please shed some light (no pun intended) on the subject it would be appreciated. Kevin.
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Christopher A. Vedros |
The 580EX is obviously a more powerful flash, so you have more light, and can throw that light to more distant subject. Whether or not you need more power is hard to say. A more clear-cut difference between the two is that the 580EX can be used as a master flash to wirelessly control other 580EX's or 430EX's set up as slaves. The 430EX can not be used as a master flash. This means that if you see yourself as possibly expanding to a multiple-flash setup, you would be better off getting the 580EX to start. (as long as you can afford the extra cost) Then, when you are ready to add a second flash (or more) you can get a 430EX or another 580EX, and the 580EX mounted on your camera will wirelessly control the other flashes with no additional hardware, cables, etc. Chris A. Vedros
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Mark Feldstein |
Greetings Kevin and welcome to the equipment party !! I think what kind of speedlght you end up with depends first, in some ways, on which camera you're planning to use it with now and with an eye toward the future, so-to-speak. It kinda sorta also depends on how much power or light output you may want as well. For example, whether you want something too that has fast(er) recycling times for shooting weddings, bar mitzvahs or small kids, and also whether you might be planning on taking the speedlite off camera and hanging it on a light stand with a modifier like an umbrella and a radio slave set-up. Until recently, I've always liked using the Vivitar 285HV with or without a Quantum turbo battery, mounted on a Stroboframe Flip Flash bracket. Sometimes in a softbox or once in awhile, an umbrella. Great for location portraits. A Quantum T-2 puts out about 250 W/S of light, about twice as much as the Vivitar. These days, my preferences turned to Nikon SB800's or SB28's. for example, but with most of the cameras I shoot I don't need or even want a lot of automated features. As I said, it just depends. If you drop me your e-mail address, there's something I want to send you that you may find helpful in making your choice. Take it...........errrrrrr... light ;>)
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Kevin Harley |
Chris, Do you know if the 580ex is capable of controlling non canon type flash units. We have also purchased 2 dlite 400's for our studio which have slave units for flash. I would be curious to know if the 580ex is capable of controlling the dlites unit. The extra money isn't my biggest issue at the moment, more a less learning everything I can and puting the knowledge to good use. I just want to make sure the money is spent wisely as obviously in photography there is money to be spent in certain places where it most makes sense.
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Kevin Harley |
Right now I'm only using an XTI but have my 30d on order. I started out with the XTI as I wanted to get experience first using the cameras but now feel that it is kind of holding me back. Don't get me wrong it is a wonderful camera to get used to SLRs in general. I spent some decent money on the lighting system though and it does work quite well, if I can utilize the flash that comes with them though it would be honestly amazing I think at least.
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Christopher A. Vedros |
The 580EX won't control the non-Canon flashes with the same wireless radio signal that it uses for controlling other Canon flashes. The flash burst from the 580EX will trip optical slave units, but you don't need a strong flash to do that - even the built-in flash of the XTi will do that. This will only work if the slaves can be set to deal with the preflash that Canon E-TTL flashes emit before the actual flash, otherwise your slave units will fire before the actual exposure. How are you triggering the dlites now? The XTi doesn't have a PC jack on it, as I recall. If you already have some strobes, you should probably spend money on a flash meter before worrying about another flash. Chris A. Vedros
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Kevin Harley |
Chris, Oddly we have bought a flash meter, just hasnt arrived yet. Seems UPS is still slow from the holiday blues or something. Up until this point we realy haven't played with the flash features on the dlites. And not the XTI doesn't have the jack for it, one thing that I was dissapointed by. So do the dlites have the optical unit to flash like that? Just curious as I had never tried it out. I mean the lights give us very good light so I can't complain. But I just want to start making some really amazing photographs is all. I am taking some betterphoto courses that teach manipulation of light and shadow. I have quickly learned that shadow can be your biggest friend or worst enemy.
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Kevin Harley |
So I did test out the dlites and they do flash when the speedlite flashes. However the pictures turn out very dark even though the lighting in the room is very bright. That kind of confuses me a bit as to why it would do that, any ideas. I'm still leaning towards the 580ex though since I know it will likely be beneficial in outdoor settings.
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Christopher A. Vedros |
It sounds like they are doing what I described above. Flashes on newer Canon EOS cameras (and all EOS digitals) emit a pre-flash to meter the scene, then fire the main flash when the shutter opens. This happens very quickly, so to your eye, it looks like only one flash burst. But the optical triggers on the strobe units see the preflash, and fire the strobes before the shutter opens with the main flash. So the only flash that your camera records is the main burst of the on-camera flash - and that burst was probably reduced to low power since the strobes messed up the metering. I don't have any of these d-lites, but the descriptions I've read say they are designed to work with digital cameras. So I would bef there is a way to set them to fire with the main flash instead of the pre-flash. You'll need to read the instructions to see how to do it. Once you have the 30D, you can connect a PC cord from the camera to the closest d-lite, and let that d-lite trigger the other d-lite's optical slave trigger. Then you don't need to use a flash on the camera at all. You can do this now with the XTi if you get a hotshoe-to-PC adapter like the Wein Safe-Sync. Have fun,
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Kevin Harley |
Kinda what I thought was happening, except it seems the camera is taking the picture either before or after the flash completely, I mean it was nearly pitch black. I was looking at the hotshoes actually that allow it to connect. Would I still be able to the speedlite with it. And yes I am counting the days until I get that 30d here. I figure it was worth every penny I paid for it given the things I have read about it. I'll still keep my XTI as a backup.
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