Flashes. What are you using and what would you recommend?

H

[H]ella|[H]ard

Gawd
Joined
Jan 31, 2001
Messages
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I have been looking at getting a new flash as the one on camera sucks for the most part. I was looking around and saw a Sigma that looked good. I shoot a little of everything from nature, portraits, kids around the house and anything else that looks good to my eye. I like the fact that it can work as a master or slave and I would also love to get a wireless set up with a shadow box type setup for taking portraits. Anyone have a link they can post up with some info on the wireless setups?

Here is the specs of the Sigma. Price $ 219.00 EF-530 DG Super E-TTL II Shoe Mount Flash (Guide No. 174/53 m at 105mm) for Canon EOS with E-TTL II.

• Bounce & swivel head
Flash can be tilted 90° upwards and 7° downward for close-ups. Also can be swiveled 180° to the left and 90° to the right
• AF Assist
Autofocus auxiliary lamp helps the camera to focus in low-light situations
• LCD Display
Features an illuminated LCD panel
• Strobe Effect
The "multi pulse" features enable reduced power setting from 1/4 to 1/128 in 6 steps and the pulse frequency of the flash can be set from 1Hz to 199Hz
• High-speed sync
High-speed sync & wireless E-TTL TTL features are supported when used with applicable cameras
• Slave Flash
Allows the flash to be triggered by the camera's built-in flash or another flash
• Modeling Light
Incorporates "modeling flash" mode to provide proper light distribution to check the shadow of the subject

For the price it looks like a great buy, but are there other that I'm missing?

Thanks for any info you guys, and ladies have to share.

Hella

EDIT: forgot to say that I have the Canon Xsi
 
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My friend has this flash, so I do not have it. But I do have the 580EXII,I and 430EX. I have played with the 430EXII.

For the money in this price range I would get the 430EX II or a used 580EX I. The Sigma was not bad, had lots of features. Build quality kind of was lacking (plastic shoe vs metal shoe, the way it feels, etc). Also I am not sure about the compatibilty of all the features with a canon/nikon body and off brand flashes. That said, I loved my Sigma 500 and Vivitar 285HV. But if you were to buy another flash later on and use it as a slave, it probably would work better with the canon system.
 
I'm not too familiar with the lights that are available for the Canon system, but the one you mentioned sounds pretty good. The important thing is to get started and see what works for you. I think you will quickly get tired of the look you get with the flash mounted on top of the camera and want to start moving to other angles for more dynamic lighting in your photos; so it's good that the one you're looking at has those remote capabilities. If at all possible, when using a third-party unit like this, I would really try to get my hands on one and see how it works with your camera before you go dropping a lot of cash on it.

One really great resource that you should start reading once you're ready to start learning photo lighting is The Strobist. It's amazing how fast you can learn the concepts and terminology by going through the articles on there. Just start going through their Lighting 101 and 102 courses; these things are like full college courses available there for free, and you can go through at whatever pace you prefer. And you will know what you want out of your lighting fairly quickly.
 
Darktiger is right on for this one. 430ex or 580ex I or II. Didn't like the sigma when I tried it out.
 
I have the Sigme EF-500DG Super and an older Sunpak 383. The Sigma is a nice flash for the price($100 shipped on eBay). It has ETTL and manual modes and I have heard it is as powerful as a 580EX I(have never used one). Only con is no PC or Sync port, but I have a hot shoe adaptor from flashzebra that does the trick.

The Sunpak is an older flash, but it is powerful. I is pretty much manual only, it has auto modes, but they dont work the best. It does have a proprietary Sunpak sync port in which my flash came with a sync to PC cable.

If you dont want to spend much money, I vote for the Sigma 500 is a good way to go. I havent used the 530, so I don't know how it compares.

But of course, theres nothing wrong with spending a bit more and going with a tried and true 430/580EX. But if it were me and I was considering a Sigma 500/530 or Canon 430EX, I would get the Sigma.
 
I picked up an old Canon Speedlite 380EX for $50. Its a discontinued model, originally designed for the 35mm ELAN film cameras, but any EX flash will work on EOS digital bodies with ETTL.

It's more powerful than the current 270EX, but doesn't have the manual controls of the 430EX. I figure it's a good beginner's model until I decide what I need in a flash, after which I can use it as a slave or flip it on Craigslist.
 
im getting the 430ex ii soon, so hopefulyl thatll be good
 
I currently have a 430 EX II

Eventually would like to get one more and then a 580 EX II to control them wirelessly.
 
I plan to get the 430ex II shortly. Having to hold off on the IR trigger for some diffusers and a new bag but its on my list. Would love the 580 but its too pricey right now. So is the wifi triggers..
 
1 SB800 and a SB600 with a mix of Honl modifiers. Love their big ass bounce, use it 90% of the time when its on the camera and I play with the snoots when I do some off camera CLS setups.
 
I picked up a 580EXII on ebay with MS cashback for $350. Took 3 months but I got my $35 back a few days ago.
 
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