canon speedlite advise

[gelindo]

hi

i need e little advice on buying a speedlite. i want one to use on and off camera with an umbrella. i'm thinking on buying the 430exii but i don't know if it will be powerful enough to work with the umbrella. the 580 is more powerful but is more expensive (i'm a student ).


so wil the 430 one have enough power ?

thx

 

[legreve]

Simple...

If you need less power, Its easy to step the 580 down.

If you need more power, how will you make the 480 flash brighter?

I see no reason to buy the 480 no matter what budget you have. You get less for less money, but what if you need more? Like in hard sun light...

 

[Phrasikleia]

You can get the same power as a 580EX II with a LumoPro LP160, and it will cost you only $200 and comes with a minijack port already installed. However, it's a manual flash, so you will have to give up E-TTL. But with the money you save, you can purchase some radio triggers or modifiers for the flash.

If you think you'll be doing a lot of on-camera flash (which isn't nearly as fun and rarely produces very appealing images), then I would recommend you just go with the 580EX II because it is a very robust and powerful flash and at least has a PC sync port (not as nice as a minijack port, but will at least enable you to use radio triggers).

 

[jackerin]

Using a 430EX off-camera you have two choices, either go manual with a third-party trigger or TTL using either a master flash on your camera or the built-in one in newer Canon bodies. Using TTL limits you to Canon flashes, which can get expensive.

I recommend reading through the Strobist site for more info.

 

[josh1231]

hi

i need e little advice on buying a speedlite. i want one to use on and off camera with an umbrella. i'm thinking on buying the 430exii but i don't know if it will be powerful enough to work with the umbrella. the 580 is more powerful but is more expensive (i'm a student ).


so wil the 430 one have enough power ?

thx

The one cool thing about the 580 is that it can control the 430 flash. So if you ended up adding more flashes in the future, and you didn't have a camera like the 7D that can control the flashes for you, the 580 can be used to fire the other ones and that is why its so much more expensive.

I would buy whichever can fit in your budget. Obviously the 580 is more desireable, that's why it costs more. Don't stretch yourself to thin to buy it though.