580 EX ii - Batteries

[tommac]

Hi all,

Happy New Year.
I've just picked up my new flash. Have any of you got any reccomendations for batteries?
Do I need lithium AA or just standard alkaline batteries or does it even really matter? Should I go rechargables or not.
Any opinions appreciated.

Regards
Tom Mac

 

[tommac]

Just did a search....got my answer. Enloop....NiMH......
Thanks

 

[Iron Flatline]

Just did a search....got my answer. Enloop....NiMH......
Thanks

Yup, that's the way to go.

 

[Big Mike]

You can use either, but yes, the 'best' option is probably NiMH batteries. And the 'low discharge' type (like Eneloop) are a good choice...but not really necessary.

You might also want to invest in a good charger. I don't know what would be a good place to buy from, on your side of the world, but THIS is a good site for batteries & chargers.

 

[tommac]

You can use either, but yes, the 'best' option is probably NiMH batteries. And the 'low discharge' type (like Eneloop) are a good choice...but not really necessary.

You might also want to invest in a good charger. I don't know what would be a good place to buy from, on your side of the world, but THIS is a good site for batteries & chargers.

Are these the same as lithium batteries or different?

 

[Big Mike]

Are these the same as lithium batteries or different?

Which 'these' do you mean? :scratch:

NiMH, whether 'regular' or 'slow discharge' (Eneloop etc)....is a different type of battery than lithium.
You can use lithium batteries, their main benefit is that they are much lighter than other battery types, but they typically don't perform as well (in a flash) as NiMH and they are probably more expensive.

 

[Inst!nct]

rechargeable batteries are sexy.

 

[Overread]

A good recharging unit is really essential if you want good performance out of your rechargable batteries. Using flash means that you can drain a battery very quickly and that means that it has to go through many more recharging cycles. The cheap (though often quick) recharging units will cut the life of the recharging batteries and this can quickly become very noticable.

Enloops - if you are using flash on preplanned shoots and not really using it outside of those instances then regular rechargable batteries will work well for you - since you can recharge them the night before the shoot. However if you are going to be less planned in shooting (ie just grabbing the flash and going for a shoot) then enloops make a big difference. Since they hardly discharge whilst stored in the flash unit (unlike the regular rechargables which do) they will be ready to use which (I have found) makes a massive differnce.

 

[sinjans]

Enloops!!! Best ever