Flash for 6D

[supersurfindude]

Can anyone recommend a flash for the Cannon 6D.
Its for indoors for close up shots of product detail.
Thanks.

 

[W.Fovall]

might want off camera strobe with soft box for product photography, a good flash like a 580ex ii would not be very flattering and would create hard shadows.

 

[pdq5oh]

A Canon 430 or 580/600 would work fine. As was said, off camera would be best for what you're intending to do. Use a TTL cord and some sort of diffuser. Experiment moving the flash around. One of these flashes will also be very useful at those times you want to have a fill light outdoors.

 

[TCampbell]

I have a couple of Canon 600EX-RT speedite units as well as a Canon ST-E3-RT transmitter. These are expensive and there are some significantly less expensive units if budget is an issue (e.g. Yongnuo is cheap and popular and they make radio triggers for off-camera use.)

You'll probably want a few lights and a few reflectors so you can have better control and use off-camera light.

Also a flash creates a strong burst of light from a relatively tiny / concentrated light source. This has the side-effect of creating shadows with very well-defined edges (hard edges on the transition from light to shadow.) Those hard-edges are usually not desirable (sometimes they are). But more often, photographers try to soften those shadows and to do that you need to make the light appear to originate from a very broad light source -- not a concentrated point-source. One of the cheapest ways to do this is with "shoot through" umbrellas (white fabric umbrella which is somewhat translucent to light.) The flash hides behind the umbrella and "shoots through" it and this makes the light originate from the entire surface of the umbrella fabric -- rather than the concentrated point source. The result is a very soft gentle shadow-transition.

There is a slight downside to the umbrella... which is that it's completely open in back. Light will reflect around your room and may have undesirable side-effects. A "soft box" is enclosed in the back so it achieves a similar effect, but light is more controlled. Soft boxes cost a bit more than umbrellas.

You can also use photographic reflectors (a shiny reflective silvery-fabric on a spring-form that pops open to a nice large "disc" that you position to reflect light where you want it.) Reflectors are fairly inexpensive.

If your product detail includes "shiny reflective surfaces" than you probably want to head over to the craft store to pick up a few large white foam-core boards... and a few large black foam-core boards while you're at it. These are positioned out-of-frame so the camera can't see them, but you place them strategically so that what the reflective surface on your product is reflecting... is that solid white (or solid black) board. Now YOU control the reflection rather than allowing the product to reflect random objects in the room.

You might want to check out the tutorials on the Strobist blog (Strobist

Strobist emphasizes the use of "speedite" flash units (these are the flashes that could slip into the camera hot-shote, but they'll teach to use them off-camera for better lighting.) There are also studio lights (usually not nearly as portable.) These come in a wide range of power levels and there is an enormous assortment of light modifiers for them.

 

[Mr. Innuendo]

I use a 580 EX II with a homemade diffuser attached to it, similar to this one: Flash Diffuser

It works very well and doesn't produce "harsh" anything. I think it cost me about three bucks and a total of 45 minutes. It works every bit as well as every commercially available one I've seen, and it's a fraction of the cost.

 

[minicoop1985]

Your best bet may be Yongnuo 560EXIIIs. They have a built in wireless receiver, so all you need is the transmitter. I would stay away from the Yongnuo 568EXII-I've read that they don't meter well with the 6D.