Help choosing a Flash

[azwizzard]

I am heading to California and Disneyland in December with the family.

I am looking for a decent external flash for my Canon T1i. While I will eventually get the Canon 430 or 580 next year, right now I don't have too much $$ to spend since most of it is going towards the trip.

What are my options or a Non-Canon flash that will work well with my Canon camera?

I've been trying to do some research on-line, but there are a lot of options it seems.

 

[burgo]

Depends what your budget is. You can buy a canon 430 speedlite for $250 if you know where to look. They do the job OK. If you want cheap like under $100 then the second hand market may be where to look. Try looking on ebay.

 

[azwizzard]

I'd like to keep it around $100 +/- for now.

I have been looking at the YongNuo YN-468 for around $100.

 

[zamanakhan]

buy once rather than buy 2x i would go with another canon. Not too sure about canon i have nikon but i have yongnu flashes as well and i really wish i would of just doubled up and spent money on a nikon flash. They will TTL properly will work for decades unlike yongnuo. Also the one thing that just makes me tick about yongnuo is that they will shut down faster. i had a set of batteries in my yongnuo and it decided to just repeadtly turn off sayin that there isnt enough juice, the same battaries lasted another hour in my sb-600 (recharge times were greater but it worked.) Also the yonguo does work as a slave in ttl althought u need to set it manually, which is what i use it for but u need to have DIRECT line of sight. So SAVE UP go for a better flash, yongno's are OK but i recommend the parent brand.

 

[ironsidephoto]

If you don't need the fancy stuff, the Lumopro LP160 is a great manual flash, and has four sync options. mpex.com

 

[Warren_G]

Also consider the Vivitar 285hv, you will probably use it for years as it is rugged, bright and a real workhorse. They can be found for $80-ish on amazon. Also, the gadgetinfinity version of them here:Gadget Infinity :: Digital Camera :: Light Source :: Portable Flash :: Cactus KF36 Full Manual Adjustable Flash