Need advice for flash purchase please

TheLostNome · Apr 11, 2008

Hello everybody, i have a Canon 30D and i am looking to get a flash but i am not sure where to start doing some consumer research.

I was at a show the other week and i saw a photographer who had a neat looking flash on his camera and had constructed some kind of hood out of a soap box or something that was taped on the back of the flash head and sort of went around the sides. He got my attention because he was bouncing it off the ceiling (a technique i hadn't seen before) and i peered over his shoulder at is LCD and he was getting some great shots with it.

Blah blah anyway the point of the story is it inspired me to get a flash. I shoot at alot of shows and i am going to be hired to shoot an after-party thing pretty soon so i am in the market for one.

My questions are: can anyone provide links to flash reviews, info on diffrent types of flashes, advice, links to info on using flashes, personal experiences... anything really.

I don't don't have an internet connection at home so i don't have alot of time to scour the forum archives or the rest of internet for that matter, so any help or links would be much appreciated! Thanks

ChrisP · Apr 11, 2008

One of the best lighting sites is Strobist (http://strobist.blogspot.com/) Great info.

There's a lot of good diffusers out there - I use the Gary Fong Lightsphere - works well for what you're looking for.

RyanLilly · Apr 11, 2008

Well there's really only 2 choices, I you want to utilize E-TTL(basically the camera tells the flash what to do to correctly expose every shot) And those are the 430ex and the 580ex. You can use manual 3rd party flashed, but there is a bit of a learning curve because you have to figure out the correct settings for each shot.

Village Idiot · Apr 11, 2008

RyanLilly said:
Well there's really only 2 choices, I you want to utilize E-TTL(basically the camera tells the flash what to do to correctly expose every shot) And those are the 430ex and the 580ex. You can use manual 3rd party flashed, but there is a bit of a learning curve because you have to figure out the correct settings for each shot.

Sigma makes an Canon compatible TTL flash. Metz, Nissin, Bower, Phoenix, Vivitar, and Sunpak all make TTL flashes for Canon.

And Canon makes the 580EX II and 220EX as well.

So there's a lot more than two choices.

JimmyO · Apr 11, 2008

Budget?

TheLostNome · Apr 11, 2008

JimmyO said:
Budget?

Well i don't need the most expensive one, but i'm willing to shell out whatever it takes to get the results i need..

My photography teacher mentioned something about a strobe-a-scopic flash. Not sure if thats how it's spelled but, do most flashes have that or is that only found on really expensive ones?

onedayillknowbetter · Apr 12, 2008

Yeah, Sigma makes one, but that doesn't mean it works. They make leggings in size XXL, but they don't necessarily work...

I bought a Sigma flash around this time last year, on a budget, wanting to make my photos better. Frankly, unless you're ONLY going to be bouncing that thing off the ceiling or wall, don't bother. You may be able to get something to make it better, but the light is incredibly off balance, and washed out in the photos I took using my model of that flash. No on-flash options, not easy to find, not very good quality=save up and don't skimp, ALWAYS buy gear made by the camera you own. That's my opinion. Had I bought the 430EX i bought a month ago when I bought the Sigma flash, I would have learned how to properly use flash over a year ago, and by now would have mastered different techniques I am just now dipping my feet in.