Which flash for a canoon 40D?

bellacat · Aug 19, 2008

I need to invest in a flash for my camera. Which should i get? 430ex 141'/43m at 105mm or 580ex 190'/58m at 105mm. I shoot mainly portraits.

Montana · Aug 19, 2008

If you can swing the cash for the 580EX II, I would go that route. It can serve as both a master and a slave. That way you can play around with multiple flash set-ups easier in the future. Its also more powerful. If you can afford it, don't cut yourself short for what the future may hold for your photography needs.

Derrick

Big Mike · Aug 19, 2008

The 580 is obviously a better unit but it's quite a bit more expensive. I use a 430 and it does it's job fairly well...but I would certainly rather have a 580 for the extra power (for shooting outdoors in bright sunlight).

icassell · Aug 19, 2008

Same here. I have a 430 and love it. I just couldn't swing the $$ for the 580. The downside of the 580 is that it is bigger and heavier. If you buy a 430 now, you can use it as a slave when you upgrade to a 580 later.

bellacat · Aug 19, 2008

Big Mike said:
The 580 is obviously a better unit but it's quite a bit more expensive. I use a 430 and it does it's job fairly well...but I would certainly rather have a 580 for the extra power (for shooting outdoors in bright sunlight).

thanks for the heads up. that is kind of what i was thinking too since i would like to see what i can do with the odd lighting situations and i have a few request for beach sessions.

Big Mike · Aug 19, 2008

The problem with shooting in bright sunlight and flash...is this:
If you want to get a decent exposure of the ambient light, you will need either a small aperture or a fast shutter speed. But when using flash, you are limited to the max sync speed of the camera...1/250 for your camera I think. So to keep from blowing out the highlights, or for shooting into the sun, you might need an exposure of 1/250 and F16. The problem with that, is that at F16, you need a lot of flash power to get any sort of range. The 580's range is less than 12 feet at F16. The 430 is less than 9 feet.

Now, both units have 'high speed sync'...a mode that lets them use any shutter speed but pulsing the light. The problem with that, is that it eats up battery power and also reduces the range of the flash.

A simple alternative would be to use a reflector.