Speedlite 430 EX II or 580 EX II?

[darthdeus]

I'm thinking of buying external flash for my Canon 1000D, but I can't decide which one to buy.

So far, I've been investing in lower end equipment, like my EF-S 55-250 IS, where I hoped the IS would make me happy, however I didn't think about slow focusing, which now makes cry.

Anyway, I don't want to make the same mistake again saving a few bucks to be disappointed later.

What do you think about 430 vs. 580 EX? How big a difference is it?

[inkista]

Depends on how you plan to use it. Are you thinking of using it on-camera or taking the red pill and going Strobist?

[darthdeus]

Probably more in a Strobist way, but I'm also going to use it on-camera on some occasions.

[inkista]

For on-camera use, no question, the 580EXII is a better buy. More power, and full 360° swivel. The 430EXII can still get the job done, but it lacks some nice usability features (control wheel on the back, only 270° swivel, lower power, no PC sync, etc.)

But if you're mainly going Strobist, and become the Zen master of manual flash, and scoff at e-TTL (i.e., you're not planning on doing the run'n'gun thing, where having an automatic mode to set the power can be nice), you might be better off with something like a LumoPro LP120. It's not as full-featured, but it's also hecka cheaper, a damn sight easier to pop remotely, and with the Strobist, having more lights is often more useful than having more features on a single light.

For the price of a 580EXII, you could easily purchase three LP120s. Or six YN640s. Just something to keep in mind. When you do the Strobist deal, you're going to want multiple lights, stands, swivels, modifiers, and triggers. It may be worth the feature-frustration to have the extra cash to blow on eBay triggers, a softbox, a roll of seamless, PVC pipe from Home Depot, and a couple rolls of gaffer tape.

But if you're a feature-creature, and you plan on using the flash on-camera, or with the eTTL feature set goodies, then the EX units are going to come in handier. E-TTL, high-speed sync, wireless commanding with both--these can be non-trivial advantages, depending on whether you plan to shoot indoors or out, with line of sight or not.

[darthdeus]

Wow, thanks very much for detailed info.

I'll probably go with the 580 EXII first, because I'm The feature-creature But the LP120 looks so sweet for just a small price compared to 580 EXII, I'm definitely going to get it too.

[inkista]

One other possibility, if you suddenly find you don't want to be that much of a creature feature, or you become more budget-restrained, and are willing to risk cheap inconsistent Hong Kong manufacture and use with radio triggers that connect to the hotshoe (say Cactus V4s or RF602s):

Yongnuo YN-467. About $100, no PC port, no 1/8" jack, but built-in optical slave, and eTTL if used on the hotshoe.