Which Canon speedlite?

[maturner525]

Hi,

I'm looking to upgrade to either a canon 430EX II or a 580EX II. (Right now im bouncing the on camera flash which is a little better than giving people flash burn but not by much)

I have a Rebel XS with the kit lens, a Canon 70-300 f4.5-5.6 and a Sigma 70-200 f2.8.

Is there that much difference between the 430 and 580 to justify the cost of the 580 or should i get the 430 and just go with it?

Thanks in advance
Mark

[dlambert]

The 580 is more powerful, but I think the bigger difference is that the 580 can act as a wireless master in a multi-strobe setup, while the 430 can only be a slave. Here's a great breakdown of all the differences - you'll have to take a look and see which are important to you.

[maturner525]

Great! thanks for the info and the link..

Mark

[inkista]

If you plan on doing a lot of on-camera bouncing, I'd recommend going for either a used 580EX (mark I), or a 580EX II, simply for two reasons: the higher power output, and the full 360° swivel of the head. The 430EX (both mark I and mark II), have a lower power output, which gives it a smaller range, which means less ability to bounce off farther away surfaces. And it only rotates 180° to the left and 90° to the right. This can be a pain if you flip the camera counter-clockwise to go portrait, or if you really wanted to bounce the light off a surface behind your right shoulder.

[bhursey]

The main difference for me was when looking at them was power. I bounce allot and use modifiers off camera. There is about 1 stop difference in the flash power.. So say @ 100iso you need to get a group shoot at f8 at a distance with an modifier or bounce. If you can get an exposure at f8 with the 580EXII you would need to be at f5.6 on a 430 EXII. meaning your DOF is shallower. Where the 580EX II shines is bouncing, and use with modifiers.

[DelCan]

I really like the different ways you can swivel the head on it. That alone was worth it to me.
Del

[maturner525]

Thanks for all the info.. One other question.. Do you change the flash sync (first curtain / second curtain) based on whether you bounce or not? From what I understand second curtain helps expose the ambient light areas especially in indoor sporting events. Does the extra time it takes the light to get to the subject affect this negatively? Or am I way off base here.

Mark

[inkista]

No. You change the front/rear curtain sync when you want motion trails to be either before or after the "frozen" moment.

See: Slow Sync Flash

You probably want to leave rear curtain sync off unless you need it, though, because if you are using TTL and a slow shutter speed with a person as your subject, the pre-flash and main flash bursts will be far enough apart that your subject is likely to have their eyes closed when the main flash burst comes.

Whether you use rear or front curtain doesn't really make much difference to the ambient exposure level. You're just changing when the flash burst occurs within the ambient exposure period.

[maturner525]

Ahhh ok.. that makes sense now.

Thanks!
Mark