help chooseing flash!?!

im looking to get a flash for my camera, the one on the camera isnt cutting it for me. i want soemthing that will be good for portraits and macro. i was looking at the canon speedlite 430 ex but i dont know much about it, just seen its results. what do you guys suggest?

[inkista]

Do you plan on using the flash primarily on-camera or off-camera (both)? And what's your budget? What camera?

Originally Posted by inkista

Do you plan on using the flash primarily on-camera or off-camera (both)? And what's your budget? What camera?

got a canon xsi, looking for something around or under $300. wanna use an on-camera flash...for now

[inkista]

Then a 430EX or 430EXII is probably a good choice... for now. Possibly a used 580EX. The EX speedlites are better for on-camera work, because you have a bigger feature set to play with. Once you go off-camera, however, a cheaper manual flash might be more the ticket, since, depending on how you choose to trigger them, you won't have access to that feature set anyway.

A 580EXII is your best bet, but is $100 more than your budget. The 430s are good flashes, but they aren't as powerful as the 580s and are missing a few features. And with on-camera flash, when you're bouncing, you're effectively increasing the distance the light has to travel, and light falls off rapidly with distance. The more power, the larger the distance you can throw the light.

Given that you're shooting with an XSi, I'd also recommend that if you can pony up the additional dough to get the 430EXII that you may want to consider it--the XSi has the ability to control the flash via camera menus. That way, you can do all your exposure control from a single place, rather than having to mess with dials on both your flash and the camera. It's not a huge thing, and a lot of folks get by perfectly fine without it, but it is a nice added ability your XSi makes possible.

alright, good things to think about! $100 more's not too bad

[inkista]

What the 580EXII has a 430EXII doesn't:

• Larger guide number (more power)
• PC port (for off-camera triggering control)
• 180° swivel to the right (the 430 only does 90° to the right).
• Auto-thyristor (another auto mode for exposure)
• Master capability with Canon's proprietary infrared-signalling
• Control wheel (you get buttons on the 430s, a wheel on the 580s)
• Catch light panel built-in
• Ability to tilt downwards 7°
• Stroboscopic mode (multiple flash bursts)
• Flash exposure bracketing

Originally Posted by inkista

What the 580EXII has a 430EXII doesn't:

• Larger guide number (more power)
• PC port (for off-camera triggering control)
• 180° swivel to the right (the 430 only does 90° to the right).
• Auto-thyristor (another auto mode for exposure)
• Master capability with Canon's proprietary infrared-signalling
• Control wheel (you get buttons on the 430s, a wheel on the 580s)
• Catch light panel built-in
• Ability to tilt downwards 7°
• Stroboscopic mode (multiple flash bursts)
• Flash exposure bracketing

wow, that deffinately makes me lean VERY heavily toward the 580...better start savin thanks so much for your help.

[inkista]

Yeah, if you can afford it, the 580s are a lot more flash for the money. The problem is for most folks $400 for a flash is a huge chunk of change, particularly if they're going the Strobist route, and a $130 Lumopro LP120 might do just as well for them. If you don't need eTTL, an EX speedlite can be serious overkill.

eTTL is where the camera and flash can talk together, and the camera can set the flash power based on through-the-lens (TTL) metering--the flash fires a "pre-flash" burst and the camera meters during this burst before taking the picture. This is useful in run-and-gun situations when you don't have a chance to reshoot and adjust. Because the power is based on metering, it also makes bouncing easier, because you don't have to guesstimate and adjust for the added distance. You also get goodies like high-speed sync, where you can use shutter speeds faster than your max. sync speed (typically 1/200s or 1/250s).

Some folks get by just fine without eTTL, just as some folks shoot exclusively in Manual mode on their cameras. But having it is like having a choice between Manual and Aperture Priority modes. Sometimes you want to use an automatic mode.

Originally Posted by inkista

Yeah, if you can afford it, the 580s are a lot more flash for the money. The problem is for most folks $400 for a flash is a huge chunk of change, particularly if they're going the Strobist route, and a $130 Lumopro LP120 might do just as well for them.

yeah, the 430 ex was looking really good and amazon sells it for $239..perfect price, but now seeing the differences between the 430 and 580, i think that its would be worth it to get the 580, even though the cheapest ive found it is $404. ill just have to wait alittle longer. but then again, im not a pro and i dont do paid portriats or anything, just family, so i might be ok with the 430...i donno, im so torn now lol.

[Samanax]

Originally Posted by ntinlizi

yeah, the 430 ex was looking really good and amazon sells it for $239..perfect price, but now seeing the differences between the 430 and 580, i think that its would be worth it to get the 580, even though the cheapest ive found it is $404. ill just have to wait alittle longer. but then again, im not a pro and i dont do paid portriats or anything, just family, so i might be ok with the 430...i donno, im so torn now lol.

I own both the 430EX and 580EX II Speedlites and I prefer to use the 430EX on my XTi because the 580EX II is bigger and heavier than the 430EX and makes my rig feel unbalanced and cumbersome. The 430EX has 1 stop less power than the 580EX II and the recharge time is slightly longer, but it is a E-TTL Speedlite and as long as you don't need the extra power of the 580EX II I think you'll be happy with the 430EX. It's a nice little flash unit.

I don't have a 430EX II so can't comment on it.