Beginner buying a flash- Canon

[nursemandalyn]

I have a Canon T3i. I am still learning, I've learned to shoot manual just need a lot more practice. I want to buy a flash. From what I've read it's best to get one that can be used on and off camera? What would be a good flash for me to start off with? I would be using it mostly to shoot kids.

I know Strobist is a great site to learn from, but I need to actually have a flash to use the site, lol.

Any links to actually help me understand what I'm looking at when looking for a flash? I know it's also best to get one with the rotating head. I've tried to do some searches and read up on this but it all starts to jumble together.

Any input would be helpful. Thanks!


ETA: Did a little more reading on here. Still confused as to what lights to buy. I think it's a speedlight I want to buy. But I think I'm understanding it would probably make more sense to go wireless, and get a trigger? I read that the pocket wizards are the best, but expensive. But the Gadget Infinity's are a good cheaper alternative for a beginner? So I would need 2 of the gadget infinity's per each speedlight I bought?

[Ginger Pixie]

Originally Posted by nursemandalyn

I have a Canon T3i. I am still learning, I've learned to shoot manual just need a lot more practice. I want to buy a flash. From what I've read it's best to get one that can be used on and off camera? What would be a good flash for me to start off with? I would be using it mostly to shoot kids.

I know Strobist is a great site to learn from, but I need to actually have a flash to use the site, lol.

Any links to actually help me understand what I'm looking at when looking for a flash? I know it's also best to get one with the rotating head. I've tried to do some searches and read up on this but it all starts to jumble together.

Any input would be helpful. Thanks!


ETA: Did a little more reading on here. Still confused as to what lights to buy. I think it's a speedlight I want to buy. But I think I'm understanding it would probably make more sense to go wireless, and get a trigger? I read that the pocket wizards are the best, but expensive. But the Gadget Infinity's are a good cheaper alternative for a beginner? So I would need 2 of the gadget infinity's per each speedlight I bought?

I don't know about the Gadget infinity triggers, I have cactus V4's which were cheap and do the job...

I have two flashguns, both cheapies with rotating heads - one was from Jessops, the other Lumopro. I made the decision that I would rather have two cheap ones to play about with a 2 light set up than one more expensive one.

[Doug Sundseth]

I'll leave the flash discussion mostly to others, except to say that there's an advantage to having at least one camera brand speedlight, in that it will allow TTL metering and probably high-speed sync when that might be difficult with third party lights.

For triggers, Gadget Infinity sells the Cactus triggers. You can also find them at MPEX (and possibly elsewhere.) The current version is the V.5 and it's very reliable in my experience.

[OsmosisStudios]

You have a T3i: Any EXII model Canon flash will sync with the pop-up flash automatically. It's in your manual.

Get a 430EXII and enjoy.

[inkista]

Depending on your budget, I'd go with (in decreasing expense), the 580EX II, a used 580EX, a used 550EX, a 430EX II, or used 430EX, Nissin Di-866, Nissin Di-622, or Yongnuo YN-565EX.

Chances are good you'll land on the Canon 430EX II.

And, just my personal opinion, but

1) Make sure you're completely comfortable shooting full Manual mode on the camera and know how to swap stops among iso, aperture, and shutter speed in your head before messing about with flash. Seriously. Having ambient under your belt before you add flash will make the learning go a lot faster. Learn to walk before you run.

2) Master a single on-camera flash before even thinking about going off-camera. The website you want for information on this is neilvn.com/tangents. After you've figured out on-camera, bouncing, and balancing flash against ambient, then you can go Strobist. Learn to run before you fly.

3) You don't need radio triggers or a manual flash if you have a T3i and a speedlight (just another name for a hotshoe flash) that can be a slave in the Canon wireless system (all the ones I listed above). The T3i's pop-up flash can be used as a master to trigger the off-camera flash.

[ik631]

I have been using a DSLR for about 1.5 yrs now and the hardest thing I have tried to learn is using the flash. I went with the 430 EXII since it is a Canon and would probably work best with a Canon camera especially since I had no experience. I am no pro and have no desire to be one and found it fits all my needs for now. It is nice because it is smaller that the 500 series. You might want to see them on your camera before you decide to buy. I have a T1i and the 580exII made the camera seem too awkward.

[inkista]

I own both a 580EX and a 430EX, and I agree, the size/weight of the 430EX is a better balanced match for a dRebel, but when you shoot with a 5D or an XXD, the 580EX's added heft isn't really an issue. And the 430 has two restrictions on it that make me reach for the 580EX every time I want to go with on-camera flash.

The 430EX (and 430EX II) only swivels 270°: 180° to camera left, and 90° to camera right. And I'm the kind of person who flips the camera counter-clockwise to go into portrait mode. If I'm in landscape, I can't bounce the flash anywhere behind and to the right. And if I'm in portrait mode, I can't bounce anywhere behind me at all. Huge handicap when bouncing, to have your directions whittled down like that. My 580EX (and the 580EX II) both swivel 360°, so you have full freedom to choose a bounce direction, regardless of whether you're in portrait or landscape mode.

Secondly, the 430EX/430EX II has less power output than the 580EX or 580EX II. About a stop less, so it's not like it's useless. But given that light falls off by an inverse square law, the larger the space you're in, the more power you want, particularly when you're bouncing. That one stop can actually make a lot of difference.

There's also the ergonomic tradeoff. The 580EX/580EX II has a wheel control, while the 430EX/430EX II uses four-way buttons. If you've swapped out from a dRebel to an XXD, you know how much easier and faster it is to choose settings, using a wheel.

The 580EX II also has a thrysitor mode, if your metering's going to be thrown off in eTTL, can handle master capabilities (and is more capable than the pop-up on the T3i in this regard, since you will get high-speed sync wirelessly with it), and also has stroboscopic mode, but these are more "nice to haves" than big feature differences.

Lastly, the 580EX II has an external PC sync port. The 430EX II does not. Once you go Strobist, you'll find out whether or not that's important to you. But to me, it was important enough, that I hacked my 580EX to add an external sync port, because it was driving me crazy that I didn't have one.

When I went Strobist, I rapidly outgrew the 430EX. Just my experience. And I'm also a hobbyist shooter.