Comments on: Which Canon Speedlite Flash Is Right for You?

By: msgill

msgill — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 15:22:34 +0000

Very informatory posts. I read in different forums and specially flicker negative reports of ettl canon system & user has to set over under exposure on flashes. In the past i used Minolta 7Xi with wirless flash system which impressed me a lot by getting excellent results and in a post the posters said it was really ttl flash system. Is canon wireless system is ettl but afraid to say read somewhere it is auto. Few months back i picked eos 5dmk1 but after reading different negative posts of ettl i did not pick any ex flash. I used YN 468 and old 540EZ but results are so so and when used Metz 45CT4 with SCA 380 in green mode results much better.Canon own flash system is very expensive and cannot take risk due to inconsistency of ettl described by posters in different forums. I have Lumix LX2 which is giving me better results with flash as compared to f/f gear and even TZ1 a 4 MP camera. I will appreciate if my colleagues help me to guide me in the right direction. Sometime i used 5d with manual adapters and results with metz combination deliver better results. But in dark location manual focus become miserable due to aging eyes so seeking help. My YN 468 dies after three hundred click and 540 EZ is not giving me better stuff although doing AF in manual mode.

By: Quazi Ahmed Hussain

Quazi Ahmed Hussain — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 12:09:37 +0000

I am a hobbyist nature photographer. I own the Canon Speedlite 270EX and love it. Why? The reasons are:

a. I shoot indoor family/friends events may be twice a year just for fun.
b. For such irregular casual use; it provides enough power
c In a rare situation like capturing a group photo of 50 friends; it was able to get the shot clearly at night with its highest power enabled both from itself and the camera.
d. Needs 2 batteries only.

What I do rest of the year? It’s there at the beginning – shooting landscape and wildlife.

By: Lindsay

Lindsay — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 16:05:44 +0000

I just came across this post when I was looking on info about the 430ex II. I just purchased one last week to use with my Canon Rebel T1i. I take pictures as a hobby but am trying to learn everything I can about photography. So keep this in mind when answering…I know VERY very little about photography and even using my camera (only had it a few months).. but I am in desperate need of help on how to work my new flash, so if anyone is willing to help please let me know! Thanks

By: Brethers

Brethers — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 13:56:43 +0000

Excellent review, short and sweet and to the point. I have been dithering about which flash unit to buy and this has helped me decide that I don’t really need the 580 so it’s the 430 for me.

By: Phil B

Phil B — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 22:47:33 +0000

Excellent review. This article has been really useful. I’m on the lookout for a flash unit for my 5D. Great insights from all the readers too. Thanks.

By: Richard Taylor

Richard Taylor — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 05:28:25 +0000

It appears this Blog has duplicated this article.
http://hicamera.org/which-canon-speedlite-flash-is-right-for-you.html

By: Dean S

Dean S — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 14:45:58 +0000

@Paul – Actually you’re wrong… In the camera’s menu, try setting the “Flash Mode” from “ETTL” to “Manual”. Once you do that, you have full independent manual control of all three flash groups from 1/128 all the way up to 1/1 power (but I think 430′s will only go down to 1/64). There are no ratio’s about it when the system is set to manual mode.

Keep in mind, I’m not sure when Canon added this extra functionality to the “in camera” menus because both my 50D and 7D have this very flexible control built in but my old 30D did not. I had to do all those setting in the 580 itself… Which itself allowed you the same independent control of the flash groups when it’s set to “Manual Mode”. I like Canon’s system for outdoor shooting where AC power isn’t available.

As for hunting around through the menus, I just registered “Flash Control” in the “My Menu” section of my cameras so it’s only a couple clicks away.

And just a note for some of the beginners out there that might be confused about what me and Paul are talking about… What Paul is meaning is when the Canon system is left in ETTL Mode (automatic mode) you can set to output of each flash to be a certain ratio to each other. For example, if two flash units are used, you can set the ratio between the flash units to lets say 2:1… Meaning flash unit “A” will fire twice as bright as flash unit “B”. But the over all output of the flash units as a whole is determined by the ETTL system in the camera.

But when you set the system to “manual mode”, the photographer is responsible for setting the output of each flash unit (or group)… there is no automatic about it. But what this does is give the photographer full control of each flash unit regardless of what the other flash units are doing. And the output fractions I was referring to (1/128 ~ 1/1) are the output capabilities of the flash units themselves. Meaning 1/1 is 100% full power output of that flash unit and 1/128 is well, 1/128 of full power output.

I hope this clears up some confusion.

By: Paul

Paul — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 12:48:22 +0000

Canon’s wireless system only gives you ratio control over the three zones. This means you can set your A:B to 2:1 or 3:1, then adjust the overall lighting through the flash compensation. That’s about it. If you “buy into” the PocketWizard ControlTL system, you can do so much more…

Each FlexTT5 can be set for one of three zones (A, B, and C).. The AC3 Zone Controller can set the overall power of that zone, independently of the others. Want to strobe your background at 2 stops over to blow it out (e.g. high key portrait)? Just crank zone C up from the AC3 and shoot. Even cooler is that PW is now making remotes for the Alien Bees, White Lightning, and Elinchrom RX heads that allow the AC3 to adjust their power.

Now I have one system that can control both my Speedlights and my studio strobes, and the whole thing works off of three little dials on my camera plus the flash compensation dial for overall adjustments. How cool is that? Yes, it costs a bit more. But if it saves me time in that I don’t have to hunt through menus on the camera, and it gives me a huge amount of flexibility without running from strobe to strobe, I’ll make the money back in no time.

By: Phil Steele

Phil Steele — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 16:07:27 +0000

@rikka @Dean @Shawn – Thanks all for sharing your thoughts, and Rikka thanks for the PW support response.
All – It’s my understanding that the 270EX would not work well with traditional PW Plus II triggers because you can’t manually control the power on the flash. It would always fire at full power. However, it sounds like with the Mini/Flex TTL system you could use the 270EX as a cheap little remote because the PW system would control the power. (However, I’m still not sure a 270 would make more sense than buying a cheap third-party flash which would have more power and capability. But if you already had a 270 lying around, or needed to pack very light, it sounds like the 270 could be viable with the Mini/Flex system). Am I reading you all correctly on this?

By: Dean S

Dean S — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 15:35:01 +0000

I feel slightly vindicated because they basically confirmed most of the points I made. Although I don’t recall seeing the option to put the remote flash units in manual mode through the software… But to be honest, I was more concerned with and spent most of my time trying to figure out how to get control back from the system as a whole. In a nut shell, I basically feel like I gained the advantage of RF reliability but lost a whole lot of control in trade.

And what I meant by the “gimmick to sell more pocket wizards” statement was this… Before I bought the system, I assumed it was transparent to the camera and flash. And that I would still be able to use my 580 (attached to a Flex off camera) as a master flash to control other flash units through Canon’s IR system… But you can’t because the Mini / Flex disables Canon’s IR (or at least I couldn’t figure out how to get that functionality back… maybe it was another option in the software that I missed). So my point is, because you lose the ability to still use IR to command other flash units, you’re forced to buy more Flex units to command more flash units.

Now why would I want to use both RF and IR in the same setup? Simple, to get my 580 OFF my camera but still be able to use it as my master commander for other flash units. As I said in a previous post, the 7D’s built in speedlite commander is lacking in ability and the ST-E2 is lacking in functionality. Where as the 580 has enough power and functionality to use the Canon’s IR system easily and reliably. So I wanted to attach my 580 to a Flex and still be able to control it AND other flash units through that camera’s menu system… I could not achieve that through the Mini / Flex system.

So I am still using my 580 as a very big and very expensive commander as it’s my only viable option for what I want to do.