Which Flash for a Canon 7D

[Pine]

I made a fool of myself recently by taking the 15-85 lens to a wedding and leaving the 24-70 lens at home because I was too lazy to swap lenses.

Simply missed the f2.8 ability of the 24-70, wont do that again.

What I also found is that my Canon 7D built in flash is not really up to the task either.

Could the forum please advise on what flash should I buy for the 7D.

Regards

[Ploddy]

Hi Pine,

I have owned a Canon 580EXII for a number of years now and it is a sensational bit of kit. It pairs very nicely with my 7D and the glass I own. It also is about as fully featured as you will ever need. You get full manual or auto control, plus with the wireless capabilities of the 7D, you can easily shoot off-camera flash for some spectacular results.

You will pay a bit for it but it is the most value for money purchase I have made yet - it just increases your creativity ten-fold.

Just give yourself plenty of time to get used to it before the event

[98kellrs]

I don't think it's a case of matching the flash to the camera, more a case of matching a flash to the type of work you want it to do...

I've just converted to the strobist way of things and the main message I've been seeing time and time again in my research is that at the end of the day a flash is just....well..a flash. The name brands are indeed fully featured with TTL and nice digital displays, but in terms of the actual lighting a cheap flash will do much the same. Probably the best value for money would be the Yongnuo 560 which is a direct copy of the Canon 5xx series and at $65 off eBay it is some $450 cheaper too! I've got two of them and the build quality is superb.

The only really key requirements are adjustable power level and a head that can be swivelled, tilted and rotated to any angle. The rest is just marketing BS in my opinion.

[JM Tran]

Probably the best value for money would be the Yongnuo 560 which is a direct copy of the Canon 5xx series and at $65 off eBay it is some $450 cheaper too! I've got two of them and the build quality is superb.


The YN560 is a fully manual flash with no TTL, not something you would want to rely on fully for wedding work and in a non controlled environment.

However, the new YN565 is a fully automated TTL flash just like the Canon 580EXII and available for $250 or less with same functions and power output

even cheaper alternative and just as good is the Nissin Di866 for under $200 with same output and also TTL.

[KeeFy]

580EXII if you want the best. Or if you want something cheaper the Nissin 866, 622 or the Youngnuo 565.
I have a 430EXII and other flash units, but i realised that the output is not powerful enough for certain situations. So currently am looking to grab 2 580s in a week or so pending price research.

Do note some of the claimed Guide Numbers (GN) specified do not match up to real world numbers.

A extremely good website to look through is http://speedlights.net/ which gives you a better understanding of the performance of the flashes.
Another good website once you have the flash is http://strobist.blogspot.com/ which gives you a better understand of how to use the flash.

430's somehow don't work as well as 580s in TTL mode and when i covered a friends wedding i had to manually set my 430 vs using TTL on a 580.

[Pine]

Thanks everyone at least I now have a clue what to get.

Regards