Hello everyone, was wondering what the key differences are between these two canon speedlights and is the 580ex 2 worth the extra $?
Hello everyone, was wondering what the key differences are between these two canon speedlights and is the 580ex 2 worth the extra $?
please ask before PP my images
"Life is what happens to you while your busy making other plans"
This might answer your question
http://photo-tips-online.com/review/...anon-580ex-ii/
www.kjbphotography.com.au
1DxII, EOS R, 200-400 f4L Ext, 100-400 f4.5-5.6L II, 70-200 F4IS, 24-70 F2.8 II, 16-35 F4IS
Good article, thanks.
How does the battery life rate with these flashes? Suppose it's worth getting a rechargeable battery kit, how long would standard non-rechargeable roughly last?
The 580's go through batteries quick, but it depends on what you are using them for. I normal use two 580's with an external battery pack and will get up to 400 shots for the afternoon. This is using them on ETTL in HSS so this uses more power then when they are on manual. When the batteries start to flatten the recycle time increases quite a bit.
Last week I used one 580 over a period of 2.5 hours shooting in bright sun through a softbox. I found I was struggling for power after about an hour and had a few miss fires because I was shooting before the flash had fully charged.
I always use rechargeable batteries and have a spare set with me at all times. The external battery pack I use has another 8 batteries but I think this really only helps the recycle time.
The link Brian posted does an excellent jobs comparing the features of the two.
I have a 430EXII and use NiMH rechargable AAs, as they run down recycle times start to increase and when it becomes annoyingly slow I simply change in a fresh set of batteries.
What body are you going to mount it on?
What are you going to use it for?
I've just started playing around with my 60D wirelessly triggering the 430EXII on a light stand and umbrella for portraits. I've got a lot to learn about "strobist" photography but so far this combination is working well.
Mark
Mark
Canon 70D w/Grip l Canon 60D w/Grip l EF 100-400 f4.5-5.6L IS USM l EF 70-200 f4L IS USM l EF-S 15-85 f3.5-5.6 IS USM l EF 100 f2.8 USM Macro l EF-S 18-55 f3.5-5.6 IS STM l EF 50 f1.8 II l Canon EF-S 10-22 f3.5-4.5 USM l 430 EX II Flash l Rode Stereo VideoMic l Manfrotto 055XPROB + 498RC2 Tripod l Benro MP-96 M8 Monopod l Lowepro Vertex 200 AW Backpack l Lowepro Pro Runner 300 AW Backpack l PS CS5 Extended l Lightroom 4.3
http://speedlights.net/ has a lot of useful information as well.
Consider the nissin or youngnuo 3rd party ones as well.
Are the diffusers for flashguns much of a muchness? you can pick up for $10-20 ones, but is it better to get more expensive ones?
Some of the snap-on ones do give the pictures a bit of a colour-cast, but this can be fixed in PP.
The more expensive ones like the Garry Fong diffusers are quite colour neutral.
Personally, I'm not so keen on the snap-on type, but there are some very good little soft boxes that go onto the flash which work very well as they tend to concentrate the flash into one area, yet soften the light at the same time.
You can pick them up for under $20 off some of the Chinese web sites.
All my photos are taken with recycled pixels.
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
Wisdom, is knowing not to serve it in a fruit salad.
Does anyone use an external AC power source to power the 580EX2? There looks to be a 3 prong socket in the flashgun so I assume it's a specialist cord you need to get for it?
(on doing some more research I take it that the external power source still needs to be powered by batteries? what's the point of this?)
Last edited by wideangle; 18-01-2012 at 12:32pm.
Steve Rowlandson
Http://steven.rowlandson.name
Canon 1D Mark III & 20D Gripped. A few lenses, flashes n stuff.