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Flashes?
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Moderator Emeritus
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: Copenhagen
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I don’t have a flash. I need one. No, scratch that, I don’t need one—I want one.
Problem is I have no clue about flashes whatsoever.
I shoot with a Canon 40D. The built-in flash works fine for some things, but I’ve been in rather a few situations lately where it’s come up short.
I’m considering mainly the Speedlight 430EX II and the Speedlight 580EX II. Besides the $200 on the price tag, what’s the difference between them? What can you do with one that you can’t do with the other, and (why) is it important for me to be able to do this?
Shoot!
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Posting Junkie
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Houston, TX
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Aside from the obvious, marginal difference in power the 580 can act as a master in a multiple flash setup.
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Moderator Emeritus
Join Date: Mar 2004
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Okay, so on a complete impulse, I bought the 580EX II today.
Now I just have to figure out how the hell to use this thing. I had no idea it had this many buttons and functions. The user manual is singularly useless, using tons of highly technical terminology without ever explaining any of it.
Anyone happen to have a link to a good walk-through of what does what on this thing? Or just descriptions of how to achieve different things, etc.?
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Mac Elite
Join Date: Oct 2000
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I don't know if you're looking for books, but you might want to check out The Hot Shoe Diaries. I haven't read it, but it has very favorable reviews.
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Mac Elite
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: London
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Oisin.... can the 580EX be used off camera.. wirelessly?
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MacBook Pro 2.2 i7 | 4GB | 128GB SSD ~ 500GB+2TB Externals ~ iPhone 4 32GB
Canon 5DII | EF 24-105mm IS USM | EF 100-400mm L IS USM | 50mm 1.8mkII
iMac | Mac Mini | 42" Panasonic LED HDTV | PS3
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Moderator Emeritus
Join Date: Mar 2004
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Originally Posted by richwig83
Oisin.... can the 580EX be used off camera.. wirelessly?
Yes, both the 430EX and 580EX can, but only the 580EX can be used as the master; the 430EX can only be used as a slave.
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Mac Elite
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: London
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Originally Posted by Oisín
Yes, both the 430EX and 580EX can, but only the 580EX can be used as the master; the 430EX can only be used as a slave.
Is it triggerd by the cameras built in flash? Sorry i know nothing about flashes... ive got a 40D if it makes a difference!
RIch
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MacBook Pro 2.2 i7 | 4GB | 128GB SSD ~ 500GB+2TB Externals ~ iPhone 4 32GB
Canon 5DII | EF 24-105mm IS USM | EF 100-400mm L IS USM | 50mm 1.8mkII
iMac | Mac Mini | 42" Panasonic LED HDTV | PS3
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Moderator Emeritus
Join Date: Mar 2004
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Same as I have. I don't know exactly how it works, but you can set up a whole series of Speedlite flashes to work off-camera. I think one of them (the master) does have to be directly connected to camera, whether directly on the hot-shoe or indirectly via a cable, and that's the one that controls when the others (the slaves) are triggered.
But so far, a single flash is all I need.
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Banned
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Indy.
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A 580 flash can trigger 430 flash units (and 580 flash units). It does it by infrared [IR]. So the slave units need to be within light range of the master (or within bounce light range).
I have a 430 and a Metz flash that works the same as the 580. I will soon be picking up pocket wizards or Cybersync units to trigger wirelessly. Currently, for studio portraits I have the Metz off camera triggered by a long off-camera hot shoe that I hacked together and that triggers the 430 as a slave by IR. The Metz is the key light and the 430 the fill or hair light.
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Moderator Emeritus
Join Date: Mar 2004
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Originally Posted by Railroader
A 580 flash can trigger 430 flash units (and 580 flash units). It does it by infrared [IR]. So the slave units need to be within light range of the master (or within bounce light range).
I’ve been reading a lot of strobist.com lately to get my head around this stuff, and one thing that has cropped up is that this common belief is apparently not true: the 580 triggers the slave by strobe light, not by IR, for some reason.
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Banned
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Indy.
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Wow, perusing the strobist forums gives just about any answer a person could ask for on 580 and 430 flashes.
I assumed that IR from the 580 triggered the 430 because the Speedlite Transmitter ST-E2 uses IR alone to trigger external flash units.
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