Pine Tree Loc: Paragould Ar.

I want to buy a flash for a Canon 60D. I want a flash for family photos, school activities such as ball games, plays etc. Does anyone have ideas on what to look for?

JimH Loc: Western South Jersey, USA

I've heard very good things about this unit:

http://www.amazon.com/YongNuo-YN-468-Speedlite-Display-Suitable/dp/B003LB0DAM/ref=sr_1_1?s=photo&ie=UTF8&qid=1316732729&sr=1-1

dpullum Loc: Tampa Florida

Some cameras have multi-pre-flashes. This causes problems with slave flashes that may be used for such as family gatherings where a lot of fill light is needed. There are small delay units that sense those flashes and only trigger the main flash after the pre-focus and red-eye. These only run less than $15 on EBay. Sea Gull Syk 5 See discussion at:
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1025&message=31787939

I also bought 4 less than $15 slave flashes that have a 0,1,2,3 switch on the back for ignoring pre and red-eye flashes. The Zeikos ZEDS12. I had problems with them, opened them up with 4 screws and found wires to the flash tube poorly routed, used a plastic to push over 1/8" and WALA!! they work great. Hay, it was low tech repair. Great modern flex flash with a Guide number of about 40.

The idea of having low power multi-flashes is that light is more evenly distributed and redundancy smooths, mitigates, failure. Smoother lighting for groups is better, aunt Sadie is not washed out and Little Lulu on the side is not darkened.

And Yes for sports you need a real zapper unit such as recommended above. But even for that you may need the SeaGull or similar delay unit.

Enjoy.

bobmielke Loc: Portland, OR

Did you even attempt to read the man's question, much less answer it?

billybob40

Try this for $48. shipped. On ebay, it dose every thing for less.
This GODOX Speedlite Flash TT520 is compatible with any camera with the standard hot shoe.
Features:
• Power Management
(1) Switch to the ON, the flash will start charging (the charging indicator is dim). After several seconds, the charging indicator turns red and TT520 is ready to shoot.
(2) For a test flash, press the test button. After use, press the ON/OFF to OFF to power off.
(3) If the red charging indicator lamp flickers in every 1s, it indicates low battery. In such case, the power will turn off automatically and you need to replace the batteries.
• Power Control
(1) The flash unit has 8 steps of power output control which indicated by 8 pieces of LED lamp for different level.
(2) Press "+" to make power higher and they are 1/128,1/64,1/32,1/16,1/8,1/4,1/2,1/1.Otherwise, press "-" to make power lower.
• M Mode
Press the MODE key to M Mode. In this mode, you can set TT520 on to your camera hot shoe or speedlite trigger hot shoe to trigger the flash unit. When shooting, adjust the flash power and press the camera shutter, the flash light will flash under the camera synchronous signal.
• S1 Mode
(1) Press the MODE key to S1 Mode. The Mode is applicable for slave flash in order to create many lighting effects. It is respectively applicable for manual flash environment.
(2) When the flash is S1 mode, it will fire synchronously when the master flash fires, comparable with the effect by the use of radio trigger.
• S2 Mode
(2) Press the MODE key to S2 Mode. The mode is applicable for slave flash in order to create many lighting effects. It is respectively applicable for TTL flash environment. The flash unit won't flash synchronously with the first flash but the second flash from the master flash.
• Power-saving Function
(1) To save battery power, the flash will enter stand-by state in about 30 minutes of idle use. Press any button to wake it up.
(2) In S1/S2 mode, the flash will enter stand-by state in about 60 minutes of idle use. Press any button to wake it up. (3) In Power-saving mode, the charging indicator flickers in every 3 seconds. Other indicators are turned off.
• Protection Function
(1) Protection in continuous flashes
To prevent the flash head from getting too hot and damage, please do not flash over 20 times when in power lever 1/2, 1/1. Please cool down the flash unit for at least 10 minutes. The over-temperature protection function will be activated if you continue to flash after 20 times. In this state the charging time will turn to 10-25s. Please cool down the flash unit around 10 minutes and it will turn to normal state.
(2) Systematic over-temperature protection
When the inner circuit is over-heating, which indicates over use of the flash unit, the inner circuit will shut down power automatically. The flash unit will turn to normal state after the inner circuit is cooled down.
Specification:
Guide Number: 33 (ISO 100)
Flash Mode: M, S1, S2
Vertical Rotation Angle: 0~90 degrees
Horizontal Rotation Angle: 0~270 degrees
Power: 4xAA batteries (Alkaline or Ni-MH are usable)
Lighting Times: 100-1500 times (AA alkaline batteries used)
Recycle Time: Approx 0.1-5s (AA alkaline batteries used)
Light Quantity Output Control: with 1/8 - stop increment
Color Temperature: 5600K+200K
Flash Duration: 1/300s~1/20000s
Dimensions: 190*75*55mm

Weight(only the flash): 300g

Greg Loc: Maryland

That's a pretty weak flash for shooting sporting events. There are a lot of 3rd party flashes, and probably most are good as slaves in studio work in manual mode. Look to get the most powerful flash you can afford. You want lots of power for what you state you want a flash for. I have a Nissin DI-866 and it works very well. Metz is another I considered, but was able to get the Nissin considerably cheaper. The Di-866 is equivelent to power and features of a nikon SB900 or a Cannon 580EX II.

dpullum Loc: Tampa Florida

Bob wrote:
Did you even attempt to read the man's question, much less answer it?

Which Flash to buy for the following conditions,,,,
What I did was to reference him several things I found out regarding flash use with the modern cameras. It is not like the ol' bib overhaul days you and I grew up with. Modern cameras will set off a slave or some other flashes and they will not have time to recharge and flash correctly before the camera calls for the "real" flash. So it is best for the questioner to get educated before spending his money. Well meaning advice regarding the "I just bought" does not mean it is right. In this complicated world we had best be educated regarding what we buy. Enjoyed the jab tho, got good ego, and most of the time I know of what I speak since I read a lot,,, even stooping so low as to read technical papers on flash circuit design.

And.. as Greg indicated, flash for family at home may be not be any good for sporting events. I even went so far as to suggest a Flash on a stick so that in a crowd you will not have the flash adsorbed by the lady in the black coat. Holding the flash up 4' only gets you in trouble with that guy who stands 8' tall and is looking your way. d/p