bcrawf

Anyone have helpful experience or recommendations to share on current external flash units used with Canon which have at least some of the current refinements of control? I know this is a broad question, but useful, I hope.

big-guy Loc: Peterborough Ontario Canada

Did you try running a search for "external flash for Canon" from the search tool located at the top of the page? Hundreds of answers there.

bcrawf

Yes I know how to find the gear, but I wonder if users here have tips to share, for example, which features they find valuable. I would want tilt and swivel to start with, since I never want to take a straight-on flash exposure, for instance.

big-guy Loc: Peterborough Ontario Canada

All those answers and more from the search function.

Big Stopper Loc: London

I used to use the original 430EX Speedlight which I found exceptionally good and had the features you're looking for like swivel and tilt. I recently upgraded to the 600EX and am pleased I did. Obviously it's a lot more powerful than the 430EX but there's one particular feature I like (that may be available on the newer 430EX III) and that's the white card you can pop out and use to bounce the flash. Hope this helps a bit.

Peterff Loc: O'er The Hills and Far Away, in Themyscira.

I have three external flashes, and decided to buy high end models, two 580EXII, and 580 EX, plus a controller, although my pop up will function that way. I find the tilt swivel to be very worthwhile. Can find used good condition affordable models on ebay.

Yongnuo makes less expensive compatible variants. Flashes last a long time, so can be well worth the investment.

Laura72568 Loc: Anderson TX

I use the Yungnuo 560III but plan to buy the 600 model this year because it offers TTL. I have had no issues at all with these flashes. I saw them recommended on ImprovePhotography.com and decided to try them out. No regrets!

tsilva Loc: Arizona

It doesn't bounce the flash, it just provides catch lights for the eyes. Agree it is handy to have, as is the wide angle adapter (no it is NOT a diffusion panel)

ALL of the features of the top of the line flash can be handy to have when you need them as is the extra power. It is ALWAYS better to have more than you need and not use it, than need it and not have it.

SharpShooter Loc: NorCal

B, for me a flash has to be ettl. In Canon that's a mkll or higher.
Depending on what your flashing, the small 270 or 320 might be fine. Of course the 600 is everybody's dream flash and worth the money if you need such a flash.
I assume your cameras built-in flash is not doing it for you?!
Give us more info!! ;-)
SS

Peterff Loc: O'er The Hills and Far Away, in Themyscira.

Is that true, isn't say the original 580 EX E-TTL?

According to Bob Atkins: "The new 580EX is, of course, E-TTL (and E-TTL II) compatible,..."

Is there more subtlety to this, other than going to radio with the 600EX-RT?

jim quist Loc: Missouri

I have a canon 580exII on the camera. and I buy the old Vivitar 283's on ebay or used online camera stores. attach a wein slave unit to them and its a great inexpensive way to use several flash units.

Normally I use studio lights, but those strobes work great. Just dont put the 283's on your camera or you will fry your camera

Bloke Loc: Waynesboro, Pennsylvania

Used a 283 for many years, great stuff. "The Light Machine" they used to call it...

I have a 430 EX II and a Triopo 580-clone, which both fire as slaves to my 7D. Next purchase is a 430 EX III which has the same 'master' capability as the 600.

amfoto1 Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA

I use three 580EX II and three 550EX.. like all the "EX" models they are ETTL capable, which makes flash photography pretty darned easy. There is a slightly improved ETTL II in some later models... but it's not really very different and all EX flashes have some form of ETTL or "Electronic Through The Lens" metering control, making them quite easy to use.

The model designation of Canon flashes gives you a rough idea of the flash's power. They name the flashes based upon their Guide Number, in meters. For example, 500-series flashes have 50+ GN.... 400-series have 40+ GN.... 300-series have 30+ GN... etc.

Almost all of them are A LOT more powerful and useful than the built-in flashes on many Canon cameras. The built-in flashes are low powered, slow to recycle, in the worst possible place for redeye and ugly shadows, plus they rely upon and drain the camera's main battery quite rapidly (roughly cutting your shooting day in half). An accessory flash is a lot more useful... Nearly all are more powerful, have their own power source and recycle a lot faster, and can be positioned for much nicer shadow effects and to minimize redeye problems.

The built-in flash on some of the more recent models serve to control off-camera flashes.... though it does so with a series of bright white light flashes that can be intrusive in some situations (...the optical off-camera control method used buy accessory flashes and modules is a more muted red light and, of course, for communication the latest radio control type don't need rely on visible light at all).

The 500- and 600-series Canon flashes are the highest power and have the most features, can act both as slave units or as master/controllers (though I also use an ST-E2 controller module, which is much more compact). The 200, 300 and 400 series flashes can mostly only be used in a slave function. Most of these can be controlled by, but cannot control another flash (Note: see below for two exceptions: 90EX and 430EX III-RT).

The way many of these flashes and modules communicate with each other is optical... it's also the way Canon cameras with built-in flashes capable of acting as master/controllers work. For the large part, this optical communication (essentially flashes of light) requires a line-of-sight setup that limits placement and has rather limited reach... around 45 feet at best, in ideal conditions. Often a lot less in brighter ambient situations.

The new 600EX-"RT" flash, the latest 430EX III-RT, and ST-E3-RT module are now using radio communication. This is a big step up, IMHO, allowing for a lot more distant placement of the flashes (up to roughly 100 feet, not influenced by ambient light) and not requiring line-of-sight setups. There is some limit on the interchangeability of the two methods of off-camera flash control. For example, the ST-E3 module is radio only, while the ST-E2 is optical only. (The ST-E2 can provide a neat Focus Assist too, in low light... while the ST-E3 cannot.) The 600EX-RT flash can do both... optical and radio communication and control of off-camera flashes.

The 430EX III RT and 90EX flashes are both unusual within their series because they are able to act as controller/master or as slave units. The very small 90EX flash does so using optical communication. I think it the 430EX III acts as a master/controller via radio only (in contrast with the 600EX-RT, which can do both optical and radio).

The 500- and-600 series also have built in means to be used with accessory battery packs that greatly increase the number of shots possible, as well as help the flash recycle a lot faster. (There are some third party external battery packs that can be used with 400-series Canon flash, I know... maybe some for 300- and 200-series, I'm not sure. But all these I'm aware of require some permanent modifications to the flash.)

Something I found most useful to learn about Canon (and Canon-dedicated third party) flashes is the difference between and how they implement FULL flash and FILL flash. Basically, when the flash is set to ETTL and the camera is set to Manual exposure, you automatically get FULL flash. The flash is treated by the cameras as it's primary or only light source (...and you still get a form of auto exposure with it). You can set the exposure carefully to include ambient light too, perhaps to include a more distant background... or you can set it up to dim down a backgroudn or even make it go completely black.

To do FILL flash instead, leave the flash in ETTL and simply switch the camera to any of it's auto exposure modes: Av, Tv or P. Doing that, the camera continues to use the ambient light conditions to establish the exposure... then fires the flash at reduced power (usually -1.7 stops, just enough fill to open up shadows).

This very easy-to-use and automated fill flash has changed how I use flash. Now I think I'm much more likely to use flash in bright midday conditions... probably even more than I use them in low light/shadow/overcast conditions.

Many of these flashes have tilt and swivel heads that allow you to use bounce and other indirect lighting techniques. Personally I think this is an often over-used and even misused feature. Bouncing greatly reduces flash's reach, by adding distance the light has to travel and a lot of it being absorbed by the bounce surface. The color of the light also is often strongly effected by the bounce surface (...while, unless it manually overridden, the camera will automatically set itself to 6000K white balance, when it senses a flash is being used). Also, you usually force the flash to fire much more fully by bouncing it, which in turn slows down recycling, goes through batteries a lot faster and can lead to more rapid overheating.

I recommend learning to use direct flash, instead of bounce, and exploring how to modify it with diffusers and in other ways if it's too harsh for your purposes. I also highly recommend using a flash bracket to position the flash farther from the lens and higher up, which will reduce chance of redeye and makes for better shadow effects. In most cases this means using an off-camera shoe cord to link the flash to the camera.

There are times and places where the tilt and swivel features of many flashes can be very useful... I'm just suggesting you think about and try to use these features sparingly.

Canon also offers some excellent macro-specific flashes. I use the MT-24EX Twinlite and the MR-14 Ringlite. I think these both can be used as master or slave, though I can't recall ever using either as a slave.

I really like the Twinlite for close-up and macro work up to about 2X lifesize, because it gives more control over lighting ratios (main versus fill light) than the Ringlite does. The Ringlite gives a generally flatter lighting effect at lower magnifications that I don't care for, even thought it's two flash tubes can be set to an 8:1. So I mostly only use the MR-14EX for very high magnifications around 2X lifesize or greater.... which means I typically only use it on one particular lens (Canon MP-E 65mm, a rather specialized, high-magnification-only macro lens).

In truth, any of the regular flashes also can be used for close-up/macro work too. By themselves they might overpower a close subject, but a diffuser of some sort can be used to tone them down a bit (I just use a couple layers of white gauze bandage over the flash head, held in place with a rubber band, attach the flash to the camera with an off-camera shoe cord and handhold it).

Another thing I'd recommend is to get a few sets of rechargeable batteries to use in your flash. These are a lot more expensive initially, but the savings quickly make them pay for themselves. Also, I find the better rechargeables give more shots per charge than standard alkalines do... plus they seem to recycle the flash faster.

I have not used any of the modern third party, dedicated flash for Canon, but imagine they work in much the same way and are well worth a look. I have used a lot of older, portable flashes over the years with various camera systems and really appreciate how easy the modern ones make flash photography! There are some great old manual or auto/thyristor controlled flashes that can be bought cheaply and used, too... But you have to be very careful with modern cameras! Some of the old flash models mentioned in other responses have too high a trigger voltage that can literally fry the circuitry of a modern DSLR if simply popped into the camera's hot shoe.... There are ways to use them, you just have to be careful to isolate them from the camera in some way.

One common way to isolate flashes (and trigger studio strobes) is an optical trigger such as a Wein Peanut. This senses another flash firing and then trips the flash to which it's attached. Works fine, but is a bit tricky if using in combination with modern ETTL flashes. This is because of the way ETTL works... to meter the amount of exposure needed, ETTL fires a low-power (roughly 1/64 I think) pre-flash, sets it's exposure levels, and then pops the regular flash output at the level required. That pre-flash can and will trip optical triggers such as the Peanut and those built into studio strobes, causing the remote flashes to fire too early. So it's just a bit tricky to mix old and new. (Those optical triggers also can be a problem if other people are using flash nearby, tripping your flashes along with theirs!)

I highly recommend reading the overview of modern Canon Speedlite photography at Bob Atkin's website: http://www.bobatkins.com/photography/eosfaq/ex_speedlites.html

This is a short overview, there are some newer models not yet mentioned in detail on Bob's site and he doesn't really get into the radio triggered models a lot yet, but the principles and general functionality are pretty much the same regardless. One key point that Bob makes, and I agree, is that the Canon "EZ" and other earlier semi-dedicated models are quite limited on later cameras (especially DSLRs), so probably would be best to avoid if you're considering buying used flashes.

There are some other good online resources regarding Canon Speedlites and third party flashes that are Canon-compatible.

Have fun shopping!

the f/stops here Loc: New Mexico

bcrawf, it might help to know what Canon body you're using and what you're photographing. I use the 580 II and the 430 II and find them both to be great flash units. What makes these flash units work so well is that they are easy to set the controls on, some of which can be made on the camera itself. I use the flash for fill most of the time and it's so easy to get into "flash exposure compensation" that one can appreciate the marriage of the camera and the flash. I don't speak so strongly about lenses being made by Canon, but with flashes, I've found that works best.

Any flash (4 preferably) with manual control works well for Hummingbirds but that's a specialty. as for general photography, I find the Canon flashes work best, especially when on a Canon camera. Have fun and Happy New Year, J. Goffe

sirlensalot Loc: Arizona

Easy to recommend the Canon 430 EX II. One of the most reliable pieces of gear I own. Only one down side - can not be used as a master, only a slave. Like the ettl feature, find the central control a bit hard to use with my fat thumb and fingers.
If a dedicated unit is not important, almost any brand will suffice as a starter. Youngnuo makes dedicated versions as well.