looking for my 1st flash

[april]

here you go

if you can handle dealing with carrying around portable powwer supplies (I made my own with a 1000W pure sign wave inverter and 2 sealed lead acid golf buggy batteries in a lowepro 200AW nova bag)

these are seriously good value and awesome studio flash heads

this will fire those flash heads at any power setting you like at any shutter speed up to 1/8000 sec
if your intention is to dominate the midday sun this has way more grunt than trying to do it with speedlights

i have tested this out and mix the flash up with speedlights too, only wierd glitch i have found is when mixing the elinchrom and speedlights the light seem out of sync at 1/250 second all other shutter speeds are fine
I've tested this with 5Dmk2 5Dmk3 and 1Dmk3

the yongnuo does not have canon HSS and the nissin 866i that paul recomended does
for me the nissin is too close in price to the 430exii so i would just go the 430exii instead

i am considerig buying a yongnuo 565 to test with my odins since they are only $150 and have all the same functions as a 580 except HSS its pretty good value if they work

At the moment, I end up getting yongnou 565ex+ sf18 battery pack & pixel king wireless trigger set.

the yn-565 is very close to canon 580 exII aside from the fact that the swivel head doesn't have locks, recycle time is a bit longer and the hot shoe attachment is not a quick release as well somewhat minor differences and performance is pretty close to match the 580 except for the HSS.

I went with the pixel king since its functions are similar to phottix odin except that it has no LCD performance wise I'm happy with it the only sad part was the battery cover is so flimsy not a big deal unless it will get lost while shooting

I haven't fully tested  them on actual shooting  but I hope they will perform as I expected.

[Strobe the globe]

I'd have to recommend the Canon 600EX-RT, as Radio Triggering will allow you to be compatible via RT with Canon future flash releases (I'm sure it will be the way of the future for strobists). It will allow you to maximise your flash photography, and give you more options in low light conditions. Good luck!

Canon Speedlite 600EX-RT Review - Hands On Review - Features of the Flash Body	Small | Large

[pwp]

I hope someone would share me his idea on this one. I'm looking for my my 1st flash, for what type
of shooting? HIGH SPEED SYNC as I'll be doing portraits in bright daylight. I haven't tried one (as i'm not a big fan of flash photography) so I don't have any idea how much power do I need.

Back to the OP. What body are you planning to shoot with? If it's going to be older than a 5D3 or a 1DX then skip the 600EX-RT. On older bodies you'll only get 100th sync and questionable HSS. I'd recommend a pre-owned 580ex or 580exII. These are great for HSS, have the advantage of being amazingly flexible in the ways you can rotate them for bounce flash (more movements than Yonguo or 430ex) and also the distinct advantage of have a plug for an external power source which you will appreciate if HSS becomes your thing. HSS sucks power much much more than regular flash. You can read plenty on this subject here or on Google.

PW

[april]

I hope someone would share me his idea on this one. I'm looking for my my 1st flash, for what type
of shooting? HIGH SPEED SYNC as I'll be doing portraits in bright daylight. I haven't tried one (as i'm not a big fan of flash photography) so I don't have any idea how much power do I need.

Back to the OP. What body are you planning to shoot with? If it's going to be older than a 5D3 or a 1DX then skip the 600EX-RT. On older bodies you'll only get 100th sync and questionable HSS. I'd recommend a pre-owned 580ex or 580exII. These are great for HSS, have the advantage of being amazingly flexible in the ways you can rotate them for bounce flash (more movements than Yonguo or 430ex) and also the distinct advantage of have a plug for an external power source which you will appreciate if HSS becomes your thing. HSS sucks power much much more than regular flash. You can read plenty on this subject here or on Google.

PW

I got a 5d3, 50D & hopefully a 1dx (depending on price & performance compared to 5d3).... yeah I looked for a used 580s & 430s but they are rare in here and I found a couple but priced so much as if they don't wanna sell it. That is why I bought a YN 565exII and a pixel king trigger. this set up is limited to 1/200 shutter speed due to the flash although the trigger is capable of firing at 1/8000 good thing is I have my ND filters to get away with HSS (thanks to pdirestajr). I took the pixel king flash trigger due to its capability of HSS and costs less than the odins.

[wickidwombat]

cool, i didnt know that about the pixel kings how many did you end up going for?

those sf18 battery packs are great they will go all day without needing a battery change

[april]

cool, i didnt know that about the pixel kings how many did you end up going for?

those sf18 battery packs are great they will go all day without needing a battery change

as of now I just bought 1 flash & a pair of trigger just to see how it goes then if I'd be ok with maybe I'd grab some more.

I tried to do HSS with the yongnou sadly I failed. it will fire but the photo will have a portion covered by the shutter the only worry i have with the flash is the lack of lock on the swivel head I hope it will not become too loose upon usage nonetheless I'm happy with it. my wallet is happy as well 

[wickidwombat]

Just an interesting little adaptation i tried out on the weekend was i wanted to see if a 3.5mm stereo splitter cable could be used to drive 2 flashes off 1 odin reciever via the PC sync port

and it works Obviously manual only however its a neat little trick if you are looking to drive multiple lights with 1 reciever, as long as your reciever has the 3.5mm output so you can use a 3.5mm to pc sync connector to the flashes,

I can see me using this for say driving 2 background flashes with one reciever for blowing out the background to white these need to be manual anyway so you can force enough power through ettl can be a bit flaky in this use. while the other flashes have their own recievers and operating in ettl