Do I need the 580?

[neuroanatomist]

Two 580EX on camera anyone?

Nope. That seems to be an off-camera cord, there, right? So, that's two 580EX off-camera. Not very far off camera, true, but nevertheless, off. :

 

[briansquibb]

Is that part of your wedding portrait kit?

That is my event kit - the two 580 each fire off at low power so recycle time is almost instantaneous

Right because twice the light sources equals, half the power on each strobe and therefore half the recycle time - nice solution.

Do the events you shoot have tall doorways? ;D

The umbrella folds

The looks I get from the iPhone snappers is VERY amusing - and yes it lights up the stage nicely

I am usually an acredited tog for the events and for some reason the officials have got to know me - must be my pretty face

 

[briansquibb]

Two 580EX on camera anyone?

Nope. That seems to be an off-camera cord, there, right? So, that's two 580EX off-camera. Not very far off camera, true, but nevertheless, off. :

Nitpicker ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

 

[Mappy]

I own the 430exII and love it for the pictures (mostly bouncing a ceiling).
Though next time I'd rather buy something else, because:
- doesn't rotate more than 90 degrees to the right, so you have to rotate left and flip
- changing settings takes too much time (slow buttons)
- no battery indicator

 

[Caps18]

I have the 580ex II and I haven't found the battery level indicator on it yet. I ran out of juice on Saturday and took a bunch of pictures trying to figure out why the flash wasn't working... :

I'm sure it works great, I just need to practice and learn a lot more about using the flash.

 

[neuroanatomist]

Nitpicker ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

+1. you know me a little too well, methinks...

 

[7enderbender]

First of all I'd like to say that I'm a hobbyist, not a professional photographer, and only recently did I get into flash photography. My current setup is 550D + 24-105L, but I'm getting one of the 5Ds (ii or iii) when the latter is available. I'm mostly shooting general "walkaround" photography with some lean towards press photography (e.g. political meetings and etc.). I also shoot at weddings, family reunions, that kind of thing. So now I need a flash since many of these events tend to happen indoors, and I'm currently deciding between 430 and 580.

From the looks of it I'll have only one flash for the time being (I'm not a studio photographer, more of an action one), and 580 seems to be easier to operate. On the other hand it's much heavier than the 430 and costs more. Do you experience this additional weight problem, and do you feel that the price difference is justified in this case?

I can relate to that. I've been shooting quite a few political events lately ('tis the season...). I have a 580EXII, 430EXII and an old Metz 45. Camera is a gripped 5DII.

The nicest outcomes I get with the old Metz (obviously all manual). And it's actually quite comfortable with the old-style handle - at least for horizontal shots. The fastest and easiest, however, is the 580EXII. So that's been the weapon of choice lately.

The 430EXII is nice in that it is a bit smaller and lighter and under certain circumstances a bit more consistent (there have been plenty of controversial discussions around that so I'm not going into the details). BUT: the 580EXII has the extra power reserve should you need it and the buttons and the little wheel are just way better.

So, if this is truly a weight question I wouldn't bother and go for the 580. If this is a budget concern: the 430 is a very good flash. You could also consider the Metz 58 AF-2 which is usually cheaper as the 580 and offers pretty much the same features (has nothing to do with my Metz 45 mentioned above).

Those are pretty much the alternatives I guess. Or wait and see what a new 590EX (or so) may have to offer it's really released within the next few days. May also be a good time then to snag up a used 580EXII. Also: there's nothing wrong with the old 580EX predecessor I guess. Some folks actually prefer those.

 

[lexonio]

By the way, I just ordered it and think of cancelling the order - don't you think it's feasible to wait for the next top-in-line flash to get it work during videos for additional light?

 

[Jamesy]

By the way, I just ordered it and think of cancelling the order - don't you think it's feasible to wait for the next top-in-line flash to get it work during videos for additional light?

If the new one is announced then expect to see lots of 580's pop up on used sites, so it might be best to wait if you can. It is intriguing that the new 590 rumour makes mention of wireless but we have not heard much of that in recent camera rumours. If the new 5D3 has wireless flash support I will sell you my two 580 EX II 's for a good price

 

[briansquibb]

May also be a good time then to snag up a used 580EXII. Also: there's nothing wrong with the old 580EX predecessor I guess. Some folks actually prefer those.

I have one 580EXII and 4 580EX which I buy for the same price as a new 430EXII - the used 580EX has a switch Master/Slave/Off which I prefer to the dial up on the 580EXII

Whenever I see another 580EX at a good price I will buy it.

Brian

PS I also have a 430EX2 which I somtimes use as a backlight in manual mode or more often stick it on the G12

 

[Jamesy]

Brian,

Can you control a 580classic from the camera the same as the newer 580ex2 allows you to?

 

[pwp]

May also be a good time then to snag up a used 580EXII. Also: there's nothing wrong with the old 580EX predecessor I guess. Some folks actually prefer those.

Whenever I see another 580EX at a good price I will buy it.

Brian

I have 580ex and 580exII. I have to say I do have a strong preference for the 580ex Classic. It's simpler to operate and mine delivers more consistent exposures than the 580exII. On the plus side, the 580exII is more power efficient than the original and also recycles a little faster.

In a conversation I had at our local CPS I learned that red carpet photographers have a preference for the Classic. Not only are exposures more consistent, they are a good deal stronger than the 580exII, an important factor in the sometimes aggressive crush at some red carpet events. And missed shots means less income.

The 580exII has a deliberate, carefully calibrated break point where it attaches to the hotshoe. A bit like crumple and collapse zones in modern cars. The idea is that under extreme pressure the easily and cheaply fixed break point will snap instead of holding on, leading to potentially very expensive damage to the prism casing. My 580exII has broken twice, fixed cheaply the first time and then for free by CPS the second time. In my experience, this break point is much too weak. I hope the 590ex is stronger.

Paul Wright

 

[Rocky]

If Size, Weight and Budget are no problem, you should get the 580EX II. You want to have the most powerful flash you can get if you ever want to use diffuser or light box. You can make the 580EX II recycles very fast by using rechargeable battery and set it at 1/2 power when you do not need the power.

 

[RC]

By the way, I just ordered it and think of cancelling the order - don't you think it's feasible to wait for the next top-in-line flash to get it work during videos for additional light?

If the new one is announced then expect to see lots of 580's pop up on used sites, so it might be best to wait if you can. It is intriguing that the new 590 rumour makes mention of wireless but we have not heard much of that in recent camera rumours. If the new 5D3 has wireless flash support I will sell you my two 580 EX II 's for a good price

...or the price of the 580 EXII might go up if the EOL rumor becomes true and the new 590 is significantly more money. If it were I, I'd grab a 580 now, learn it, use it, and enjoy it. You can always sell it or I'm sure it can be used as secondary flash with radio setup.

Too many unknowns with the next gen of Speedlights.

 

[briansquibb]

Brian,

Can you control a 580classic from the camera the same as the newer 580ex2 allows you to?

As a user of eTTL the answer is yes - but then I am not into twiddling all the options. I am not interested in the options - just how to get the picture I want.

As I am into shooting fast the last thing I want to do is to have to fiddle while the shots pass me buy.

I treat my camera as a big P&S - I set the mode to M and the appropriate iso, shutter speed and aperture. With the 580EXII on top of a PW TT1 (gives auto HSS) I only have to adjust the flash exposure to get perfect pictures all the time.


When using multiflash if I need to be quick then I use single zone and move the flash stands in and out for fine tuning of the light levels with the key light being fixed as close as possible to the subject. My default key light is a 580EX on a stand with a 5ft shoot through umbrella. - use PW mini and flex to fire them nowadays alsthough when I was just doing mostly weddings I was using the Canon IR without too much problem. The Canon system is fine for basic usage but has its limitations.

 

[Jamesy]

Brian,

Can you control a 580classic from the camera the same as the newer 580ex2 allows you to?

As a user of eTTL the answer is yes - but then I am not into twiddling all the options. I am not interested in the options - just how to get the picture I want.

As I am into shooting fast the last thing I want to do is to have to fiddle while the shots pass me buy.

I treat my camera as a big P&S - I set the mode to M and the appropriate iso, shutter speed and aperture. With the 580EXII on top of a PW TT1 (gives auto HSS) I only have to adjust the flash exposure to get perfect pictures all the time.


When using multiflash if I need to be quick then I use single zone and move the flash stands in and out for fine tuning of the light levels with the key light being fixed as close as possible to the subject. My default key light is a 580EX on a stand with a 5ft shoot through umbrella. - use PW mini and flex to fire them nowadays alsthough when I was just doing mostly weddings I was using the Canon IR without too much problem. The Canon system is fine for basic usage but has its limitations.

Thanks for the reply.

What I meant by control the flash from the camera is; on certain camera's starting with the 40D and 5D2 for instance, you can change flash settings on the camera LCD rather than having to change the settings on the flash. Is a 580c capable of receiving commands from the camera the same as 580ex2's are?

 

[justsomedude]

I'd stay far away from the 580exII due to the arcing issue they have. I've fried my pair of 580's twice now due to this issue, and they are currently on another trip back to Canon service for repair.

Wait for the 590 which, should hopefully resolve this issue, since it was allegedly fixed in the 430EXII design.

 

[ronderick]

I've learned a lesson after buying the 320 as a temp replacement for my stolen 580...

You can always tune down the power of the flash if you don't require so much light, but you cannot make it stronger even in times of DESPERATE need. :'(

 

[lexonio]

Thanks justsomedude, I cancelled my 580 order, we'll see what 590 brings us. It's more logical since I'm planning to go for 5dmkiii, and I believe it will have radio flash control built in.

Thanks to you too ronderick, I've learned that more power is always better than less power

 

[briansquibb]

It would be interesting to see the ratio of 580EX/EXII's that have this problem

We start with 2 - failed
My EXII, 4 EX - no failure

So far

2 failed
5 no failure