First Flash for 50D

<p>Hi all,</p>

<p>This is my first post so please be nice,</p>

<p>I am 15 and just bought my first SLR, a Canon EOS 50D. I currently have a Canon 17-85mm IS Usm, Canon 50mm 1.8 II and a Canon 75-300mm USM (non-IS), and Manfrotto Art 190 tripod + 128RC head (oldie but goodie).</p>

<p>I am fed up with the results given by the built in flash (which i try to avoid at all costs by using 50mm and high ISO) and am looking at buying an external flash. I have very limited space in my camera bag, which i would not like to upgrade at this point, which I think would just accomodate a 430 EX II. My question is weather I should buy a new 430EX II, an 'hong kong imported' flash or second hand and if the benefits of having an older 550 EX or 580 EX will overweigh the extra cost, weight and storage concerns.</p>

<p>I dont have a job so money is important, but that only means it will take longer for me to get it.</p>

<p>I am open to all suggestions as what should be my next move, even if is not a flash.</p>

<p>Thank you,<br>

Joshua</p>

<p>I'm not sure if the 50D supports wireless flash triggering. Check your manual, and if so, that would be a very strong compelling argument for getting the the 430EX II, which can be a wireless slave. You could put it off camera on a tripod or stand, and use the builtin to trigger it. The 580 has more power and can act as the master, but I think for your needs now, the 430 will open doors and go a long way before you reach the limitations of one external flash.</p>

<p>A justin clamp and a cheap umbrella turns it into versatile studio lighting. You still need the popup to trigger the slave. Dial that down to 3 stops under, and set the flash ratio to 8:1. The 430EX does most of the lighting, while the popup puts out just enough to put a catch light in the eyes.</p>

<p>On camera, it's not much different, better or worse, than a cheap knockoff. The 430EX would still be my choice. But since money is a big factor, you can trigger off camera flashes with a cord and appropriate adapter. All told, that's already more than half the cost of the 430EX II, but a dollar is still a dollar these days.</p>

<p>Of course the 50D supports wireless E-TTL flash. However you need a master capable unit in the hotshoe, e.g., ST-E2, to trigger the 430EX II. The 7D is the only Canon camera so far with built-in E-TTL master ability.</p>

<p>Realize using the 430EX II for straight hotshoe flash, whether for fill or as main light, will not be much better than the popup. It will merely have more range. You'll need to get it off-shoe, bounce or use light modifiers to see a real improvement. And that probably means throwing more money at it for an ST-E2 or OSCIII, a flash bracket and/or various light modifier gadgets.</p>

<p>You could put the flash in your pocket. I do it all the time as it's faster to dig out.</p>

<blockquote>

<p>Realize using the 430EX II for straight hotshoe flash, whether for fill or as main light, will not be much better than the popup. It will merely have more range.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Well, with a dedicated flash you can swivel the head in all directions and bounce the light off any reasonably pale surface even if your flash is in the hotshoe. In other words: <em>To start with</em>, you don't need all the wireless stuff to improve your flash photography dramatically. You know this of course. You probably also know that the older 430 EX Mark I is out there (used) for a lower price. The feature trade-offs are few and unlike most other older models it will recognize your 50D as a 1.6x crop body and zoom accordingly.</p>

<p>Josh,</p>

<p>I think Puppy Face is being a little too discouraging. Yes, for the best flash work, the flash often should be off the camera. However, the 430 EXII is a very capable flash, and you can do worlds better than the built in flash just with the 430 mounted right on the camera. The key is getting a flash that has a bounce head and then avoiding direct flash. If you buy a flash, buy a stophen omni-bounce ($15) and bounce the flash off the ceiling, if you have a white ceiling to use. For a few bucks more, you can buy a Demb Flip-it (google it), which is a movable bounce card. They can be used together. All of the pictures in this gallery were taken with the same camera you have, a 430EXII mounted on the camera, and one or both of those: http://dkoretz.smugmug.com/Other/Some-nice-people/10773878_xLfqN/1/750942275_LHKak. Not professional, but a whole lot better than you will get with the camera-moun ted flash.</p>

<p>Dan</p>

<p>And don't forget that you are not obliged to buy Canon. A lot of pros use Metz flashguns and you can get more bang for your buck. There are other makes out there too, all giving full compatability, but for me Metz are the standout. Have a look at their range.</p>

<blockquote>

<p>built in flash (which i try to avoid at all costs by using 50mm and high ISO)</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Can't you can turn off the automatic flash in the parameters somewhere or other? Look in your manual. It was not a problem with the 5D ;)</p>

<p>Congrats on your first post, welcome to the pack.</p>

<p>I missed that part of the posting. If you avoid the point-and-shoot 'basic' modes and just use the 'creative' modes (P, Av, Tv, M), automatic flash is automatically disabled. </p>

<p>I forgot to mention before that I intend to use the external flah in a bounce situation (possibly making one of those "A better bounce card"s, to start off with). And then possibly getting a small stand and umbrella for portrait work. What would work best with this, would a extension cord do or is wireless necessary?</p>

<p>Just some background, I am still very new to D-SLR photography but am very enthusiastic and have learned A LOT in the past 2 months I have had the camera. I am quite general in my photography, taking many photos of my Dalmatians down at the dog park, as well as being the main family photographer (this is where the flash would be most often used - indoors at night). I am still exploring other types of photograpghy and will see what suits me most.</p>

<p>I almost always use the camera in Av mode, just ocassionally switching to Tv for more creative stuff or P if I have forgotten what to do :P<br>

Also, 'Anders' I did realise that the 430EX I was availiable second hand, but I didnt realise it was able to communicate with the camera like that. Does that mean that the only real difference between the 2 430's is is the recycle time? Will it still be able to be fully controlled from / by the camera?<br>

And 'Tony', thank you for your advise, but for my first flash I would prefer to buy Canon so that a) I know how to use it and b) I can be absolutely certain that it will work with my camera, and work fully automatically if i want.</p>

<p>Thank you all for your responses so far.</p>

<p>It sounds like you're doing just great, Joshua. Whichever you buy, check first that it will work with what you have or are already committed to buying. The Canons will be great for the future, maybe in a few years when all the DSLRs will have wireless flash control and you've outgrown the 50D. It's more important now to get gear you can use today, at prices you can afford today.</p>

<cite>What would work best with this, would a extension cord do or is wireless necessary?</cite>

 

<p>Canon's off-camera shoe cord lets you retain full functionality, but it's only 60 cm long. If you want the flash farther away, you can try extending the OCSC by slicing it open and splicing in your own wiring (which, of course, would be done at your own risk); a number of people have reported success in doing that. Another option is to buy a unit that works as a master in Canon's wireless multiple-flash setup (e.g. any 500-series EX-family flash or the ST-E2 transmitter) and use that to trigger the 430EX II (or any other slave, including all 400-series and above EX-family flash units) wirelessly; that also gives you pretty much full functionality, including (if your master is a flash rather than the ST-E2) the ability to use the on-camera flash for fill and/or catchlights while using the off-camera flash as the main light.</p>

 

<p>Another option for off-camera flash is nearly any non-dedicated flash with a PC socket, plus a PC cord to reach from there to your camera. The camera won't know anything about the flash, so you'll have to take full manual control over the settings of both the camera and the flash, but people managed to take pictures without automation for nearly a century. I say "nearly any" because your camera is designed to handle trigger voltages up to 250V. Most reasonably recent flash units are well below that; many older flash units may be higher, so do some research first to make sure the flash unit's voltage is low enough not to damage the camera. (There are also devices such as the Safe-Sync which provide isolation between camera and flash, allowing you to use a flash unit whose trigger voltage would otherwise fry the camera.)</p>

 

<cite>Does that mean that the only real difference between the 2 430's is is the recycle time? Will it still be able to be fully controlled from / by the camera?</cite>

 

<p><a href="http://photonotes.org/cgi-bin/flash-lookup.pl?flash1=canon430exii&flash2=canon430ex&flash3=*" target="_blank">Here's a point-form summary of the features of the two units</a>. You'll note that the two flash units have virtually identical specs in many categories, but there are a few detail differences.</p>

A single on-camera flashgun, used with good technique and technical understanding, is a powerful tool for your photography. By all means, if you can get a 430 EXII, get one. Read up on creative use of flash on Neil van Niekerk's website under the Tangents section. Doing that, combined with a flash modifier like the Demb flash diffuser, totally transformed my flash photography. Forever :) And yes, I still have just one flash, albeit the 430's big brother the 580 EXII ;-)

<p>I have 430 flash, but always whish I'd have bought 580 instead. For bouncing light off 3m-high ceiling 430 isn't powerful enough to provide enough light for f/4 and smaller, and even for that I have to manually zoom flash to 105mm setting which makes light less pleasant compare to wider setting. Of course for straight-on lighting 430 is fairly enough, but then straight-on isn't pleasant by itself. So I'd recommend getting 580, which can also be used as wireless master later (430 can be only slave).</p>