Canon flash 580EX or 330EX?

[hande_ozerden1]

Hello,

 

I am trying to decide on which flash I am going to buy.

 

I will be doing portraits and maybe weddings as well.

 

I have got Canon 5D with the zoom 24-105 f/4. I find the whole kit a bit heavy

as it is. Therefore, what the new flash is going to add to the whole weight is

important for me. I prefer it as lightest as possible as long as the flash is

capable of doing what it needs to do, reflecting the light off the walls, etc..

 

What I would like to know if I will really need 580EX or if I can just be ok

with 330EX.

 

As 330EX is cheaper and lighter, seems attractive but as I do not really know

much about flashes in general, I am not able to make a comparison...

 

I would appreciate it if you could give me a bit of guidance on this.

 

Thanks!

[rainer_t]

Actually, I'm not sure, if there is a 330ex at all.

 

There is a 430ex as well as a 380ex. A nice comparison over the

features is at ...

 

http://www.bobatkins.com/photography/eosfaq/ex_speedlites.html

 

Between the 380ex and the 430ex I would decide for the 430ex.

Between the 580ex and the 430ex, it depends on your needs (the 580ex is able to produce twice as mich light ... worth one fstop so to say ... and the 580ex can be master of a group of flashes were the 430ex can only be slave).

[rainer_t]

I just noticed, that you asked this questions three times yesterday ...

 

http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00Luou

 

http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00Luom

 

http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00Luoh

 

... do you still expect new things to come up in the answers, if you ask a fourth time ... especially without correcting the nonexistant 330ex?

[hande_ozerden1]

Thanks for your answer! Yes, I would like to hear as many opinions as I can.

[david_lau3]

I don't have 430EX but I have 550EX, 380EX and 220EX. I found the flash exposure of all 3 not consistent on my 20D and 5D (but were very accurate on my EOS 3).

 

Recently I bought a 580EX II, and found it has significant improvement over these 3 flashes in terms of exposure consistency.

[mark u]

This question has been cross posted in 4 forums. It will be deleted in at least 3 of them.

[larry h.]

David Lau, you said, "Recently I bought a 580EX II, and found it has significant improvement over these 3 flashes in terms of exposure consistency."

 

Could you please elaborate on this for me? I recently did two Bar Mitzvahs with a rental 580EX Mk I. It also seemed to me to be very inconsistent. However, that could be my inexperience with flash as main light. Sometimes it needed no FEC, sometimes +2 stops FEC, which seemed absurd to me. Is the 580EX II really that much better than your other flashes? I would be using one in conjunction with my 420EX as a slave some of the time. Also, do you think the added features of the Mk II are worth $100 over the cost of a used Mk I? Thanks, Larry

[walang_pangalan]

Mass issues are a needless distraction as you'll get stronger, buy a tripod, whatever. Buy the most powerful flash you can afford. My guess is that if you can afford a 5D and the 24-105/4L, you'll have no trouble at all acquiring a 580EX II.

[josh_ross1]

Larry if you want consistency you need to switch the flash to manual and stop using the TTL stuff.

[jim_larson1]

I would expect ZERO exposure difference and ZERO difference in consistency between a 580EX, 420EX, 430EX, 380EX and 550EX.

 

I expect zero difference because the flash exposure calculation is performed by the camera BODY and not the flash unit.

 

The only time the flash comes into play is if (1) You fire the flash before the flash unit has time to recycle or (2) you push the limits of the flash(then the more powerful flashes will work better).(3) you aim the flash unit different.

 

Caveat: The 580EX-II has an optional pseudo auto mode. . .which opens a slightly different can of worms.

 

Caveat: The power steps on the flash units are all slightly different. .but certainly that is not worth more than a 1/3 of a stop. Heck. . . in a number of flash pictures I have a hard time choosing between +3/4 stop and -3/4 stop on aesthetic grounds.

[david_lau3]

I agree that in theory the flash exposure is controlled in the body. On the same body different EX flash should give the same performance.

 

My 550EX has been the workhorse on my EOS 3. My old 380EX which I bought with my EOS 50E is also good. Very accurate and consistent. But after I switched to 20D and then 5D they became bad, sometime over sometime under. FEL can help but it is not convenient. I then bought the 220EX for travelling. It is also not consistent.

 

Recently I bought 580EX II and I found the consistency is much better. Up to now I have taken over 500 flash shots and so far they are good. I cannot explain the reason behind.

 

The auto mode on 580EX II (called E mode by Canon) is also accurate, subject to the usual constraints associated with this kind of technology (subject not off centre and not too far away etc).

 

However it is not convenient. For cameras except 1DMK3, you need to manually set the ISO and aperture used on the flash. It cannot get it from the camera. To me this is a marketing consideration (want people to buy newer cameras) rather than a technical constraint.

[colinsouthern]

David Lau wrote:

 

[snip] "To me this is a marketing consideration (want people to buy newer cameras) rather than a technical constraint."

 

We had a discussion about this a week ago - whereas I guess that they could have passed ISO/Aperture info to the flash - when it's connected to the camera - the manual also mentions that (especially when used in conjunction with the PC connector) that it can be used in this mode off camera (kinda like a manual strobe on steriods), in which case manual configuration is the only option (albeit nicer on the 1D3 as you can configure it in "plain language", without having to remember/look up CF numbers and options (for that reason alone I wish they'd give the 580 series matrix based LCDs)

 

Cheers,

 

Colin