550EX and external power/ Quantum

[palo_dobrik]

Please, help me decide what battery pack should I use for my Canon

550 EX Flash. Could I use any Quantum, with the right cable? Thank

you for any help. :-)

[jimstrutz]

Make sure you get one of the Quantum high voltage packs; Turbo, Turbo Z, etc. The Battery 1+ & Bantam will also work, but they're just 6 volt packs that replace your current AA's and don't offer much advantage over a couple of good sets of rechargable AA's.

 

Another good option that costs less is Canon's own transistor pack.

[allen_gunn1]

I have the turbo and turbo z, even though the turbo weighs more, I prefer it. It lasts the entire day ( I shoot weddings with it), where as the z dies about three quarters of the way through. You need a model "cz" cable to connect it. I can fire as fast as my 10d will go(in the high speed mode) and have the flash fire, with correct output, every time. If you wear it on your belt or hook it to your tripod, you will be ok.

[george_mathew2]

Hi Palo

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I have been using <A href="http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=164265&is=REG"> Canon Compact Battery Pack CP-E2 for 550EX, 540EZ, 430EZ and MR-14EX Flash Units </A> for about 3 years. I am very much happy with those units. They are light weight and compact comparing to Quantum. I use it with Maha NiMh rechargeable batteries. This takes 6 AA batteries and you also need to put 4 AAs in 550EX. The whole set usually gives me a life of about 15-20 35mm/36No rolls. I have three such units. I guess this is the best option to go for!

 

<BR>

George

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[sergey_oboguev]

Have you looked at DCB?

 

By the way, they recently increased cell capacity by 1/3.

[palo_dobrik]

Thank you People, I realy appreciate your help. One question for Sergey: What is DCB? Thank you ...

[yakim_peled1]

I used the CP-E2 as well. Works great and weight is light. HTH.

 

Happy shooting ,

Yakim.

[jeremy_smith]

Sorry, I don't have an answer, but a closely related question: how many rolls could I expect to shoot using a 550EX (every shot) powered only by AA's? Thanks for your help... Just started using a rented 550 today in preparation for a wedding in a couple months.

[jimstrutz]

Jeremy, Shooting an average of 10 to 12, 36 exposure rolls at a wedding & reception, with about 8 to 10 of those rolls using a 550EX for flash; I use two sets of 1800 mAhr NiMHs. The batteries are not even close exhausted, but I don't want to be running out of power in the middle of something so I change them before I'm half way through. In addition I always carry at least one extra set of batteries.

 

I once sat down & fired a 55EX continually until a set of batteries were exhasted. I took a lot of breaks to keep the flash from over heating, but the results were about 150 full power manual pops. After that, the NiMH AAs rapidly started slowing down. Up til then, the full power recycles were under 6 seconds. Using E-TTL, or TTL, you should be able to get many more pops than that, with much faster recycles.

 

When I was using a Quantum Turbo, one charge was plenty to get through the whole day, and never did it require more than 1.5 seconds to do a recycle, if any time was required at all.