DSLR Photography Forum

does anyone have any links to reviews about external flash units?

There are some third party itemson the market here, e. g. Cullman, are they any good? How much do I have to spend?

And what do you need for indoor portraits?

thanks in advance,

uli

If you're a Canon EOS user, I found this link quite informative:
http://photonotes.org/articles/eos-flash/

I'll try finding some reviews, but I commonly see people using either the Canon Speedlights (420EX, 430EX, 550EX, 580EX) or the 3rd party Sigma flash (EF-500). There are other brands available, like Metz. That page I linked to above contains a list of other brands

Thanks a mill! that was quick... now I have some reading to do, good night......

I'd make sure it's compatible with the camera's metering system... I think canon has it's E-TTL and Nikon has it's "creative lighting system" / D-TTL? or something or rather, which takes into account distance information in additon to TTL metering. Unfortunately, I think it's usually only the manufacturer's flashes that do those, but I might be wrong.

Also, if you want to shoot portraits, definitely get one with a tilt/swivel head so you can bounce the flash. The difference is very dramatic!

Here is an affordable choice for indoor portrait photography. http://www.alienbees.com/

wulinka Wrote:does anyone have any links to reviews about external flash units?

Ah, external as in external! Ooops... sorry, disregard previous post. :o

shuttertalk Wrote:Also, if you want to shoot portraits, definitely get one with a tilt/swivel head so you can bounce the flash. The difference is very dramatic!

I'll second that. My Olympus flash swivels and tilts, and it allows a lot more options than my Sony flash that only tilts. For non-bounce use, having a zoom head is another nice feature that lets a flash get more usable output with lower power consumption.

And that AlienBee B400 looks tempting, but it's solving a different problem than the camera-mounted strobe. The only real solution is to get both.

confusion excusion - my fault
by external I didn'tt mean away and separate from the camara. Now that I think about it, I guess any flash is external in the sense I meant, because you can't buy a built in flash for your camara.....:o

so although that alien bee looks, to say the least, interstesting, I don't think it's what I need at this stage.

what's with that 2- /3- digit guide number? is that the range of the flash? in what unit?

And, even if this is a silly question, can you usually controll the output of your camera mounted flash?

the canon flash units look interesting, and I wonder if I can be bothered to actually compare them to a billion third party products, not knowing anything about flash units as is. will see....


uli

The short version of guide numbers is that they give you some idea how much 'range' the flash has. Two digit numbers are probably measured in metres (at iso100), three digit numbers are in feet. Keep in mind that increasing the illumination distance requires a great deal of power; you're lighting a cone, not a straight line, and the output falls off dramatically.

Here's a link to more than you'd ever want to know: http://www.shortcourses.com/how/guidenum...umbers.htm

You can always modify the power output, either in auto/dedicated modes (by increasing or decreasing above the metered power needed) or in fully manual mode (by telling the flash an absolute power output, usually represented as fractions of full power).

There are two main types of flash to worry about. A "dedicated" flash is designed to work with your brand of camera as seamlessly as possible. It will almost certainly be made by your camera manufacturer, and offers a lot of flexibility. They'll use through-the-lens metering, and allow you to use any combination of f-stop and shutter speed (up to your maximum sync speed) without changing settings on the flash. The downsides are that they tend to be more expensive for the power they provide, and that they cannot be used across camera brands. This is why I have separate flashes for both my Olympus and Sony cameras.

"Auto" flashes are more restrictive. You will need to set a specific f-stop and/or shutter speed, and then the flash will use its own on-board meter to determine how much light to emit. This isn't as easy as using a dedicated flash, and the metering may be more difficult, but they can be used on any camera and are generally less expensive for what you get.

...this is a bit of a oversimplification, and I don't have direct experience with auto flashes. If anyone can correct me, or provide better information or a different perspective, I'd like to hear it as well.

Thanks matthew, that's a lot of info, now I have even more to read.
It pretty quickly seems to me that getting a dedicated flash will be the best option. Otherwise i am afraid there is a jungle of third party or "auto" flashes out there, where it would be hard to find something suitable?

Yeah, I'd go with the brand name flash too - you can be sure that they're compatible with all the functions etc. The only exception is Nikon digitals -- to use their i-TTL mode, you need a SB-600 or SB-800... all the older flashes like the SB-28 etc. only support TTL

The page I linked to above has a brief description of the other brands available.

I got the Sigma EF-500 as many likened it to the 550EX. I'd say it's quite similar in function, but the Canon flashses are much better built! You can *feel* the difference when you hold it haha, looks better too (I doubt it's for ego feel )

Matthew says I have to come back to let you know....

so, this choice wasn't so difficult: I got the EX580.
It's going to take me as long to figure out how to use it, as for my wallet to recover from all the recent spendings on camera gear, but I think I have everything I need for now.... (let's see how long "now" lasts... )

Thanks again for advice!!!

uli

Congrats! Let us know how you get on with it...

The itch... the itch... it always comes back!!

That's a great choice. I was at a flash workshop a couple of nights ago, and there was a woman there with one. It looks like it can handle anything.

Remember this one thing: "P" mode exposes for the flash, to light the subject. It will typically lock the camera at the highest sync speed with the widest aperture. "A" mode exposes for the background light, and you set the amount of DOF you need. The flash will then fire at a slow-sync setting, so choose rear-curtain if you can and use a tripod.

Don't worry... you'll think of new things to need soon.

Hey matthew!
handy tips! thanks, I should send you to more workshops....

uli

ooo.. nice one Uli (the 580 EX).
I think I missed this thread originally, and was going to recommend that within the Canon models, the 430 EX or 580 EX would be the better choices and can be roughly considered updated versions of the 420 and 550 respectively. Certainly the functionality difference between the 420 and 430 made it well worth the relatively small price difference for me. In hindsight I might have waited a bit longer and saved for a 580, but my 430 will act as a wireless slave to a 580 should I choose one later. No doubt Uli you know this already having bought a 580, but others might read this thread and find the info useful.

And on a side note, I've been meaning to write up a little article on a very low-budget yet effective DIY lighting system I've somehow managed to piece together. It may not be up to the rigours of professional work, but at less than 1/10th of the price of professional gear it makes for a nice little kit. Perfect for learning and plenty of scope for experimenting without a big financial committment. I won't hijack this thread with it, but instead I'll start writing the article.

kombi,

can't wait to hear!
I bought myself a couple of these halogen lamps from Home Depot, and have been covering them with thin white paper, almost as good as a softbox! (except for the fire risk)

wulinka Wrote:kombi,

can't wait to hear!
I bought myself a couple of these halogen lamps from Home Depot, and have been covering them with thin white paper, almost as good as a softbox! (except for the fire risk)

:o Very risky.

oo.. :o

Those halogen lamps from places like Home Depot are great (and are a big part of the setup I am going to describe)... but the paper does sound dangerous if its close to the lights. Those lights get very very hot, especially if you leave the standard globes in them which are usually 500watt. They seem to run much hotter than standard tungsten globes.

But if the lights themselves are anything like the ones we get here at hardware stores like Bunnings then they are really handy and very cheap for what they are.

Personally I use a couple different lights other than those halogen work lamps. Home Depot also has these silver dome type lights with a squeeze clamp.



You can buy a variety of bulb types for this lamp. There are natural light and halogen. They are not as bright as the 500 watt halogen but are much safer. For me they do the trick.

the silver type just don't give me enough light. they just don't, with a 100W bulb in them, you need 5 to get the intesity of one of the halogen ones.
they have other advantages, especially the mobility and flexibility.

thanks for your concerns by the way, but I usually don't leave the halogen ones on for long enough for the paper to catch fire I think. I seat people, turn the lamp on, take my shots and turn the lamps off when I don't need them.

"usually" .... really means, I have only done this a couple of times... :-))

uli