Canon 430 EX flash

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ep82

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Hello everyone

Just wondering if someone can tell me abit of this flash?

I just got it today for my birthday and I need to know where about does this flash stand (spec + quality wise). I mean how good is it out of 10? I know it's hard depending of what I use it for but how happy is the people who owns this?

might be cheeky but if there is better out there for added money then I might ask to take it back to upgrade to another one.

I have been thinking in getting a flash for a while now but didnt really needed it so I havent done any reaserch. Can someone help?
 
Great flash, surpassed only by the more expensive 580ex.

It has everything the 580exII has, but the 580 is:
a) more expensive
b) more powerful
c) has the ability to fire off other flashes

I own it, and I'm very happy with it.
Some examples of the flash being used are below:

On this one, I used it to the right of my using my Elinchrom Skyports to fire it externally. Used a piece of A4 paper for the backdrop.

2654704023_b260d022d0.jpg


For this one, I used it on full power (1/1), and set the shutter speed at the highest sync it would go with the flash (1/200) and set the aperture to a fairly deep one so I could get the raindrops in focus, but this meant the background would be underexposed, which is what I wanted.

2652279173_7323f10e7d.jpg


For this one, I used a long shutter speed to get the light trails, and then used the flash externally on its pilot/test mode using the red button to fire off the flash from different places, firing upwards throughout the exposure to fill in my friend.

2646997863_9a3c95da70.jpg


For this one, I put a big silver reflector behind me, and pointed the flash away from me, towards the reflector, and fired using the elinchrom skyports to correctly expose both my room AND outside the window.

2622422108_e22a4a7029.jpg
 
Wow. Cool! thanks for the photos showing me what this can do. I had a little play with it today. Had a quick read of the instruction manule and I got completely confused :thinking:

I didnt understand about 60% of it :lol: Oh well. I hope I will learn more about it on this forum.

Oh What is skyports? and is there a way to trigger off this flash while it's not connected to the camera? (I dont mean the test button) Is there a way to set the flash off when I take a picture while it's not placed on the camera?

1 last thing. Is there any other way to power the flash besides AA batteries? My photographer on my wedding day seems to have his flash connected to a power source on his belt.
 
ep82 said:
Wow. Cool! thanks for the photos showing me what this can do. I had a little play with it today. Had a quick read of the instruction manule and I got completely confused :thinking:

I didnt understand about 60% of it :lol: Oh well. I hope I will learn more about it on this forum.

Oh What is skyports? and is there a way to trigger off this flash while it's not connected to the camera? (I dont mean the test button) Is there a way to set the flash off when I take a picture while it's not placed on the camera?

1 last thing. Is there any other way to power the flash besides AA batteries? My photographer on my wedding day seems to have his flash connected to a power source on his belt.
Click to expand...

Skyports of remote triggers like cactus are what are used to trigger the 430EX away from the camera.
 
Cool. how much does these go for?? I hope it aint much as I only need it for 1 flash.
 
I use the el-cheapos from ebay as well, you lose TTL but they work so what can you say? Also, the battery packs are good but if you go crazy you can fry the flash, I would stick to a decent set of nimh rechargeables. Good luck.
 
Thanks everyone :)

trying to find some trigger thingy on ebay now
What should I type in for search? Remote Radio Trigger Control ?? Will it say/should I look for canon fit or are they all universal?
 
Try here for the Cactus remotes.

Ignore the fact it says they are for Nikon flashes- they work with just about every flashgun
 
Do the 430ex flashes swivvel, aswell as tilt?
 
Yes mate, hold the button on the side of the head and twist.
 
You can also buy the Canon ST-E2 trigger which offers ttl as well as manual triggering.
 
PS @ Foodpoison

Those captures are excellent. Love the one of your mate on the bridge.
 
Flash In The Pan said:
Try here for the Cactus remotes.

Ignore the fact it says they are for Nikon flashes- they work with just about every flashgun
Click to expand...


Thanks for the link. it's ended already so I just clicked on another one. http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=190236333027&ssPageName=MERCOSI_VI_ROSI_PR4_PCN_BIX_Stores&refitem=190237608890&itemcount=4&refwidgetloc=closed_view_item&refwidgettype=osi_widget&_trksid=p284.m185&_trkparms=algo%3DSI%26its%3DI%252BIA%26itu%3DIA%252BUCI%26otn%3D4%26ps%3D42 It's the same one right?

So is that all I need? this wont damage my flash would it? I see alot of coutions on this ebay description.

CAUTION:

Beware not to work via the hot shoe with high voltage flashes or studio strobes with a triggering voltage of 12V or higher; please purchase an extra V2 receiver from us.
Since the new version runs on different channels, it can only work with V2/V2s receivers and not the previous version. Please purchase the V2/V2s receivers from our eBay store to work with the new version trigger.

do i need the extra bits or just this item?
 
it'll be fine, you dont need any extra bits.
 
Ok everyone. I have now got my Cactus wireless trigger but I am having abit of a problem with it.

I thought I would post back in here saving to start a new thread.

Right, the fisrt thing I did was put the battery in the receiver, then I set the channel to the bottom of each setting. and tried a few test shots.

(I was in quite a dark-ish room)I set the camera on P and fired a test shot. The image was Waaaayyyyyyy too light, under exposed. I now noticed that the camera does not automatically sort out the setting for me (flash mode) So I set the camera to M and and tried the shutter about 160 and the image was still too light.

This is where my problem is! I then set the shutter to 400 and fired another shot. Some reason I only have 1/4 of my photo, the rest of the photo is pitch black. I tried it at 320 and I get 1/2 my photo.
I did a few other test shots and they are all faulty. I sometimes get a completely black screen at 320.
200 = too light, 320 = 1/2 missing screen. 420 = 3/4 missing screen and any higher means black screen
Can someone tell me if my unit is faulty or am I being a complete newb/moron and doing this all wrong??

Also is there a battery in the sender? if so, can you replace that battery?
 
ep press the (lightning)H button, until the light (lightning)H is one. Overwise your high speed sync wont be on which make a lot of the image just black exactly how you described it. I had the problem yesterday ive only had my flash for 2 days ***...
 
You'll have a maximum sync speed of about 1/200th shutter speed with flash so anything above this and you'll get black areas in your image.

If you are over exposing at 1/200 then your flash will be set to too much power. When using flash, shutter speed doesn't really make a difference in most situations. You control the exposure with the aperture and ISO.

Your radio triggers don't have TTL metering built in so your flash will not work out how much light you need and change the power accordingly, you have to do it manually. Change your flash into M mode and dial down the power to 1/16th and work from there.

strobist http://strobist.blogspot.com/ is a website dedicated to off camera lighting and you can learn more than you'll ever need by reading up on there. Start with the article 'Lighting 101' and go from there.
 
:agree: First thing to do is read through the Strobist Lighting 101 section via the link above.

It may seem like a bit of a hassle, but after a few tries you'll be able to make a rough guess at what shutterspeed and flash output combo you need to use. The alternative is to invest in a light meter....
 
Ah thanks for the tips. Had a few more tried and I am getting the hang of it now.

dont mean to sound stupid but can you get the wireless trigger off ebay which has the light reading/metering with it?? thought this would make my life alot easier!
 
ep82 said:
dont mean to sound stupid but can you get the wireless trigger off ebay which has the light reading/metering with it?? thought this would make my life alot easier!
Click to expand...

No....you'll need to learn how to do it yourself ;)
 
ep82 said:
Ah thanks for the tips. Had a few more tried and I am getting the hang of it now.

dont mean to sound stupid but can you get the wireless trigger off ebay which has the light reading/metering with it?? thought this would make my life alot easier!
Click to expand...


There are options but they are expensive.

You could get a canon ST-E2 for about £100 that'll do TTL but it's infra red so not as versatile as wireless imo.

the radiopoppers also support TTL stuff but I 'think' they need to be used in conjunction with the ST-E2 and are only available in America at the moment, but they are very good it seems and support sync speeds up to 1/8000 which is hugely impressive.
 
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