Dedicated Canon flashgun or go 3rd party for off camera flash?

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jezza8

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I have been promising myself for some years I would experiment with off camera flash, I have been reading this very informative forum and now finally decided to get on and do it. I want to take a range of indoor posed shots and outdoor static/action. I have a Canon 40D and 420EX. (I must say the 420 is OK for on camera snaps but very limited i.e. no manual power or zoom settings and amazingly hit or miss metering.) Anyhow I am considering two options:

1. Stick with dedicated Canon flash and get the 580EX to drive the 420 off camera and maintain full E-TTL metering on all flash units, possibly adding another 430 later on if I want more off camera units. The purchase of one 580ex then gives me one on camera and one off camera flash;

2. Forget about the dedicated (and expensive) Canon option and get a skyport wireless trigger set to drive an old Minolta 4000 flash I have with full manual control, adding further 3rd party flash and skyport as I want to increase off camera strobes. I guess 1 pair of skyports initially (TX and RX) would only give me one off camera flash, or could I plug the transmitter into the PC socket on my camera and still use on camera flash as well?

I am inclined to go the second option. The E-TTL metering seems to be so hit and miss I would feel more confident using manual flash exposure on the off camera flash, so don't know that the full Canon set up is going to offer much in reality. Looking at the people here serious about off camera flash it seems as if manual control is the way to go, is this a reasonable summary? Are the Vivitar and older Nikon strobes still the best choices for off camera units?

Wow, long post again, sorry!
 
I have the 580 EXII and am gradually getting to grips with flash.
The 580 is expensive but in my opinion well worth it. You get all the dedicated facilities and a lot of power.
 
i have 4 old flashes i got of ebay for £16, for all four.

got some cheap wireless trigger/receivers and had a play.

for what i do, i dont think ill ever get a ettl on camera flash, or even with a cord, i jsut adjust the aperture manual its so simple to do, and now im used to it i can jsut set it up and get near bang on exposures from the start,.
 
What is E-TTL?
 
Greywolf said:
I have the 580 EXII and am gradually getting to grips with flash.
The 580 is expensive but in my opinion well worth it. You get all the dedicated facilities and a lot of power.
Click to expand...

EXCEPT..... you can't fire it as an off-camera flash straight from your camera.

Bloody cheek really.
 
stephen ley said:
What is E-TTL?
Click to expand...

It is Canon's evaluative through the lens flash metering system. Extract from photonotes.org:

"(Canon) Evaluative through-the-lens flash metering, an EOS-specific flash metering technology.

E-TTL works by issuing a white light preflash from the main tube. This preflash illuminates the scene with a known flash level. The camera’s standard evaluative metering system then meters the flash pulse and sets the flash output accordingly. It does this prior to the shutter opening. E-TTL metering was enhanced in 2004 with the introduction of E-TTL II."
 
jezza8 said:
It is Canon's evaluative through the lens flash metering system. Extract from photonotes.org:

"(Canon) Evaluative through-the-lens flash metering, an EOS-specific flash metering technology.

E-TTL works by issuing a white light preflash from the main tube. This preflash illuminates the scene with a known flash level. The camera’s standard evaluative metering system then meters the flash pulse and sets the flash output accordingly. It does this prior to the shutter opening. E-TTL metering was enhanced in 2004 with the introduction of E-TTL II."
Click to expand...

Great! unless your studio lights go off when they see the pre-flash!! ;)

ie, too soon!
 
Yes, E-TTL certainly stops you using the simple light sensitive triggers!

Does anyone have any more thoughts on the merits of sticking to an all-Canon system vs using radio triggers and full manual setup on 3rd party flash units? I am certainly leaning towards the manual set up right now......
 
As another post says, its all about the price really. You can spend a mere smidgeon of the OEM budget just to get yourself up and running and get a feel for the off camera thing, then if you wanna take it a lot further, dig deeper into your pockets once you've sussed it out.
 
Thanks everyone for the comments. I am going to go with 3rd part flash and wireless triggers, can't see that the extra cost of a full dedicated setup will give me much more.
 
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