nissin di866 vs canon 580ex

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Anthony
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im in 2 minds about getting 2 new flash guns and iv narrowed my choice down to the nissin di866 & canon 580ex.

The screen does not bother me on the Nissin but im not to sure on what to get as i can get 2 new nissins for less then the price of 1 580ex!

Thoughts anyone?
 
no one i take it?

i di love how some people put some crap posts up that have nothing to do with photography and get a stupid amount of replies yet some people put up questions about photography and no one cares to reply!

priority's?
 
It is early sunday afternoon.
Not exactly prime time for internet activity, leave it till later in the evening before getting indignant about a lack of a replies ;)
 
perhaps you'd get a bit more attention in the lighting section?
 
Now now :nono:

I've got the nissin and the 580 II here, I prefer the Nissin as it's easier to make changes on the colour lcd rather than having to press the bulb button, and pressing and turning little knobs.

That said, the 580 is probably just a tad more reliable when using the infra red flash system. Batteries seem to last longer in the Nissin, for some reason the 580 tends to wipe out one cell of the 4 and that renders the rest useless.

I also love the sub flash on the nissin, great for bouncing the light off the wall or ceiling and still having a catch light.

The nissin head zoom motor on my mk1 version is much much louder than the Canon's but it gets to where it's going without fuss.

The quick change battery mag on the nissin is a great idea too, especially with cold hands.

So, it's horses for courses really....... for me, getting 580 power for 430 cost was a swinger ;)


Anything else?
 
digitalfailure said:
Now now :nono:

I've got the nissin and the 580 II here, I prefer the Nissin as it's easier to make changes on the colour lcd rather than having to press the bulb button, and pressing and turning little knobs.

That said, the 580 is probably just a tad more reliable when using the infra red flash system. Batteries seem to last longer in the Nissin, for some reason the 580 tends to wipe out one cell of the 4 and that renders the rest useless.

I also love the sub flash on the nissin, great for bouncing the light off the wall or ceiling and still having a catch light.

The nissin head zoom motor on my mk1 version is much much louder than the Canon's but it gets to where it's going without fuss.

The quick change battery mag on the nissin is a great idea too, especially with cold hands.

So, it's horses for courses really....... for me, getting 580 power for 430 cost was a swinger ;)


Anything else?
Click to expand...

Thanks for that Brian, am i right in thinking that you can change the firmware of the nissin if ever you decide to go from canon to nikon? or was that someone filling my head with a load of junk?
 
Not sure if a change of firmware will change from Canon to Nikon, but it'd be great if it was that easy. The flash does have a USB port on it to enable updates to the firmware. I've had mine over a year and there's been no changes to the canon firmware as yet. I believe there was an update a month or so prior to my purchase as there were a few reported hiccups with the 5d2 and the nissin.

I've had no problems at all with mine.
 
I got the Nissin back in February from Amazon for a shade under £200.

Dead impressed by it! Extremely powerful and I get decent life out of 2500ma+ rechargeable batteries.

ETTL works well and although I've not used it wirelessly in anger, it's a very useful feature to have

Obviously I can compare it to the Canon equivalent as I've not used it but it's a couple of hundred quid cheaper and I'm not sure what else I'd want from a flashgun to warrent the extra cost.
 
also have a Nissin and the colour LCd is a joy to use.. The only minor niggles I have with the Nissin is that its a bit inconsistent firing using my P/wizards sometimes it just does not want to work with them, another niggle is the firmware update procedure which is a bit of a joke really as the software for updates does not support 64bit PC operating systems

and for most photographers who use shed loads of ram on there PC's is a major pain in the backside
other than those niggles its a great flash and very powerful
 
Buttkicker

Have you actually updated the firmware then?
Nikon or Canon?
 
digitalfailure said:
Buttkicker

Have you actually updated the firmware then?
Nikon or Canon?
Click to expand...

No
I had all the misfires etc with the wizards and emailed Nissin in Asia which is a bit of a pain to be dealing via Asia - and they suggested I used a PC with a non 64bit operating system!!!

having said that they emailed me at the beginning of August saying that at the end of August new firmware updating software would be ready and check back on the website then (which as of yet I have not done)

but no doubt will get round to it soon my gear is Canon by the way
 
I've been really pleased with my Nissin 866. I lve the little sub flash that can give a little catch light when the main flash headvis being used to bounce.

My only niggle has been that it doesn't appear to work with my Phottix Oddin eTTL triggers.
 
Canon's speedlites are great but I've stopped buying them. For the money, which is now the same price as a studio head, you're not really getting much more than other units like the Nissin. If you need to use them in wet weather or where they will get knocked around I'd go for them, but if not I wouldn't worry.

I switched to Metz a year or so ago - I sold a 550EX and a 420EX and the money covered two brand new Metz 48 speedlites. The light quality is the same and the work the same, can't really grumble about that!
 
Does anyone know, when the Di866 is used in commander mode, it can be used only to trigger other flash units, or can also fire itself?
 
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