views on speedlights

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arwesa

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Im going to get myself a set of phottix odins....

Im going to use e-ttl and high speed flash

Ive got 1 580exii as my main flash, Im now considering another 2 speedlights.

I know nissin 866ii s will work with all above or I could go the 430exii's or I have to save a bit and get another 2 580exiis

any views, obviously want to keep high speed and ttl open across the board.

Any views on above? is it best to keep to one type of speedlight for consistency or mixing and matching ok? is there anything obvious Ive missed?
 
Nikon 910sb speedlight been announced this week looks amazing
 
thx... didnt realise nikons flashes worked with canon ettl ?:thinking:
 
any constructive experience of the different types :shrug:
 
arwesa said:
Im going to get myself a set of phottix odins....

Im going to use e-ttl and high speed flash

Ive got 1 580exii as my main flash, Im now considering another 2 speedlights.

I know nissin 866ii s will work with all above or I could go the 430exii's or I have to save a bit and get another 2 580exiis

any views, obviously want to keep high speed and ttl open across the board.

Any views on above? is it best to keep to one type of speedlight for consistency or mixing and matching ok? is there anything obvious Ive missed?
Click to expand...

By high speed flash, do you mean high speed sync?

If so, be aware of the substantial loss of power that you get just by switching it on (two stops at least) and you lose a further stop for every halving of shutter speed. So at 1/1000sec for example, you will be at least four stops down on regular flash, and the point I would make is that some guns are worse than this.

Problem is, this is never quoted in the specs, or tested by magazines/websites etc. If this is important to you, look at Pocket Wizard Mini/Flex that have some clever trickery around this to maximise output, at least with Canon guns.
 
thanks..Im thinking fill flash and motion (black moving gundogs in daylight). will look into what pocket wizards do, but Im pretty much fixed on the odins due to the fact I can have all the ttl support working but can quickly manually overide remote positioned flash settings from the transmitter should I need.

I take it youre not implying the problem is specifically worse or better with any one make of flash, rather its a byproduct/issue cause by using hss? unfortunately I believe I will need the hss to freeze action/fill so I guess I would have to double/treble up on flashes
 
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arwesa said:
thanks..Im thinking fill flash and motion (black moving gundogs in daylight). will look into what pocket wizards do, but Im pretty much fixed on the odins due to the fact I can have all the ttl support working but can quickly manually overide remote positioned flash settings from the transmitter should I need.

I take it youre not implying the problem is specifically worse or better with any one make of flash, rather its a byproduct/issue cause by using hss? unfortunately I believe I will need the hss to freeze action/fill so I guess I would have to double/treble up on flashes
Click to expand...

No, I'm saying that I know it varies between guns of the same make, and certainly between brands. Either way, HSS is great but only at close range.

Reading between the lines of your post, I'm not sure you've quite got the hang of how flash works, flash durations and x-sync speeds. If you're in a controlled situation with lights set up as you describe, there is probably a way of not needing HSS by keeping your shutter speed down and letting the flash freeze the action.

Apologies if I've misunderstood you.
 
so I either go for all 580s for consistent performance and assume as its the higher end flash its going to be better than the rest? Is there any known info on the different flashes and performance :thinking: tried google but couldnt come up with anything.

I could use second curtain sync, but Im assuming in daylight with dogs backlit by natural light a show shutter will result in motion blur even with speedlite flash (I cant predict exactly where the dog will be when I fire the shot just the general area so distance to flash will vary dog to dog) the best Im hoping to do is use a speed lite to create enough fill to bring out detail? Im not expecting enough power from one or two of these to do much else..

I can see the logic in keeping all flashes the same..I gues I was thinking I could save myself £100 per flash if I went for a couple of the nissins though :shrug:
 
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arwesa said:
so I either go for all 580s for consistent performance and assume as its the higher end flash its going to be better than the rest? Is there any known info on the different flashes and performance :thinking: tried google but couldnt come up with anything.

I could use second curtain sync, but Im assuming in daylight with dogs backlit by natural light a show shutter will result in motion blur even with speedlite flash (I cant predict exactly where the dog will be when I fire the shot just the general area so distance to flash will vary dog to dog) the best Im hoping to do is use a speed lite to create enough fill to bring out detail? Im not expecting enough power from these to do much else..

I can see the logic in keeping all flashes the same..I gues I was thinking I could save myself £100 per flash if I went for a couple of the nissins though :shrug:
Click to expand...

Edit: crossed post with your Dave Black link above LOL

Not sure where I'm going with this brilliant advice ;) Telling you that there are differences between different guns in HSS mode, but there is no data available on it, apart from what I have discovered myself about a few different guns!

TBH, given that in HSS mode you're going to lose a lot of power anyway, the difference between various makes and models is unlikely to be your main problem, so lets start again.

If you want both high shutter speeds and high flash power, there is only one way to do it, and that's with multiple guns. Like this guy, who uses eight! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNDAINwhTWU I take it you haven't got that budget... (Someone will probably come along now and say you can do it with a thing called the tail-sync hack, but that's really a rubbish bodge and you lose just as much power.)

I think you'll be okay using regular flash at 1/250sec on your 7D. If the dogs are moving fast and if you're panning you'll maybe get a little ghosting but I doubt that there'll be much, if any, and it probably won't matter anyway.

Second curtain sync won't help because it's only enabled at around 1/30sec and below, and makes hardly any difference until quite a bit longer than that.

If the dogs are changing distance all the time you definitely want ETTL, and if you're struggling for range, maybe a Flash Xtender will help there - it will raise your output by two stops, but only with long lenses http://www.warehouseexpress.com/buy-kirk-flash-x-tender-3/p1006418 However, since I image the dog will only occupy the middle of the frame, I'm guessing that might be okay.

HTH :)
 
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I will be some distance from the targets, but Im expecting to be able to position the flash heads in the rough area hence the remote triggers or get a helper to do the whole aiming thing :). Id sort of guessed at another 2 flashes making 3 total on the basis I could then put 2/3 together (which I hope will be more than enough)
 
I get on with the Canon 580 EXII Flash the best. So easy to put on the camera and can easily be taken off again! x
 
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