«

I have recently purchased a Canon 400d, and have started thinking that I
will need an external flash for some situations.

Checking online, I have foud many similar looking flashed with wildly
varying prices.

Vivitar - about $50.00
Sunpak - about $200.00
Canon - about 500.00

What gives?

Any suggestions? The flash would be used rarely but for photos that would
be relatively important (Special occaisions, work erlated functions)

----*
RecGroups : the community-oriented newsreader : www.recgroups.com

There are great differences in flashes and nothing new about that.

Features, quality and quantity are all a part of the differences.

Most cameras today come with some sort of flash and that is all most
people are going to need. For the rest the choice should start with "What
is it that the built in flash is not doing well that I need a different
flash for. Then add in your photo skill and interest level and financial
situation. The recommendations for a professional wedding or sports
photographer will be far different than for a studio photographer and they
will be different than those for a father taking photos of his kids.

"Juan Moore Beer" <> wrote in message
news:...
> I have recently purchased a Canon 400d, and have started thinking that I
> will need an external flash for some situations.
>
> Checking online, I have foud many similar looking flashed with wildly
> varying prices.
>
> Vivitar - about $50.00
> Sunpak - about $200.00
> Canon - about 500.00
>
> What gives?
>
> Any suggestions? The flash would be used rarely but for photos that would
> be relatively important (Special occaisions, work erlated functions)
>
> ----
> RecGroups : the community-oriented newsreader : www.recgroups.com
>
>

--
Joseph Meehan

Dia 's Muire duit

"Juan Moore Beer" <> wrote in message
news:...
>I have recently purchased a Canon 400d, and have started thinking that I
> will need an external flash for some situations.
>
> Checking online, I have foud many similar looking flashed with wildly
> varying prices.
>
> Vivitar - about $50.00
> Sunpak - about $200.00
> Canon - about 500.00
>
> What gives?
>
> Any suggestions? The flash would be used rarely but for photos that would
> be relatively important (Special occaisions, work erlated functions)


Not to familiar with Canon. I have a Nikon D40x and was thinking the same.
Finally I decided to go for the best: SB800. At first reading about it, of
course. It seemed a little "overkill" at first, spending almost as much on a
flash as on the camera, but after I had it now for about 2 months, I don´t
feel sorry. I use the flash much more then I ever thought I would be. Still
finding new things to do with it and trying out experiments, I am very
satisfied.
I don´t believe a Sunpack or other third party can come close to the
original. A lens maybe, but a flash is too specific for a brand, at least
IMO.
I just did a portrait shoot of my girlfriend yesterday and the results
astonished the both of us. I can honestly say, hard to tell the difference
from professional pictures I have seen )

--
"I don´t need a camera,
I have a photographic memory..."
Sosumi

I have a problem with a flash together with digital SLR. I have bought a
special adapter SCA 3102 M3 for my Canon 20D, but without success, of
course. The speedlight Metz 40 MZ-3i and this adapter didn´t bring good
results, unfortunately. By my opition if you have a digital SLR camera,
you have to use brand new type speedlight originaly builded for digital
using.
it´s all from my experience. Van
http://www.photo-vandark.eu

I have a problem with a flash together with digital SLR. I have bought a
special adapter SCA 3102 M3 for my Canon 20D, but without success, of
course. The speedlight Metz 40 MZ-3i and this adapter didn´t bring good
results, unfortunately. By my opition if you have a digital SLR camera,
you have to use brand new type speedlight originaly builded for digital
using.
it´s all from my experience. Van
http://www.photo-vandark.eu

Sosumi napsal(a):
> "Juan Moore Beer" <> wrote in message
> news:...
>> I have recently purchased a Canon 400d, and have started thinking that I
>> will need an external flash for some situations.
>>
>> Checking online, I have foud many similar looking flashed with wildly
>> varying prices.
>>
>> Vivitar - about $50.00
>> Sunpak - about $200.00
>> Canon - about 500.00
>>
>> What gives?
>>
>> Any suggestions? The flash would be used rarely but for photos that would
>> be relatively important (Special occaisions, work erlated functions)
>
>
> Not to familiar with Canon. I have a Nikon D40x and was thinking the same.
> Finally I decided to go for the best: SB800. At first reading about it, of
> course. It seemed a little "overkill" at first, spending almost as much on a
> flash as on the camera, but after I had it now for about 2 months, I don´t
> feel sorry. I use the flash much more then I ever thought I would be. Still
> finding new things to do with it and trying out experiments, I am very
> satisfied.
> I don´t believe a Sunpack or other third party can come close to the
> original. A lens maybe, but a flash is too specific for a brand, at least
> IMO.
> I just did a portrait shoot of my girlfriend yesterday and the results
> astonished the both of us. I can honestly say, hard to tell the difference
> from professional pictures I have seen )
>

On Nov 1, 7:45 am, "Juan Moore Beer" <juanmooreb...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> I have recently purchased a Canon 400d, and have started thinking that I
> will need an external flash for some situations.
>
> Checking online, I have foud many similar looking flashed with wildly
> varying prices.
>
> Vivitar - about $50.00
> Sunpak - about $200.00
> Canon - about 500.00
>
> What gives?
>
> Any suggestions? The flash would be used rarely but for photos that would
> be relatively important (Special occaisions, work erlated functions)
>
> ----
> RecGroups : the community-oriented newsreader :www.recgroups.com

Yes, you get what you pay for. All of the brands make various levels
of flash, so you can't compare a $50 Vivitar with a $500 Canon. So do
two things. First, get the best possible flash you can afford. Drop
$500 on one and it'll last you a lifetime with not regrets.
Otherwise, same up for it. Then, get a bracket for it to get it off
you camera. It look much better that way.

Here's an example of what it provides you with. This weekend I was
shooting a nice, simple picture -- a wedding cake on a table. How
hard is that? Well I'm shooting down at an angle so I can see the top
of the cake. I need to bounce my flash off the ceiling that 15' over
my head (that takes some light to do that). So in order to bounce the
light, I needed to turn the flash-head around backwards and then point
it up at the ceiling while putting out enough light to make the bounce
work. That's not a $50 flash.

Juan Moore Beer wrote:

> I have recently purchased a Canon 400d, and have started thinking that I
> will need an external flash for some situations.
>
> Checking online, I have foud many similar looking flashed with wildly
> varying prices.
>
> Vivitar - about $50.00
> Sunpak - about $200.00
> Canon - about 500.00
>
> What gives?
>
> Any suggestions? The flash would be used rarely but for photos that would
> be relatively important (Special occaisions, work erlated functions)

One thing to be aware of is that Canon has it's own proprietary flash
metering system (Called E-TTL). Many flashes out there don't support
E-TTL and you'll need to manually set your exposures if you use one.
If you buy a flash for your 400D, look for E-TTL compatibility
in the specifications.

Also.. The newer Canon flashes have better communication with the
body. They can tell if the camera has a full frame sensor or an APS
sized sensor and then fine tune the flash pattern to match the
crop factor.

And of course, the more expensive flashes have additional features
such as built in transmitters to trigger remote flashes and receivers
that allow them to be used as remotes.

"Pat" <> wrote in message
news: oups.com...
> .. First, get the best possible flash you can afford. Drop
> $500 on one and it'll last you a lifetime with not regrets...

While I generally agree with the rest of your message, and even partly
agree with this part, but remember that next year your new camera, even the
same brand may not even talk with that $500 flash or more likely you will
not be able to use the flash with some of the new advanced features.

--
Joseph Meehan

Dia 's Muire duit

On Nov 1, 1:10 pm, "Joseph Meehan" <sligoNoSPAM...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> "Pat" <gro...@artisticphotography.us> wrote in message
>
> news: oups.com...
>
> > .. First, get the best possible flash you can afford. Drop
> > $500 on one and it'll last you a lifetime with not regrets...
>
> While I generally agree with the rest of your message, and even partly
> agree with this part, but remember that next year your new camera, even the
> same brand may not even talk with that $500 flash or more likely you will
> not be able to use the flash with some of the new advanced features.
>
> --
> Joseph Meehan
>
> Dia 's Muire duit

True, but the chances of Canon making the ex550 or ex580 obsolete in
the near future is pretty remove. Nor will Nikon, with their
equivalent flash. By then, you might want to upgrade to new
technology anyway. After all, you wouldn't be worried about that
unless you were upgrading your camera, too. So if the new cameras go
to ETTL-15, they'll probably still allow the older flash to work in
some manner. But if you're hankering for a new camera with ETTL-15,
you'll want the ETTL-15 flash, too. By then, it'll probably make
coffee for you.

Pat <> wrote:

> Here's an example of what it provides you with. This weekend I was
> shooting a nice, simple picture -- a wedding cake on a table. How
> hard is that? Well I'm shooting down at an angle so I can see the top
> of the cake. I need to bounce my flash off the ceiling that 15' over
> my head (that takes some light to do that). So in order to bounce the
> light, I needed to turn the flash-head around backwards and then point
> it up at the ceiling while putting out enough light to make the bounce
> work. That's not a $50 flash.
>

No, but a $50 flash firing into a reflector held above your head might have
achieved the same result (or better) ...