replace my vivitar 285hv with?

[wazmunstr]

i have my first paid wedding coming up next month and i need to start gearing up with better, well gear. ive had some great shots with my 285, but i need something more automatic... any recommendations? be aware, i dont have much money, and i need other gear as well.

but any recommendations will be greatly appreciated! thanx! i am considering an ex... maybe 420? or 430? id love a 550 or 580 but thats hella alot of money. maybe sigma?

[wazmunstr]

noone? eep!

[DocFrankenstein]

It doesn't really matter. I wouldn't buy the 420, since you can't run it manually.

Everything else should outpower the vivitar and should recycle faster.

I just came back from shooting a dance competition with 285, and I think an EX flash wouldn't benefit me much. I don't shoot fast and I pick my shots, even though everything/body is moving.

If I did upgrade, I'd either go for a quantum QD4? or Q4D? with a power pack. OR alternatively for profoto/elinchrom strobes in the corners of the dark cave they call reception hall.

I've never shot a wedding. I used an EX flash once.

[tim]

Read the link in the EOS FAQ to the buyers guide (http://www.photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=123694) I wrote.

[wazmunstr]

i have a quantum battery pack, i dont know if any canon flashes will work with it, but if so recycling times is not the issue for me.

thanks tim, ill check your link out!

[wazmunstr]

i just read your buyers guide... very helpful, thank you! i have a question though. does the 430ex take 1.6 crop factor into consideration? i checked their site but i didnt find anything about that.

[Sledhed]

Be careful with that 285 on your 10D. I did a quick search on the 285 trigger voltage and found it is around 12 V. I would assume your 10D is just like my 20D, hot shoe voltage is 6V and the pc sync is 250V. If you have that 285 in your hot shoe it can damage your camera. If it's on a bracket and connected via the pc sync your OK.

http://www.botzilla.com/photo/strobeVolts.html

[tim]

i just read your buyers guide... very helpful, thank you! i have a question though. does the 430ex take 1.6 crop factor into consideration? i checked their site but i didnt find anything about that.

It does. It's in the feature list on the B&H page for the flash (http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home;jsessionid=GyQwjctBH8!610084868?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=397664&is=USA&addedTroughType=search).


Optimum Flash Coverage: Automatically adjusts the flash coverage to adjust for differences in chip size on digital cameras .

[wazmunstr]

tim, thank you. missed that somewhere.

sleadhed, i believe all canon slr's are off 6v. i havent used my 285hv with my 10d yet (bought the 10d very recently) but i did use it on the previous camera, d30, without any problems... of course after i found out that using it will eventually screw up my camera, i stopped. so thats why i want to get rid of my 285hv for a canon dedicated, preferably something new and updated (430ex :))