550 Flash with Battery booster

[JuStDaVe]

Hey i have a 550ex i shoot the drags. I shoot and get shot one and maybe shot 4 if im lucky with the flash on.

i noticed that canon has the battery thing that holds 6 or 8 batterys to pluginto the flash. will this resolve my problem or it just has more so u dont need to change batterys ?

Cheers ppl

[carsanbballs]

It makes it faster, but you still need good batteries in the flash.

[tim]

The recharge speed is much faster with the battery pack. Taking photos of anything shiny using a flash is difficult unless you use manual flash, ETTL gets confused easily.

[JuStDaVe]

i dont ahve a drama gettin the shot
just not cycle fast enough
thats all

i use energizer 2600 ma rechargables

[tim]

Get the battery pack, it will help. Also perhaps raise your ISO a stop or two, that reduces the power the flash needs to put out so you'll get more shots in a row. Don't do too many you'll burn out the flash head - see the manual for details.

[René Damkot]

Use higher ISO and/or open up the aperture, like tim said. My 580 with moderatly fresh NiMh's keeps up at 8 fps for about 4 shots at 1/8 power...

[JuStDaVe]

i just shot like 500 iso f 5.6 60th ish flash on ettl any tips would be good

[René Damkot]

ISO 500 f/5.6 at 1/8 power would get you some 8-10 meters of flash reach.... What distances are you working on?

[JuStDaVe]

bout 3-5 m ish....

[René Damkot]

First try would be to turn off ETTL, and switch to manual. That way you know how many flashes you can take. (I'm assuming the distance being fairly constant).
At these distances there shouldn't be a problem for the flash to keep up at 5fps for at least 4-5 shots.