Having hard time deciding. 580EX or 430EX for 2nd flash

[itzjere]

Hey guys. I'm looking at building my strobist kit and having a hard time deciding on what my second flash should be. I currently have a 430EX and V2 trigger system. Works great. I'm looking to add a second flash now, while purchasing the whole light stand/umbrella adapter/umbrella setup.

My dilemma is, should I get a 580EX or 430EX for my second flash? I would say I know how to use my 430EX quiet well, both on and off camera. Here's the options in my head, and was looking for some input from people here on the board.

1) Get the 580EX. Use my current V2 trigger to trigger it, set 580EX to master and 430EX to slave. I like that on the 580EX, I can control the ratios if it is on camera, but I don't think I will have it on camera that often (at least when using two flash setup). I won't worry about PC as my trigger is hot-shoe. I will worry about PC if I ever move to PW. So Mk1/Mk2 is not an issue to me.

2) Get a second 430EX and buy one more receiver. Overall, I would save more money with this setup.

Is extra cost for 580EX justifiable? Extra power is nice, but is not a particular need to me. However, this is only when i'm using bare flash. I'm not sure if this will change once I start using an umbrella setup.

Thanks guys.

[MT Stringer]

Just a thought...

A Canon 540EZ would be more powerful than the 430EX, a lot cheaper, offer manual down to 128th power, bounce, swivel, manual zoom, etc.

I use 2 of them remotely fired by Skyports. Of course, they are set on manual with settings such as 1/4 power and zoom set at 50mm.

[itzjere]

Thanks for the suggestion MT. I will look into that.

A friend of mine brought to my attention that Radio Poppers has been FCC approved and should be released this quarter. Wireless ETTL is very appealing to me. If I plan for buying the Radio Popper P1, then I will want the 580EX to be able to use ratios off camera.

MT, how do you like your skyports? I've read about them from their website, but that's about it.

[MT Stringer]

I've used them for three basketball games, Christmas program at the church, and Christmas pics at home for a total of about 1000 fires with no misfires. And that includes firing from the end of the gym. Here's a test shot I tried.
Mike

[itzjere]

Thanks MT for the info! I will look into it!

[fastdiablo]

that's awesome mike! those are just your EZ's? cool...

[MT Stringer]

fastdiable, here is a link in the Sports section of my flash setup and a few pics of the game.
http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=445318&highlight=basketball

If I get a chance to shoot again this week, I'm going to try bouncing them off the high ceiling.
Mike