External battery pack ?

[QX56]

Does any one here order this power pack from jacob for 580EX or 580 EX II ?

http://www.aljacobs.com/THE%20BLACK%20BOX.htm

How many shot it last ?

[ronosmena]

Wow never heard of this before..

[Dermit]

Yes, I have two of these and use one for my 580EX II and one on my 580EX. I'm not sure the exact count but I would say they are good for right around 1,000 shots of fairly high power. I did a wedding this past Friday and took well over 2,000 shots. My one 580 that was off camera which I use as my main needed new power source (switched in some AAs) before the end, but the one on camera was good for the whole days shoot. But i was using that off camera main in full power mode at the reception for a lot of shots so it was no surprise when it ran low. And this was the first time I have used the black boxes where i ran low. I've been using them for a little over a year now and love them, and Al is a pleasure to work with. I highly recommend these battery packs.

[turbodude]

please remember these are just BATTERY packs... not hi voltage. you will not see any improvement in recycle rates.

[QX56]

Thanks all for the info .

[tim]

Wow never heard of this before..

They've been discussed extensively here in the past month, and a dozen times at least in recent memory. Al Jacobs batteries are simple but good quality and reliable.

please remember these are just BATTERY packs... not hi voltage. you will not see any improvement in recycle rates.

My Sunpak flashes recharge time went from 8s to 3s when I changed from 4xAA batteries to one sealed lead acid battery. One reason is the voltage is high, 6V with the SLA vs 4.8V from the AA cells. Another reason is the SLA battery can deliver WAY more current. I don't know about the 580EX though.

[turbodude]

please refer to the OPs post. its for a 580ex. al jacobs himself says it will not recycle faster...

[tim]

please refer to the OPs post. its for a 580ex. al jacobs himself says it will not recycle faster...

Ok, I don't have experience with SLA bats on the 580, just the Sunpak, but that flash does recharge a lot faster. The CP-E3/CP-E3 works great on a 580, drops recharge from 6s to 2s (give or take).

[NVcameraman]

I have used his smaller Tuxedo pack many times and love it. I have had it set up on a550ex and or a 580ex remote stobes set up in the stands shooting basketball, volley ball, and wrestling. I shot 3 games doing the freshman, junior varsity, and then the Varsity basketball games doing about 600 shots at 1/8 power and it didnt even bother it one bit. I have also used to to take about 100 group and team shots with a 580ex on a strobeframe set at full power. I would imagine that the Black Box would give you a lot more as it is a bigger battery pack.

[Dermit]

I use the black box on my two 580s all the time. True, these will not give you faster cycle times. But they will retain the cycle time of a fresh set of AAs for around 1,000 shots.