Nissin Di866 II flash vs canon

I saw this for the first time today and wondered how good they were. I currently have the 430ex flashes but feature more power sometimes and can't afford 580ex II. how well does the low light auto focus assist compare to canon? I like to use one on camera and 2 off camera on light stands st wedding receptions. Does this have the ability to turn the flash off and only use the af assist?

I have one and I think it works great. Never had any issues with AF-Assist at all.

I use three of them with ControlTL and they work well. Only problem is sometimes there is a curtain shadow. I've been working with Pocket Wizard to try to pin down the reason. Seems to have something to do with Rear Curtain sync settings.

The last couple of weddings I've not used the 580EXII on camera and everything seems to work the same.

Is the sub flash useful or a gimmick?

I've used one since june, got it instead of 580exII.

Couple of things:
@1/4th power, 5-10 shots in 3sec cycle and flash stops responding. Only solution is to turn it off and on.
Sometimes using it as master it doesn't control 430exII eventhough channels are right.

But for the prize I paid, it gives enough power for my needs.

@dmward: I've had similar problems if shooting 1/200s or faster. @1/160s or slower no problems.

entrefoto wrote in post #13105761
Is the sub flash useful or a gimmick?

I have a Nissin Di866,, great bloody flash..

The sub flash is not a gimmick and it works well when you use bounce flash.

One great feature the Nissin has is an apeture priority function which I prefer to use over TTL.

dmward wrote in post #13104278
I use three of them with ControlTL and they work well. Only problem is sometimes there is a curtain shadow. I've been working with Pocket Wizard to try to pin down the reason. Seems to have something to do with Rear Curtain sync settings.

The last couple of weddings I've not used the 580EXII on camera and everything seems to work the same.

Do you know if it's possible to use the Nissin and Canon speedlites with TTL at the same time with the flextt5/minitt1?

For example, Nissin set to group A and Canon set to group B.

The reason I ask is that I read somewhere that in the PW utility, you need to check the Nissin tab to have the PWs communicate with the Nissin.

I wonder if clicking the tab would somehow make the PWs not communicate with other brand flashes.

Why else have that tab there? Right?

I hope that I'm somewhat clear in what I'm asking.

nobodyspecial wrote in post #13111449
Do you know if it's possible to use the Nissin and Canon speedlites with TTL at the same time with the flextt5/minitt1?

For example, Nissin set to group A and Canon set to group B.

The reason I ask is that I read somewhere that in the PW utility, you need to check the Nissin tab to have the PWs communicate with the Nissin.

I wonder if clicking the tab would somehow make the PWs not communicate with other brand flashes.

Why else have that tab there? Right?

I hope that I'm somewhat clear in what I'm asking.

BUMP
Did you ever find this out? I'm thinking about getting a couple of these flashes but want to keep functionality with my 580exII and PWs. I really want to know if the 7D on-camera flash controls will remotely adjust these through the pocket wizards tt1/5?

whiteoak wrote in post #13322672
BUMP
Did you ever find this out? I'm thinking about getting a couple of these flashes but want to keep functionality with my 580exII and PWs. I really want to know if the 7D on-camera flash controls will remotely adjust these through the pocket wizards tt1/5?

Double-bump. I was told by pocket wizard's customer service that flashes other than Canon will not work with the mini TT1/FlexTT5 for Canon. This really irritates me because I bought a Sigma EF610 DG Super for the wireless capability only to find out that the line of sight thing is a real weak point. So I thought PWs would work and found people complaining about the Sigma not working.

Now if this Nissin can do E-TTL and HSS through the pocketwizards, I'm selling my sigma and buying these. But if not I'm gonna have to buy 580 EXIIs.

I tried mine with the TT1/FlexTT5 and it seemed to work ok. I will try it again to make sure.

I was just at the photo expo in NYC and got to see the di866 in person.
I was looking into getting a new flash, but kind of discounted the Nissin. Then I got to see it in person, and play with it. I was sold. I left the show with one, at $150 less than the 580ex II. That's a big difference. It took me some playing around to get the wireless settings dialed in, but it's a good flash, easy to use, and so far, so good.

so you guys agree that it is an awesome flash at A 100 bucks savings? compared to the 580exII?

I'll update my post above with the only negative about this flash since getting it...
The recycle time is definitely slower than my Canon flashes. Sometimes I find myself 'waiting' for it.
Other than that, it works well.