Should I pick up an add on flash for the 60D

Wanting to get some things ordered for our new camera before it gets here. Last thing I am curious about is a flash to use. We will be using the camera outdoors and for portrait shots with a Canon 18-200mm f/ 3.5-5.6 IS and a Canon 50mm f/ 1.8 II.

Would using a flash like the Yongnuo YN-560 Speedlight help the images? Or will it not really benefit us compared to no flash or the stock flash on the camera? I don't want to spend a ton on a flash right now after purchasing the camera so I figured this lens at about $70 was a good price range.

Thanks!

If you're doing portrait shots and you want to do anything other than "person stood in ambient light" you'll want a better flash than the onboard one, and ideally one you can use off camera too. If you are going the Yongnuo route I'd suggest pushing your budget to get the 565EX if you can, that will do ETTL (automatic flash exposure) on and off camera with your 60D.

The only time I don't use my flashes are when they are prohibited in that venue. IMHO flash is a must have in your kit. OUtdoor, flash can play a huge role in your portraits. Find shade and use a flash. The images will look great. Just putting the camera in P mode outside with a flash will give you some really good images. Here's some examples.

http://www.youtube.com …U08L1vhOlyrY4z1​x3AAaZQ%3D

A speedlite will help your images very often. I love the Canon 430EX and use it wirelessly with my 60D all the time. Pop-up wireless control works great over the ranges specified by Canon.

565ex is a little more than what I want to spend.... and it seems to have a very high failure rate for some reason. I am looking at either the 468 II or the 560. Which of these would you suggest? The 468 II is about $35 more than the 560.

Im still very new to all of this... so does the 560 just attach to the hot shoe and fire when the camera is taking the picture or is there more to it since it is not ettl?

Ratjack wrote in post #14318910
565ex is a little more than what I want to spend.... and it seems to have a very high failure rate for some reason. I am looking at either the 468 II or the 560. Which of these would you suggest? The 468 II is about $35 more than the 560.

Im still very new to all of this... so does the 560 just attach to the hot shoe and fire when the camera is taking the picture or is there more to it since it is not ettl?

All the Yongnuos use the same bits internally (the same bits that fail anyway), so you have the same lottery no matter which one you buy. There are quite a few issues, but also plenty of people that have run them for years - just get one with a warranty if you get one.

The 560 won't suit what you want to use it for I don't think - it's manual only and really designed for off camera "strobist" use (it has a built in dumb optical trigger). You'll can use it on camera to trigger it, but you have to manually set all the flash power on the flash itself, there's nothing automatic about it.

The 468 II will allow you to do ETTL on camera (so you can let the camera set power automatically), and has a dumb optical trigger like the 560 so you can use it off camera in manual only mode.

The 565ex has on and off camera ETTL so you can let the camera set the power whether it's on or off the camera, or set the power levels of the flash from the camera remotely.

And to confuse matters even more, they're bringing one out that does off camera ETTL, but manual only when on camera, that's the EX600.

Confused yet?

extremely confused lol. This decision is worse than picking out a lens -_- . Would be nice to have unlimited disposable income right about now...

Just curious for the sake of me knowing everything I need to know of an educated purchase What about the 560 would not work? I dont really mind the fact it would all be manual ( I dont think anyways...).

If I did up my budget and then compared the sigma EF-610 DG ST ($180) and the Nissin Speedlite Di 622 Mark II ($196). Which would be the better one to go with? I am not entirely sure that the ef-610 has ETTL... but I cannot find any information saying it does.

Ratjack wrote in post #14319102
extremely confused lol. This decision is worse than picking out a lens -_- . Would be nice to have unlimited disposable income right about now...

Just curious for the sake of me knowing everything I need to know of an educated purchase What about the 560 would not work? I dont really mind the fact it would all be manual ( I dont think anyways...).

If you're new to flash then you probably don't want a fully manual flash. There's a lot to learn for flash photography, and *having* to do everything manually will be very much trial and error - while you're adjusting power and chimping to check exposure your poor subject is being blinded by flash after flash :-p

I wouldn't buy a flash that didn't have manual settings, but there's definitely a place for setting shutter speed, aperture and (possibly) FEC and letting ETTL handle the flash output for you

Hey, good vid to pass around - cheers ~

CxThree wrote in post #14318327
.... IMHO flash is a must have in your kit. OUtdoor, flash can play a huge role in your portraits. Find shade and use a flash. The images will look great. Just putting the camera in P mode outside with a flash will give you some really good images. Here's some examples.

http://www.youtube.com …U08L1vhOlyrY4z1​x3AAaZQ%3D

I went ahead and just purchased a 430ex II. Figured I should just invest a little bit more to ensure im happy with it.

Ratjack wrote in post #14324736
I went ahead and just purchased a 430ex II. Figured I should just invest a little bit more to ensure im happy with it.

Waaaay over your budget, but a nice flash

SJRobbins wrote in post #14324863
Waaaay over your budget, but a nice flash

Well.... I just figure it seemed like to get something worthwhile it would be around 150-200... and I would kick myself if I regretted not spending a little more for it.

I appreciate all of your help on this. THANK YOU!!!

You'll like the 430. I have two of them. Good flashes. Solid and dependable.

To clarify a bit:

ETTL is the term for "Let the camera figure out how bright to make the flash." It works like this:
1) As you press the shutter button, the camera meters the scene.
2) The flash fires a very low-power "test shot" pre-flash, and the camera meters how the scene changes based on that test shot.
3) The camera compares the exposures in the no-flash and pre-flash shots, and determines how much the flash affects the scene.
4) The camera decides how powerful to make the flash in order to get an overall "correct" exposure
5) The camera takes the real photo with the flash firing at the level it computed in steps 1-4.

All of this happens in a teeny tiny fraction of a second. You never see the pre-flash fire because it all happens so magically fast.

With the pop-up flash, you kinda take it ETTL for granted.. you never even know it's working, because it's working all the time, to make average exposures all the time. Same thing with a ETTL-enabled hotshoe flash - it just magically works (well, most of the time) unless you tell it otherwise. By using a combination of exposure compensation (EC), and flash exposure compensation (FEC) you can tell the camera to adjust the exposure without the flash, and also tell the camera, in very general terms, how much more you want to add with the flash. If you leave both set to 0, the camera and flash will try to make an average exposure every time - which is sometimes good, sometimes bad. So learn to use EC and FEC to make better-than-average exposures.

However, when you attach a flash to the hotshoe, if it doesn't have ETTL, then it'll be up to you to figure out how powerful to make the flash for each and every shot. This isn't really feasible for a novice, and it's not really fun for even an experienced person who's just walking around doing snapshots. So ETTL is kinda a must-have for a first/only hotshoe flash, or a walkabout flash where you don't want to have to futz with the flash power for every shot.

The 430EXII is a great choice. I use it as my primary flash, and I have two YN560s that I use as slave flashes for studio work. Non-ETTL flashes have their place, for sure, but I wouldn't recommend one as a first flash.

Couple of other notes:
- For most shots, don't bother with a plastic stick-on flash diffuser. It doesn't make the light "softer," it just redirects the light. If you're indoors in a small room with white walls, it'll work great since it will light up the whole room - otherwise, it's just wasting your batteries.
- You can rotate and angle the flash head for "bounce " flash. Experiment with this, learn to use it to your advantage. It can make the difference between a deer-in-the-headlights snapshot, and pleasing side-light or evenly-lit portrait.
- I got distracted and forgot the third thing I was going to say here.