Just bought my first strobe...did I screw up?

I just bought this starter kit for basic portraits . I plan on using it with my 20D and 420EX. I understand this is a low powered unit, but do you think this will work for portraits? Use it as fill or main light? What kind of distance will this throw some decent light?

I know that many of you will say to buy alien bees, but for the sake of my question (and budget) let's take that out of the equation for now.

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Fascinating... That's the unit tha Interfit sell in the UK as the EX150....

Total bargain for what you paid... The bayonet fit is almost an elinchrom... It will accept most elinchrom speedrings but not the high quality Elinchrom reflectors...

Baz

Nice price for a starter/leaner kit. How do you plan to use it with the 420 EX? since the 420 has no manual control build in.

I don't think you will really be able to use the Speedlite (at least the 420EX) with the "studio" flash unit.

First of all, the 420EX has no manual mode. If it did, you could put the Speedlite and the camera into manual, avoiding the Speedlite's pre-flash and trigger the studio flash unit at the same time as the Speedlite. With the Speedlite and camera in total manual exposure mode, you can then meter the light from the combination with a handheld flash meter and adjust the camera's exposure settings properly. However, since the 420EX has no manual mode, you can't do this.

If you can't get the 420EX to emit only one flash (no pre-flash, that is), you won't be able to sync the studio flash unit to the main flash from the 420EX unless you use an outboard slave such as a Wein Digital Peanut.

If the 420EX is connected to the camera and operating in auto exposure mode (ETTL), you could get the studio flash to sync properly with the main flash using the Wein Digital Peanut. However, there is an additional problem. The camera and 420EX communicate to determine the exposure settings. The 420EX emits a pre-flash which is then analysed and settings are made for the computer/flash combination. Then, the main flash occurs. The studio flash, with the Digital Peanut slave, goes off at the same time. The result is overexposure because the camera/420EX knew nothing about the existence of the studio flash.

By the way, I believe that your studio flash and the 420EX have about the same output light level.

Thanks for the replies.....I guess my questions just go to show how much I need to learn about flash photography!

Here is what I thought would happen with my 420 ex and the studio light hooked up at the same time:

I thought the 420 pre-flash would set off the strobe as well, thereby calculating both sets of lights levels and the camera would adjust the exposure accordingly. It does list a built in slave cell, which I thought to mean an optical slave, which would then flash when the 420ex pre-flashes, but maybe I am mistaken?

It is true that the slaved flash would trip on the pre-flash. However, it can't possibly recycle fast enough to also trip on the main flash from the 420EX. If the slaved flash was triggered by the pre-flash, it is then essentially dead when the main flash from the 420EX occurs.

...or more importantly when the shutter is open !

Good point. The shutter doesn't open until the main flash from the 420EX is about to occur (and stays open long enough to capture the light from it).

You can use FEL to work around the pre-flash/need to recharge problem. Pre-flash using FEL, hold that until the strobes have recharged, then fire.

If I buy this set up from B&H and I have the 550EX flash on my 20D, would the flash system work? I have never used the 550EX as a slave, but am thinking about getting a set up with soft-box for portraits, there is a great demand here. I can actually make some money on senior shots and children's portraits. I already have some equipment, but wanted to add a softbox.

Yes, but I'd strongly advise shooting in manual flash mode, either with a flash meter or with a static environment for which you've pre-determined you'll get the lighting you want. For dogs, I have a "portable" set-up using my ST-E2, 3 EX flashes, an umbrella and a few Photoflex reflectors, with an old 283/digital slave if needed for hair/backlight.

I've got the frame with backdrop (using old paint drop cloth in gray, nicely textured but placed far from subject), large reflector on stand. Set up by a really big window with nice sunlight coming through in the morning. I need the additional lights to put behind the subject for less shadow. The shots are all pretty warm, but nice. I will post some when I get it up again in my FR. The ceilings are about 9 feet and are white.