NOT happy with my 430 EXII's regen time!

I was shooting a small party last week in a VFW hall. The hall had a low ceiling, and I was bouncing my 430 off the ceiling. The pics look fine, but I probably missed a good 12 shots throughout the night because my flash didn't go off. I used 3 sets of new rechargable batteries that I changed after using for 60 minutes each set. i took about 600 pics, so say an average of 200 per set of batteries. Also, I had it fail to charge enough after only 5-10 minutes off shooting, too, and I wasn't shooting a burst, but then it would fire off 4-5 pretty quick shots with the flash working fine. It just seems that it's erratic in it's recharge time. Is this normal for this flash? Is the 580 or 600 better with recharge times?

Thanks! I hope I explained it good enough.

~Ace

Just curious, were you using E-TTL?

Twelve missed shots out of 600 doesn't sound too bad. To make the best out of recycle times, I'd go to at least 800 ISO. I shoot my speed lights in manual, and try to keep them at quarter power for events so the batteries can keep up.

What was your iso and aperture? It sounds like it was firing full pop esch shot.

Ah ha! Good call, guys! I was shooting at 1/180 & 400 ISO and +3 in my camera/flash settings. So I should shoot a higher ISO, like 800, and drop my flash comp to 0 or so? Or shoot manual? I don't use my flash all that much, so I didn't trust playing around in manual.

Dont adjust the FEC to preserve power but to make sure the exposure is right. But raising the iso would make a full power shot need only half the power. Half the power means shorter recycle time. The 430exII is a great flash but it can be taxed shooting that way. With the 6D you can go to ISO1600 and you get the benefit of lighter backgounds as well as less power consumption.

Freakin' sweet, thanks!!! I should've figured that out I've taken shots at 25k ISO that were usable, so I know about it's capabilities, but never thought about that with using the flash.

Thanks again!!!!

ISO 1600 with a 5DII and bounce flash. The ceiling was 20ft high and gray weathered wood. No problems with recycle time all night. http://kevin-jones.smugmug.com …zvgN/0/XL/IMG_9​111-XL.jpg

Yea man. You have a 6D. ISO 3200 and shoot all you want on one set of batteries.