The right Speedlite.

Looking into getting a few Speedlites for an indoor venue. Which Speedlite would any of you prefer that have enough power but also the best on the budget?

Preferably having remote capabilities for syncing flashes.

What is a good compromise between great light exposure but still keep from distracting the audience or others participating in the wedding?

That is a very open ended non-specific question you have posed...Kinda like, "I want to buy an economic car...should I get a turbo-4 or a normally aspirated 6, and how much is 'enough power'?"

Shooting in what kind of circumstance (type of event)
In how big of an area...how far will your light be from the subject(s)
Do you want remote light capability (flash on a light stand) with radio control?
Use with light modiers (or not)...some flashes have more variety of modifiers already on the market.

Provide much more information than a vague general question, and you'll get higher quality answers that are applicable to your circumstance, and not a bird shotgun pattern of replies

Wilt wrote in post #18313971
That is a very open ended non-specific question you have posed...Kinda like, "I want to buy an economic car...should I get a turbo-4 or a normally aspirated 6, and how much is 'enough power'?"

Shooting in what kind of circumstance (type of event)
In how big of an area...how far will your light be from the subject(s)
Do you want remote light capability (flash on a light stand) with radio control?
Use with light modiers (or not)...some flashes have more variety of modifiers already on the market.

Provide much more information than a vague general question, and you'll get higher quality answers that are applicable to your circumstance, and not a bird shotgun pattern of replies

I apologize as I am not very experienced with professional lighting setups. The lighting will be for a wedding. I'm not aware of the size of the venue at this moment although I am quite sure that I would like remote flashes.

What is a good compromise between good light exposure but still not distracting the audience or others participating in the wedding?

(updated initial question)

"What is a good compromise between good light exposure but still not distracting the audience or others participating in the wedding?"

Not having the flash on camera strait on and blinding your guests is the best way, as you may have discovered. Either bouncing an onboard flash, or using them off camera or both.

ANY speedlight that is reliable can do this job. ETTL compatible flashes will do it better WITH knowledge and experience and know your camera's metering and how flash is effected by it.

Some venues you can balance the flash and ambient, and other venues you have to use all flash as the ambient is so low.

The real problem you are going to run into is having the experience to use the flashes effectively. And that doesn't come with the 'buy these three speedlights' package.
You can't go out, buy a set of three speedilights and a trigger, plop them onto lightstands and switch everything to auto expect to get professional results.

There are two basic speedlight systems that are cost effective, and then there is the canon ecosystem that is expensive, but ultimately reliable

Godox makes a whole set of flashes/strobes that are compatible with one trigger style

Yongnuo also makes triggers and flashes that are nice and can integrate existing gear, but you really must do your homework to buy what you want.

you may want to spend some time reading at flashhavoc.com and their reviews.. and then you'll have to read thru posts here to get a feel for what might work best for you. But if this wedding is in a week, I think either hiring someone to do the job, or slapping one flash on the camera and at least getting exposed in focus shots is the way to go. I've been using flashes and strobes for years now, and while I'm better than uncle bob, I can't touch some of the really nice work the wedding pros do around here.

I believe that DURING the ceremony, whenever it is possible I want to shoot only with available light. Today's dSLR is magical in that regard, compared to trying to cover the same situation with ISO 400 color film!
Formals...set up the lighting, nobody is concerned about ruining the mood, everyone is happily chatting outside or waiting to be asked to come into the formal shots.

Reception...again, nobody really cares about flash or not, especially if you are bouncing light rather than aiming focused beams directly and stunning them.

ksbal hit is on the nose with his comment, "The real problem...is having the experience to use the flashes effectively." ETTL is somewhat magical in simplifying the use of flash; it is not so magical in its reliability in exposure...I far prefer the older film TTL flash units to any dSLR flash automation. ETTL simply decides to surprise you and fail you from one shot to the next...I can literally set up a camera and flash on tripod, NOT even move the camera yet the ETTL connection will be disrupted to ruin one shot out of six consecutive ones. So my preference is actually to rely upon old fashioned photosensor Auto mode on the flash itself, when ETTL gets pi*sy on me on a persistent manner yet I absolutely 'have to get' the shot and not deal with tempermental ETTL!

As for power, my preference is for something in the same power class as the Canon 580EXII (the 600EX is identical in power, it only differs in the 200mm FL setting!) and Metz 54 or 58. I have not used the Chinese/Korean alternatives to give my blessing, particularly with regards to long term durability. But certainly the cheap price allows you to buy two, throwing one away when it fails. (Where can you get one fixed?!)

Even if you get a flash, it can take months or year to learn to use really well in every situation. This is one reason some people call themselves "natural light" photographers.

On the other hand, point at a the wall and bounce is pretty easy, if you have a suitable wall.

I use bounce flash on camera, with 2 to 4 off camera lights on stands at the reception venue. Over the years I learned how to use TTL flash successfully and fortunately have been able to find a system that offers TTL lights ranging from speedlites to 500Ws.
I use different output lights depending on the venue.

In reality, since I want to keep some ambient light in the shot for atmosphere, Speedlites work in most instances.

That, of course, presumes you have a camera with reasonable ISO performance. I'm comfortable going up to 6400 with my A7RII cameras.

In my view, the key to good wedding coverage is to keep the lighting from looking obvious relative to the ambient. While making good use of the strobes to create some style.

Clicking on my website below and going to the "david does weddings" page will show you lots of examples.

I use these - YONGNUO 3pcs YN-560 IV Flash Speedlite With 560TX-C Transmitter for Canon with 3 light stands.
They work well and are good value and wont break the bank. They can be controled via the transmitter or you can pop one on the hotshoe and use it to controle the others. They are just manual so you need practice.
Then I have 2x Canon EX 580 ii for TTL bounce depending on what is going on.

Hope that gives you some ideas.

Well Im going to answer his question

Godox

Go buy Godox V860C for canon shooters and get an X1 trigger as well.

The are exact replicas of Canons 600' speedlights. Canon 600's costs $550.00...godox V860's cost $179.00 and do the exact same thing.....Except Godox is better. Godox TTL works better than canons TTL on the speedlights

Why ??

because you can use them like 600"s or you can use them with the X1 trigger off the camera and you can control 5 at the same time

additionally, you can incorporate any Godox strobe ( 600's, 360's and now the 200's ) into your mix and control everything with an X1 trigger or from a V860 at the camera hot shoe and you can shoot TTL or manual from any light with Godoxs' system

There is nothing better on the market

lastly, if you buy from adorama you can get a 2 yrs drop/break warranty on any light for $28.00...no body does this but adorama.

Im 100% done with canon speedlights. It cost me $145.00 to replace a flash tube with my platinim CPSwarranty on my 580EX11 speedlight......I bought 2 Adorama version V860's at the last black friday sale for $126.00 EA and got the adorama 2 yr warranty for $28.00 on Each light for the costs to fix a 3 yr old light that goes in every year to fix a flash tube that burns up from use.

So now you have your answer......buy Godox

umphotography wrote in post #18317396
Well Im going to answer his question

Godox

Go buy Godox V860C for canon shooters and get an X1 trigger as well.

The are exact replicas of Canons 600' speedlights. Canon 600's costs $550.00...godox V860's cost $179.00 and do the exact same thing.....Except Godox is better. Godox TTL works better than canons TTL on the speedlights

Why ??

because you can use them like 600"s or you can use them with the X1 trigger off the camera and you can control 5 at the same time

additionally, you can incorporate any Godox strobe ( 600's, 360's and now the 200's ) into your mix and control everything with an X1 trigger or from a V860 at the camera hot shoe and you can shoot TTL or manual from any light with Godoxs' system

There is nothing better on the market

lastly, if you buy from adorama you can get a 2 yrs drop/break warranty on any light for $28.00...no body does this but adorama.

Im 100% done with canon speedlights. It cost me $145.00 to replace a flash tube with my platinim CPSwarranty on my 580EX11 speedlight......I bought 2 Adorama version V860's at the last black friday sale for $126.00 EA and got the adorama 2 yr warranty for $28.00 on Each light for the costs to fix a 3 yr old light that goes in every year to fix a flash tube that burns up from use.

So now you have your answer......buy Godox

I got rid of Canon and YongNuo and bought Godox/Adorama lights. They are awesome and I haven't had any trouble with them.

I was trying to be more a generalist, but in reality I have to agree with the others. Godox, at the moment, owns the high ground for TTL/HSS and manual speedlites and monolights in terms of value, performance and system breadth. If one purchases from Cheetah Stand or Adorama there is also great warranty and repair service.

Bottom line for Godox lighting

If you live in the states

Buy from Cheetahstand

Buy from Mo-lite from Micael mowbrey

Buy from Adorama and take advantage of their 2 yr drop/break warranty--its a complete no brainer

Godox X1 trigger system is the best trigger system on the market

My budget speedlights are Yongnuo ones. I've had several different ones and I've never been let down by any of them.

Thanks for the all of the input from everyone! I went ahead an purchased a yongnuo 560 III and two yongnuo 560 IV with a 560-TX manual trigger to get into flash photography! These seemed like the best budget introduction to flashes. From what I've heard on here I'll be upgrading to the Godox flashes if I ever grow out of these!

I have a Godox. Great performance. 600 series, forget the exact number, think its a TT680., except it's badged as Neewer. It's THE SAME FLASH with a different name but same model number. Manuals are identical, just different name on the front. TTL is very good for the price, not perfect, but for £42.00 it was a saving of about £20.00 on the Godox branded one. In fact, Neewer do tons of rebaged speedlites, Godox, Yongnuo, Miele, and the new dual fit Nissin's (Canon and Nikon) as well. In fact, the Neewer was out before the Nissin, so it could be said the Nissin is a rebadged Neewer. So look at the many Godox guns on Amazon, then put Neewer and that Godox model number in the Amazon search box, and check the images and you'll see they're identical, apart from the name. Then enjoy the savings over the Godox name. Word of warning, not all Neewers are big name rebadged. There are two cheap ring flashes that fit on your lenses as well. The more expensive one of the two is also a Godox.