Looking For Battery Pack For Flash

I'm looking to buy a batter pack to power my 580 flash and was wondering if anyone have experience using Canon's battery packs.

What's a better pack for the buck, and why?

CP-E4 or CP-E2

Check out Al Jacob's black box. Haven't used anything but a pack similar to Jacob's box, so I can't give much good advice.

I have a CP-E3 for my 580EX, and a home made battery pack for my Sunpak 383s. Both work, but the Canon is tidier and easier, and faster to boot. Get the CP-E4 not the CP-E2 IMHO.

I have the cp-e4 and find it exclellent, keeps the weatherproofing of the 580exII and the Mk3 also.

I picked a Quantum 1+ unit. I'll let you know how it goes when it comes in.

I use the CP-E2 and CP-E3 for shooting bike races (approx. 400 to 700 photos / race) and can highly recommend the either for fast recycle and ease of use. Both have a case that can be attached to a belt and the connection is truly plug-n-play. I really like that you do not have to modify the battery door with either the E2, E3 or E4 packs.

I will change the batteries out in the E2 after 300 shots for my piece of mind, but when I have forgotten the recycle time does not seem to suffer much.

I will carry two sets of freshly charged rechargeable AA's in my pack and have never drained both sets. The E2 uses 6 batteries while the E4 uses 8, and it seems that the E4 will last a little longer. The only difference between the E3 and the E4 is the weather sealing (only with the 580EX II), so the E3 may be a better bargain if you do not need the protection but want the most number of flashes.

You will have to watch that you do not overheat the flash tube assembly, as you can fire a lot of flashes very quickly.

I would highly recommend either pack when you are shooting a lot of photos with flash and need a shorter recycle time.

Regards
Rick

DDCSD wrote in post #5670811
Check out Al Jacob's black box. Haven't used anything but a pack similar to Jacob's box, so I can't give much good advice.

I will second Al Jacob's battery. I use his smaller version called the tuxedo and love it and the price is way better than anything eles out there.

The Al Jacobs battery is just a sealed lead acid cell in a nice case, all done for you. It's worth it if you value your time over money, or want something closer to a finished product. I did it myself because shipping to NZ was a pain, it took a bit of time.

tim wrote in post #5674698
The Al Jacobs battery is just a sealed lead acid cell in a nice case, all done for you. It's worth it if you value your time over money, or want something closer to a finished product. I did it myself because shipping to NZ was a pain, it took a bit of time.

Tim, that kinda like saying that the CP-E4 is an 8-AA-battery holder, in a nice case, with cable, all done for you.

Rudi wrote in post #5678846
Tim, that kinda like saying that the CP-E4 is an 8-AA-battery holder, in a nice case, with cable, all done for you.

Actually, a CP-E4 would be very difficult to reproduce without very good electronics knowledge, at great expense and a lot of engineering. There are PCB's and the voltage is upped internally in the unit.

The black box is simply a battery with connectors, a fuse and a switch all in a nice clean box. Realistically, you don't even need to be able to solder to make one, although it might not look as good as the one's that Al makes.

Yeah the CP-E3/4 is a high voltage pack, there's a voltage multiplier in the unit. The black box is just a battery, but I was suprised how effective my SLA battery is with my 383's - recharge time drops from 12s to 3s.

I'm still to do my 383 conversion. I'll do one at a time, in case I'm not happy with the conversion, but I don't expect that to be the case.

How does the recycle time compare between the BlackBox and the CP-E4? Does the charge in both of them last about the same time considering shooting in the same conditions?

I can't directly compare SLA bats and the CP-E4 as I use them on different flashes. What I do know is with the CP-E3 the 580 recharge time drops from about 7-8s to 2-3s, and with the SLA bat the Sunpak 383 recharge time drops from 12s to 3s.

My homemade SLA pack recharged fast enough to fry a PCB path in one of my 540EZ's from over-use. Little over 2 seconds for a full pop, about 7-8 in a row and "poof"! Be careful!

Me not so smart.