Ok, so help me before I waste my money.

Alright people, I am considernig buying one of these kits from MPEX, that comes with:

Includes:
1 - Vivitar 285HV Shoe Mount Flash
1 - 8ft. Air Cushioned Light Stand
1 - 15ft. PC to household Male cord
1 - Multi-Purpose Hot Shoe Deluxe
1 - Wein HSH Hotshoe to household adapter
1 - Westcott 43” Compact Umbrella - Soft Silver
1 - Rosco Pro Color Correction Gel Pack
1 - DIY Grid, Barndoor, Snoot kit
1 - CTA Ni-MH 2700mAh AA 4-pack Battery w/Rapid Charger
1 - Bongo Elastic Ties (10 pack)
1 - Umbrella Swivel
1 - Nano Gaffer Tape roll 1"x8yds

All for $239




NOW I already have a 420ex, so I guess I don't really need another flash. What do I need to get my 420ex off-camera?



I'm at work, so don't have flash here.
Thanks!

Jesse

jbrown7815 wrote in post #6006493
NOW I already have a 420ex, so I guess I don't really need another flash. What do I need to get my 420ex off-camera?

I don't think the 420 has a plug. I know the 430EX does not. There are hot shoe adapters that will take care of this, though. I believe the "Multi-Purpose Hot Shoe Deluxe" in that kit is one of them.

It should also be noted that the vivitar flash in that kit supposedly has the same light output as the 580, making it 1 or 2 stops brighter at full power than what your 420 can manage.

You may want to consider what I'm doing: keep the canon speedlight for on camera use and have a second flash setup using cheaper all manual speedlights like the vivitar on light stands with umbrellas/softboxes/wh​atever for off camera use.

krb wrote in post #6006807
I don't think the 420 has a plug. I know the 430EX does not. There are hot shoe adapters that will take care of this, though. I believe the "Multi-Purpose Hot Shoe Deluxe" in that kit is one of them.

It should also be noted that the vivitar flash in that kit supposedly has the same light output as the 580, making it 1 or 2 stops brighter at full power than what your 420 can manage.

You may want to consider what I'm doing: keep the canon speedlight for on camera use and have a second flash setup using cheaper all manual speedlights like the vivitar on light stands with umbrellas/softboxes/wh​atever for off camera use.

Yeah you are correct, 420ex doesn't have a plug.

Yeah I'm thinking I'm going to get that kit, along with the vivtar, for off camera stuff.

Only thing is, I wont be able to have the 420ex on camera, and the vivtar off camera, since I'll have no where to put the 420ex as the adapter will be on hotshoe?

Am I correct, or no?

jbrown7815 wrote in post #6006855
Yeah you are correct, 420ex doesn't have a plug.

Yeah I'm thinking I'm going to get that kit, along with the vivtar, for off camera stuff.

Only thing is, I wont be able to have the 420ex on camera, and the vivtar off camera, since I'll have no where to put the 420ex as the adapter will be on hotshoe?

Am I correct, or no?

Does your camera have a PC plug on the side? If so you can connect the off-camera flash to that and use the hotshoe for the 420.

There are other options too, like an optical trigger for the off-camera flash that will rtigger it when it sees light from the on-camera flash.

krb wrote in post #6006943
Does your camera have a PC plug on the side? If so you can connect the off-camera flash to that and use the hotshoe for the 420.

There are other options too, like an optical trigger for the off-camera flash that will rtigger it when it sees light from the on-camera flash.

No on PC plug [damn rebel xt]

And yeah, prolly will get the optical receiver also.

Sigh.

Soo many choices.

Does the 420EX have a manual mode? with adjustable output? I don't think so....

Pretty sure it has manual mode, not so sure about adjustable output...

This is it:

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jbrown7815 wrote in post #6007021
Pretty sure it has manual mode, not so sure about adjustable output...

No, it doesn't. The flash will always fire at full power when triggered off-camera.

PacAce wrote in post #6007042
No, it doesn't. The flash will always fire at full power when triggered off-camera.

Oh and the Vivitar can be adjusted?

Ok so I am def. getting the vivtar for off-camera

PacAce wrote in post #6007042
No, it doesn't. The flash will always fire at full power when triggered off-camera.

This is my understanding as well...

-Mario

Alright. Thanks for yalls help

Just to warn you, do some research on the vivitar 285hv. There are many people who have had problems with this flash blowing up (me being one of them). Look in to the sunpak 383 as a replacement for that unit.

Canon makes 2 accessories to get the flash off the camera body - a cord (OC-S2 I believe) and an ST-E2 which is infrared. Both of these will allow you to keep full ETTL-II if you so desire.

Sorry, OC-E3 is the cord: http://www.bhphotovide​o.com …C_E3_Off_Camera​_Shoe.html