Going to buy some flash kit shortly, advice needed

Hi folks,

I'm getting a bonus later this month and have decided it's about time I bought some flash equipment. I've never used a flash before (other than on-camera) so please bear with me...

I'm considering the 580exII as my main flash. I know it's expensive but it has e-ttl and all that wizardry so if I decide to keep the flash on camera (which I will do occasionally) then it'll be nice to have a semi-auto mode where the flash does some of the hard work for me.

I really want to take the flash off camera so I'm going to try the ebay/cactus triggers. Do I need the 4 or 16 channel version? I assume the 4 channel ones.

My local camera shop have some second-hand flashes in the window for sale. There are some cheap Sigma ones (£29 and £49) which don't instil me with much confidence, but they also have some Nikon flashes: SB24 (£69) and SB28 (£89).

Would the Nikon flashes be a good buy, or should I go for a brand new Vivitar? The secondary flash would probably be used off camera but would it be useful if I used it on camera (eg if I wanted to lend someone my other camera). Finally, will the second flash fire automatically as soon as it detects the first one go off?

Now all I have to do is work out where to buy the light stands, clamps and everything else

The 580EXII is a heck of a flash, but. . . the main difference between it and its cheaper sibling, is power, so it may be worth looking into getting the 430EX and a couple of cheap old flashes you can set manually and trigger with cactus triggers for when you want to go off camera.

To take the flash off camera, and use it in ETTL, you'll need to invest in an STE-E2, or off-camera cord. To fire the second flash off camera (though manual), all you'll need is an optical slave hotshoe (less than a tenner on eBay - http://cgi.ebay.co.uk …9&_trksid=p3286​.m63.l1177 )

Jo,

Will you be using this setup primarily outside? or indoors??

The cactus triggers are cost effective but may try your patience due to misfires. If your intolerant to misfires you will not want to go that route.

I posted something a while ago that may interest you.

https://photography-on-the.net …=543556&highlig​ht=sb-80dx

Even though I now have AB cybersyncs I am just still playing with what I have without them. I purchased the Nikon's for off shoe units but I discovered I could use my 580EXII in E-TTL to trigger them (nikons in M).

I'd suggest buying a 580EXII due to master capabilities unlike the 430EX. This way you'll have alot of power using on shoe E-TTL OR can be used as if you had an STE-E2. You can disable the flash head on the 580EXII and fire your other off shoe units using canon's wireless system.

goatee wrote in post #6043206
The 580EXII is a heck of a flash, but. . . the main difference between it and its cheaper sibling, is power, so it may be worth looking into getting the 430EX and a couple of cheap old flashes you can set manually and trigger with cactus triggers for when you want to go off camera.

To take the flash off camera, and use it in ETTL, you'll need to invest in an STE-E2, or off-camera cord. To fire the second flash off camera (though manual), all you'll need is an optical slave hotshoe (less than a tenner on eBay - http://cgi.ebay.co.uk …9&_trksid=p3286​.m63.l1177 )

+1 on that suggestion. I would go for a 430ex and an e-ttl cord and use the extra money to buy a couple of sunpak 422's or similar cheap flashes to slave with some cheap optical triggers. That way you can go off camera and still have full e-ttl but you can experiment with studio type lighting, light boxes etc.

Cheers

Thanks for the suggestions, guys. I had to read each of your replies several times because I'm still getting to grips with the terminology...

Well, bad news re: the bonus, it may not come til October now. I might just buy one of the Nikon flashes and get some cactus triggers and see how I go, then add a Canon flash to it once the bonus comes. Still not sure whether to go for the 580 or the 430 but I can decide later I guess.

So would I be ok with an SB-24 and cactus triggers? Is there anything else I need, aside from a lightstand, brolly and clamp? Also could I use the Sb-24 on the hotshoe if I wanted to?

My poor head hurts

To use the SB24 on the hotshoe, you'd have to tape the contacts on the bottom of the flash, and it would be manual.

But, yes, the SB24 and some cactus triggers would do you nicely. Since it is all so new to you, I strongly suggest you read Strobist on how to make the most of the setup. Depending on how much the flashes cost you, you may even be better off with old Vivitar flashes.

goatee wrote in post #6049572
To use the SB24 on the hotshoe, you'd have to tape the contacts on the bottom of the flash, and it would be manual.

The SB-24 has been measured and tested quite a bit and it's trigger voltage is less than 6 volts so it's digital camera safe. I use a couple of different Dine (sunpak) and regular sunpaks with Nikon modules on my 20d hotshoe and they fire fine, but like you said, no ttl. It's odd that some of the older ttl modules for Nikon WON"T fire on new Nikon digital slrs. You may be able to actually get some (3) auto modes just by using the sensor on the flash. however, that's a far cry from ttl or e-ttl. The problem with the sb-24 is that it's fetching high prices !! Pick up some vivitars or some sunpaks. Good luck hunting.

Cheers