580EXII and camera burst question.

Hey guys, I'd like to know something. I'm not new to using flash, but I'm new bursting with it.

All along, I've been shooting with my 400D which does max 3fps. So when in E-TTL mode, the 580EXII does great in providing about 3 shots per sec in a normal to low-light environment (no technical power output details here, but 1/60 f/2.8 ISO800 was giving a good exposure, so I shot at 1/125 f/2.8 iso 800).

Then 2 days ago, I was shooting an event with a 2-cam setup, 400D + 30D, and 2 580EXIIs. I realised that the 30D's 5fps made the flash struggle, and out of 5 shots, the flash only fired 3 times and the 3rd shot was underexposed. I know this is a limitation to my 580EXII running on 4x2000mah Sanyo Enelope / Powerex Imedions AA batts.

So here's my question: Is there a way that my 580EXII can fire off during all 5 shots? Would 2700mah batts do? How about those battery pack additions (wired, mounted on your belt)?

Cheers guys, hope to find out more!
Zexun

You can add power packs but keep in mind that there's a limit to how much you can get the flash to fire off in rapid succession before you blow it up... there are quite a few good power packs out there for the flash - no experience beyond reading about them on here, though, I'm sure someone with experience will chime in. CP-E4 for the 580, from memory?

Thanks for the prompt reply! Yeah, I'll have to watch out for burning off my 580EXII's flash head, but all I want is to have 5-6 flashes that give good exposure in situations like that. I'm getting a 50D (or 40D if rumors turn out to be just that) and I'd really appreciate it for shooting events.

Use higher ISO, so the flash has to put out less light...

René Damkot wrote in post #6173255
Use higher ISO, so the flash has to put out less light...

+1 I agree.

Alright, that actually seems true to me. Can't believe I didn't think of that haha.. Thanks, I'll use ISO1600 and up next time around on a better camera body.

But while we're on the topic of the CP-E4 and stuff, are those things valuable to have around? I know I definitely can afford it (and the batteries) if I need / want it, and I do lots of flash photography in events (my last 7hr shoot brought back about 2k shots, filtered down to 1.5k due to inconsistent flash exposure / shutter exposure / focus consistencies) so that's quite a lot of shots.

If you're using a flash this much, definately look into an external pack
www.aljacobs.com is another popular option, but this one isn't really for speed as much as just a lot of power to take a lot of shots, but it does recharge the flash quicker than just 4 batteries