580 EX...Should I?

OK. Been hearing quite a bit of good stuff about this coupled with the 1D Mark II. Now, before I actually pull the trigger, I am going to ask you, the people I have come to truly trust. I would keep my 550 EX of course. I have heard it handles reflective surfaces, an example being the reflexite on Firefighting equipment, quite well. Thus, a good reason for me to add it to the so called arsenal.

Well My Friends, Should I? Thanks In Advance.

If you have a camera worth that much money you might as well have the best flash for it.

I was initially cynical.... would the 580 be *that* much of an upgrade over the 550

Having looked at the specs... wow! .... if you're serious about flash photography with a digital SLR... go for it. (I reserve the right to be hugely jealous though )

Seems like an additional flash would be good, then your 10D and 1D don't have to share

The bulk, if not all, of the logci involved in getting a good exposure from the flash is built into the camera. So, there is nothing that the 580EX can do that the 550EX or any other EX flash can't do as well when it comes to lighting a scene. Obviously, the 580EX is going to have a stronger output than the other EX flashes but I dont think that will have any bearing on the handling of the reflective surfaces. What makes the handling of the reflective surfaces better on the 1DmkII is the ETTL-II which, as I said earlier, is built into the camera.

I thought about the 580 for a long time, but ended up ordering the Metz 54mz 4. Before you buy the 580 you might want to check out the Metz with the Canon foot. You can get one at B&H for $350.00. Reasons for the Metz: It has the wink fill flash; it works with the Canon Ettl; and you can set it to auto, which you can't do with the 580. Will Crockett highly recommentds this flash. You might want to check out this link:http://www.shootsmarte​r.com/infocenter/wc031​.htm. However, you may have to register first before you can get to this link.
Bill F

The metering on the EOS 1-D Mark II uses ETTL II and this is what is on the 580 EX
, so there it is get the 580 , if you want the metering on the EOS 1-D Mark II to work
as it was designed by Canon , you can use this flash unit on the EOS 10D as well .

I second PacAce's opinion. Buy the 580 if you need a stronger flash or a second flash, otherwise stay with the 550. ETTL-II will work as intended with the 550EX.

All EX flashes will work in ETTL-II mode with the 1DmkII. It's not just limited to the 580EX. The 580EX does NOT have ETTL-II logic built into it. ETTL and ETTL-II is a function of the camera bodies, not the flash models. If anybody is going to buy the 580EX because of its ETTL-II capability, then they're buying it for the wrong reason. Buy the 580EX because it's more powerful than the 550EX. Buy it because it's smaller and lighter than the 550EX. Buy it because it re-charges faster than the 550EX. But don't buy it because somebody is telling you that the 580EX has ETTL-II because it doesn't. The 580EX is compatible with both ETTL and ETTL-II.


[Edit: Oops. Didn't see Quinn Porters post ahead of mine. Anyway, thanks for the support, Quinn. ]

I don't see how the 580 would "handle" a reflective surface any better than any other flash. Light is light and if it hits the right object the right way it's going to reflect. I suspect that this "feature" of the 580 is likely to be an urban myth of some kind.

The 580 will zoom its head to cover the effective focal length of the lens being used rather than the actual focal length. This takes in the 1.3 conversion of your 1D Mark II, or the 1.6 conversion of my 20D.

So what.

We both have lots of power with the 550 and the only time that there's likely to be a power concern is when we are using the flash at its absolute limit. And then we can use the manual zoom feature to narrow the beam if we want too. This widen/narrow feature is right up there with the flash going to sleep to conserve battery power. It's nice if the flash has it, it has its use, but I'd pay nothing extra for it.

Hey the 580 is a good flash. The poster that suggested buying it for its size, power and so forth is right. But except for the fact that it's a new toy, it's not much different from the 550. My bet is that you won't see any difference in the flash work that you are doing now and after to got a 580.

If I was you (here we go eh?) I'd buy a 420EX and would start to mess around with the wireless flash system. It'd be a lot cheaper and would actually affect your images, something that won't happen with the 580.