what speedlite should i buy?

hello all, i shoot with a canon 50D and i want to buy a flash, which one do you guys suggest and why. i have never used one, so this will be my first time with it...... so a 430ex or a 580ex ?

What do you shoot? What are you looking to use the speedlite for?

The question is which one do you need? If you need the faster recycle time and more power of the 580ex then get it. If you don't know how much power you need or how fast of a recycle time you need, a 430exI will probably work for you.

i shoot portraits and family gatherings and random stuff ....my mistake i should have said that in my original post

The 430exII will probably be a good flash for your, but if you are of the "more, bigger, better, faster" group you might find yourself doubting it and wanting the 580exII. I bought the 430, and then the 580exII later. If you think you want the 580exII, get it in the first place.

i might go to B&H this week and try them both out and see which one works better for me, thank you all for the help

If you can afford it just go the 580exII. You then won't need to upgrade later.

I've got 2 - 430EXII's and 1 - 580EXII. I use the 580 when doing wireless, I use the 430 when not wireless if I don't need the power, they feel nicer to work with on camera because they are lighter weight.

Will a 430ex be powerful enough to shoot through a softbox for portraits?

Johnnyk_1 wrote in post #11669902
Will a 430ex be powerful enough to shoot through a softbox for portraits?

yes..

Johnnyk_1 wrote in post #11669902
Will a 430ex be powerful enough to shoot through a softbox for portraits?

For the most part yes.
I used it last night with an Elinchrom 27X27 gridded softbox (which is going to kill some of the light) powered at about 1/4 about 3 feet away. I've also used it with 46" softlighter.

Johnnyk_1 wrote in post #11669902
Will a 430ex be powerful enough to shoot through a softbox for portraits?

Kind of impossible to answer because we don't know what you are lighting and the ambient conditions, which all have an effect, but you can do okay with a small softbox lighting one person up close.

If you've never owned a flash, Id get the 430 first. I had it before I upgraded to the 580 but I've been doing mostly strobes so I probably would have been fine with just having the 430 for on camera flash.

L.J.G. wrote in post #11668010
If you can afford it just go the 580exII. You then won't need to upgrade later.

that's what i did

580exii. And stick to Canon. Don't waste your time trying knockoffs. They're fine for your second, third, fourth speedlite..