Canon 580EX Sppedlights instead of Studio Light

Hi All

I am considering buying two or more Canon Speedlight 580EX instead of a studio lighting strobe kit(250 to 400 Watt specs). I will be using a Canon 20D and with the wireless automatic flash feature seems like a fool proof way of getting a nice portable mini studio system.

I will be doing a variety of work from Macro, Still Life, and Fashion.

From a power point of view, is this good enough. The cost of a reasonable lighting kit, with softboxes, umbrellas and stands is about the same.

Would an umbrella be useful for the 580EX?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

Regards
Gary

I've done that and these are my suggestions.

1. Just buy one 580EX for ETTL2 with your 20D, and let the rest be the cheaper 550EX flashes...no need to waste extra money you won't benefit from.

2. You want to use either softboxes or umbrellas with the 580/550 flashes to help soften the shadows.
3. Use either a battery pack or the 15 min rechargable rayovac batteries

4. You can either use a lightmeter for exact control, or simply rely on ETTL2 and adjust the ratios as needed for quick and simple set ups.

5. If you want to take a photo every 1.5 seconds, you'll need a battery pack, otherwise you'll be waiting about 5-8 seconds for the flash to recharge..unlike more powerful strobes.
6. Pass on the ST-E2, just get another flash

7. You will still sometimes need a bounce or continuous lights for hair light and things like that for certain lighting situations.
8. The main advantage is portability and ETTL2 over strobes.

Below is a sample of what can be achieved using canon 580/550 flashes

A couple of thisngs that you have to consider, is lack of modeling lights, diffaculty in finding modifiers, re-cycle times, and when takling about portibility, after adding stands and modifiers are you really that much more portable than a standard mono light setup? With the lack of modeling lightrs you will never "see" what your flashes are going to do untill you fire them. With a modeling light, you can set you lights up so that you know where your shadows will fall. You have mush faster recycle times

Dan

While you can get great results with 580 or 550 flashes...they are very powerfull actually...and they are small/lightweight.

If your intention is for studio shots....I would still get the monolights.

I paid $650 Cdn for my 580....I'd pay at least $375 Cdn for an extra 550...

I paid a grand total of $800 for my studio lighting kit..consisting of 2 Flashpoint 660 lights, two 24x36" softboxes and two 10 foot lightstands.

So to me, with a set budget, I would get the studio lights.

Lastly, while it is technically possible to change the flashbulb in a 580/550...it's not an easy endeavor and you can destroy the flash by doing so....monolights have a simple, pull out - plug in flash bulb.

sean
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http://www.seanmclennan.com

With the lack of modeling lightrs you will never "see" what

DanWhite said:

your flashes are going to do untill you fire them. With a modeling
light, you can set you lights up so that you know where your
shadows will fall.

Click to expand...

The 580 has modeling lights and if you want that 1.5 sec recycle time, you do need to buy a battery pack for it. The canon 580EX system is not the cheapest way to set up a studio by any means. Canon is making you pay for their ETTL2 technology. In the end that is what you are really paying for and ease of use.

Thanks for all the suggestions,

I think I will get some studio lights as well and get the cheapest slave flash that I can get to get those "portable" shots.

Thanks

Gary Donin said:

...with the wireless automatic flash feature
seems like a fool proof way of getting a nice portable mini studio
system.

Click to expand...

The automatic features of this systems are completly useless in this conext and may even result in bad results.

Things you will miss are...

• Decent recycling times
• Price (monolights/compacts are cheaper than a 580EX)
• Flash power when using interesting light modifiers (softboxes, honeycombs etc.)
• Modeling light (the so-called "modeling light" of the 580EX is a joke)
• Battery-dependency. You will spend a lot of addtinal money on good rechargeable batteries. With compacts/monolight, you have unlimited power available.

Gary Donin said:

Any help would be appreciated.

Click to expand...

It sounds like you are rather new to this "flash thing". If I were you, I would first play around a bit and rent equipment (monolights/compacts or eevn generator systems can be rented easily) before shelling out too much money on the wrong euqipment.

I have both a 580EX and a monolight kit. They complement each other nicvely, but they are very incomplete substitutes.

Doc Tonic said:

The 580 has modeling lights

Click to expand...

Are you joking?

Doc Tonic said:

and if you want that 1.5 sec recycle
time, you do need to buy a battery pack for it.

Click to expand...

That might be still too long for some applications. Further, this is a very pricy upgrade (you need the battery pack and additional sets of rechargeable batteries).

Doc Tonic said:

The canon 580EX system is not the cheapest way to set up a studio by
any means.

Click to expand...

The EX is not designed for that purpose at all. The 580EX is deisgned to be used as a fill-in light, not as a main light. As a fill-in light source, the 580EX is doing a good job.

astefot said:

The EX is not designed for that purpose at all. The 580EX is
deisgned to be used as a fill-in light, not as a main light. As a
fill-in light source, the 580EX is doing a good job.

Click to expand...

I guess you'd better go tell Canon that they have their marketing all wrong and that you are a better photographer and know everything...
ROLF...