Sigma EF-500 DG ST P-TTL

I would Love to know if any of you has a same flash and what you think about it, cause I am about to buy one but not yet 100% sure.I've been looking all over the internet for reviews about this flash ,but let me tell you there is not much out there.

So please I would like to hear from a first hand,people who actualy have it or use it.

Love Pentax

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?A=details&kw=SIEF500DGSTP&is=REG&Q=&O=productlist&sku=352107

Here it is:")

Just bought mine from b&h last april. Works great with my Ds although it took me some time to figure out how to use high-speed flash sync in manual mode (otherwise, you're stuck with 1/180 speed). Also bought a matching flash diffuser.
Nols
--

“…you can see the whole world in a square mile if you knew where to look” – Dean Koontz in Life Expectancy

I Bought this flash for my DL about a week ago. It works great, very easy to use, and a nice price.
--
Scott



Never judge a photo by the person who has taken it.
Never judge a person by the photo they have taken.

I would really recommend to consider Sigma EF-500 DG Super. Although it a bit more expensive it has some extra bells and whistles two of them just about to be crucial IMHO. First is high-sync flash – IMHO absolutely crucial – with ST model you will not be able to use anything above 1/180 while with Super model you can use any shutter speed. Second is Super can be set in 8 levels of power in manual mode while ST only has two – not flexible enough in my opinion.

I loke the sigmas, they work fine for me (wedding/event and Photojurnalist) I got the new pentax 540 mainly because of the powerpack (high voltage) ability, but the new TR-III pack is not out yet, and quantium does not have a cord yet.

The only advantage the pentax unit has over the sigmas is eyser user interface (more buttons vs. menu like design, and the "locking" hotshoe via he pin. other than that they are about equal (oh and the power pack) But I got the pentax because I need the one feature, otherwise the sigma is over $100 less and just as good

Note: Sigma released today some isues of the flash with the new K100D, and they are offering a free upgrade

I have the Super version of this flash, and it works well.
Only trouble is a slight overexposure with Omnibounce accessory on.
Without Omnibounce it gives good exposures.

I prefer setting my DS to the preset flash white balance, since the auto white balance sometimes gets it too blue.

Take care
R

I do get it, that you'll get more when you pay more,but I am just a amature that needs more light for specials occasions
(wedding,church and so on) and this is afordible for me
So keep tho comments coming and Thakx to all of you

Love Pentax

Brendan PK said:

Note: Sigma released today some isues of the flash with the new
K100D, and they are offering a free upgrade

Click to expand...

Wow. Good catch. I just checked the Sigma homepage and, sure enough, neither of the Sigma P-TTL flash units work with the K100D. Sigma is offering a free upgrade/fix for people who need to use these flashes with the K100D, but you have to send it in to Sigma first.

--
http://www.jjjphotography.com

I have and love my DG Super, but I'm not sure I'd sacrifice the high speed sync ability (even if I haven't fully worked it out yet), which isn't available in the ST.

Pete

--
http://www.magpiementality.org/gallery

KSV said:

I would really recommend to consider Sigma EF-500 DG Super.
Although it a bit more expensive it has some extra bells and
whistles two of them just about to be crucial IMHO. First is
high-sync flash – IMHO absolutely crucial – with ST model you will
not be able to use anything above 1/180 while with Super model you
can use any shutter speed. Second is Super can be set in 8 levels
of power in manual mode while ST only has two – not flexible enough
in my opinion.

Click to expand...

I was considering the ST, but I'm a little confused about the High speed sync issue. What happens if you use a shutter speed higher than 1/180? Does it underexpose? I doubt that I would use it in anything other than full-auto mode, since I'm an extreme amatuer and don't know much about setting anything myself.

Thanks.

macsisman said:

I was considering the ST, but I'm a little confused about the High
speed sync issue. What happens if you use a shutter speed higher
than 1/180? Does it underexpose? I doubt that I would use it in
anything other than full-auto mode, since I'm an extreme amatuer
and don't know much about setting anything myself.

Click to expand...

With the ST you simply can't use a shutter speed higher than 1/180s (I'd assume it's basically the same as the built-in flash, but with the advantage of being able to bounce light off ceilings/walls and reduced red-eye/lens-shadowing from the extra height). This means that you can't really use it for fill flash outside (or so I believe), as the background would be completely overexposed on even mild days.

From what I understand (and have seen), taking photos of people (or animals, etc) in midday is difficult because the backgrounds tend to be very bright, but the subject is frequently (self) shadowed by the overhead sunlight. This rarely seems to result in a good photo. The solution seems to be to set the camera exposure for the background, then let the flash (in high-speed sync mode, not available on the ST) counter the resulting underexposure of the subject.

That technique seems to give a well exposed background, and a well exposed subject... but it can also look a bit artificial unless you get it just right (some of my results looked a little like I superimposed the subject onto the background in photoshop or something).

Hope I got that right, still experimenting with this area.

Pete

--
http://www.magpiementality.org/gallery

pjv363689 said:

From what I understand (and have seen), taking photos of people (or
animals, etc) in midday is difficult because the backgrounds tend
to be very bright, but the subject is frequently (self) shadowed by
the overhead sunlight. This rarely seems to result in a good
photo. The solution seems to be to set the camera exposure for the
background, then let the flash (in high-speed sync mode, not
available on the ST) counter the resulting underexposure of the
subject.

That technique seems to give a well exposed background, and a well
exposed subject... but it can also look a bit artificial unless you
get it just right (some of my results looked a little like I
superimposed the subject onto the background in photoshop or
something).

Hope I got that right, still experimenting with this area.

Pete

--
http://www.magpiementality.org/gallery

Click to expand...

Most of my shoe-mount flash use would be indoors of my daughter using bounce. Would the lack of high-speed sync affect me there?

I used this flash at a wedding this past weekend. I find that with a fast lens, and a direct flash it tends to be too bright. All my shots are bounced flash shots and I had to play with my ds aperture settings to get the right exposure. A bounced flash makes a huge difference in your pictures, much more natural and appealing. Here is the link to the wedding gallery. I used it for both indoors and outdoors shots.

http://www.pbase.com/ejcpa/lis_and_seans_wedding_day_073006

Ed Jay said:

I used this flash at a wedding this past weekend. I find that with
a fast lens, and a direct flash it tends to be too bright. All my
shots are bounced flash shots and I had to play with my ds aperture
settings to get the right exposure. A bounced flash makes a huge
difference in your pictures, much more natural and appealing. Here
is the link to the wedding gallery. I used it for both indoors and
outdoors shots.

http://www.pbase.com/ejcpa/lis_and_seans_wedding_day_073006

Click to expand...

Ed,

I like the pics. I got married 7 years ago this month and was looking at my pics from a pro photog that does weddings in his sleep. Unfortunately, you can tell. Zzzzzzzzz. I really wish I would have done something more informal and fun with the pics. Much funner to look at. Anyway, I digreess.

For the outdoors shots, what did you bouce off of? A bouncer on the flash? A ceiling attached to your head that followed you around?

Thanks,
Mike

dont really credit me, some one else here posted this first. Just looked it up to e-conferm and it was true.
Like Roland said its probaly something to do with the SR

macsisman said:

Most of my shoe-mount flash use would be indoors of my daughter
using bounce. Would the lack of high-speed sync affect me there?

Click to expand...

Probably not. From what I've seen, indoors you have two choices:

1) If the light's too low, or you don't mind a very dark background, just use the flash at whatever settings it chooses (or set the aperture/shutter speed and let it do the rest). Notice the dark background in the following shot (the room was nowhere near that dark in reality):



2) If the light's reasonable, you could still try exposing for the background (almost certain to be below 1/180s indoors -- may even need to increase the ISO sensitivity) and let the flash deal with the subject as outlined above. Notice the (slightly better) balanced background/subject lighting in this shot, under almost identical conditions (not perfect, but the best I have from that event):



Those are the only techniques I've come up with in my experimentation so far (both doable with the ST, I believe). I prefer the second -- using the flash at max speed (1/180s) and leaving the background dark just doesn't look right to me in most situations.

Ignore the quality of the above photos -- I only received my flash that morning and had to learn under pressure (they were at the end of the day, and everyone wanted to rush to pack up so I had little time and lots of photos to take).

Pete

--
http://www.magpiementality.org/gallery

My shooting style in sports photography is to capture the emotion of the athlete, not only the technical excellence of the sport. I try to impart that at the wedding gallery, that is was a small wedding, with close friends and relatives and for the couple to really enjoy the experience. I think it helped alot that I've known the couple for years, so they were not hiring a technician, but a friend. It made them feel more relaxed and comfortable. I strongly believe that good photographers create a relaxing environment for their subjects.

All my bounced flashes are bounced off a white 3 x 5 card rubber banded around the flash. I could spend $20 for a Stofen omnibounce, or scrounge around the house and not pay anything. I figure my setup cost less than a penny.

Ed Jay said:

My shooting style in sports photography is to capture the emotion
of the athlete, not only the technical excellence of the sport. I
try to impart that at the wedding gallery, that is was a small
wedding, with close friends and relatives and for the couple to
really enjoy the experience. I think it helped alot that I've known
the couple for years, so they were not hiring a technician, but a
friend. It made them feel more relaxed and comfortable. I strongly
believe that good photographers create a relaxing environment for
their subjects.

All my bounced flashes are bounced off a white 3 x 5 card rubber
banded around the flash. I could spend $20 for a Stofen omnibounce,
or scrounge around the house and not pay anything. I figure my
setup cost less than a penny.

Click to expand...

Sorry for stupid questions, but the bounce then is directed at the subject, with the flsh pointing up and the card pointed at the subject?

Thanks.

The flash is pointed upwards at either 60 or 90 degrees, the white card reflects and diffuses some of the flash towards the subject. The reason why I used flash outdoors is to get rid of some of the shadows on the faces. I also used this configuation at a recent awards night. Here is the link.

http://www.pbase.com/ejcpa/awards_night