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Author
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Rob Barron
Loves the place
Registered: September 2006
Location: Poole, Dorset
Posts: 6013
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Review Date: Sat September 29, 2007
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Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Price you paid?: £249.00
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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Powerful, accurate, flexible
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Cons:
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Not cheap
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Some might wonder whether a review is necessary of this flashgun as we already have an excellent one for the Canon 580EX. Is the Mk ll version any different really? After all, sometimes Mk ll simply means they found a bug and corrected it! Well, not in this case, this is very definitely an improved version.
I used the 550EX as my 'gun of choice because I had the 20D which used E-TTL. The 30D and 40D both utilise E-TTL ll and so now I have upgraded to the 40D I felt it was an appropriate time to get this much improved flashgun. I borrowed a 580EX and then my friend phoned me and said 'I've got a second gun for you to try....' and it was the Mk ll version: it has blown me away!
This is the most powerful of the Canon flashguns at present and powerful it most certainly is. Using a 100mm lens, this flash can illuminate a subject 50m away which is really going some. Putting that simply, you're standing on the halfway line at Wembley in the dark and you can take a photo of the goalie on his line! That takes a fair burst of light and this powerful unit delivers it.
The Canon 40D and the 1d Mk lll both have a slightly redesigned hotshoe which when the 580EX Mk ll is placed on top, is effectively weather and sut sealed just like the rest of the camera. The earlier 580EX is good but does not have the same level of sealing by any means. So, if you are using the 40D (or a 1-series camera) with an L series lens and this flashgun, you have the photographic equivalent of an all-weather, all-terrain vehicle! Ok, not an underwater one, that would be pushing it a bit too far, but you can certainly get out there in the confidence of knowing your equipment is well-protected.
Being powerful can mean also a touch slow as the recharging cycle time is sometimes reduced but definitely not the case here. Indeed, this is about 20% faster than the already impressive 580EX. Not only does it recycle itself quickly, it is much quieter. My 550EX was not about to wake anyone from their sleep but its 'whine' was clearly audible when out and about shooting. The 580EX Mk ll makes almost no noise at all.
In order to minimise ingress points, the button that used to appear on Canon flashguns for switching between master and slave unit has now disappeared altogether. It is now set internally using the menu, a much more civilised method in my opinion and one less switch to go wrong! I do occasionally use my gun as a slave unit to provide some rim lighting when using my Macro ring-flash unit and this works a treat as the Canon system as a built-in wi-fi system to fire other Canon guns correctly synchronised and with the right balance of light output.
Communication between camera and gun is improved to a new level with the 40D and the 580EX Mk ll which I have to say gives fantastically accurate results. There were times with my 550EX when the system was fooled by tricky lighting and I got some over-exposed shots but this hasn't been the case with this unit.
Any minus points? Well, it's list price is not cheap at £399 but you can get it much less than that. Onestop digital, a company I have used a lot and am extremely impressed with, are currently selling it for £248.95, a full £150 less than rrp and that includes postage. Stick a good condition 550EX on Ebay and you'll soon find a buyer offering you £150 so for less than £100 extra, you can move on up to a much-improved flashgun that really is something to make a song and dance about.
It is a little heavy, over a pound including batteries, which might feel a bit top heavy on a smaller camera like the xxxD series but with the larger cameras like 30D/40D or the 1-series, it is not a problem at all.
I am told the slave unit usage requires line of sight but frankly I can't imagine why you would ever be using it without line of sight. After all, shoving the flashgun in the next room is likely to have less than desirable results! All i can say is that for my usage thus far and having seen it working with my 40D, this really is a superb bit of kit and well worth the investment.
Hope this review is of use to you in deciding on your next bit of kit.... if you're a Canon user that is :o)
Cheers,
Rob
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Dave
Pixalo Crew
Registered: July 2005
Posts: 16481
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Review Date: Tue July 8, 2008
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Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Price you paid?: £189.00
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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ETTL , Power, Head flexibility
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Cons:
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Expensive in UK miastream shops
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Stick this flash on ETTL & marvel at how it manages the shots 
I used the flashgun for the 1st time this weekend at a wedding. Shooting in AV mode, using ETTL, it performed extremely well for bounced flash in a barn conversion, plus fill in flash (-3 stops) for outside in bright sunlight.
The flexibility of the positioning of the flash head was extremely versatile for flipping between landscape to portrait, bounce off ceilings, walls behind you etc.
Just have to get used to high speed synch now, to allow me to choose the wider apertures for fill in flash
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