How many watts in a 580ex ii

You hit on one "problem" which is: for as powerful as they are, you are making things harder on yourself if you want to soften the light too. For a rule of thumb, say that a powerful speed light is about Ws. Some smaller, older, more delicate flashes put out a lot less. So, you can see, you don't have quite the flexibility to "eat light" by adding modifiers as compared to say, an Einstein at Ws.

In midday sun, I use gels and bare flash. It works even in sunny 16 territory or even a bit brighter from reflections. I "cheat" with a faster sync speed. The umbrella may come out closer to dusk. Then there is the whole ganging of speedlights trend that some of the better sponsored guys are doing. Cool, but expensive and pretty cumbersome.

I use a Speedlight kit with a Softlighter and 24" x 32" softbox with no problem at all. I just choose location and time of day accordingly. Then I can create whatever light or flash to ambient relationship I want rather than being bullied by the ambient light. Totally agreed. The other small point is that flash durations start to come into play at full power in some speedlights and for some targets.

Would you like to buy a vowel? Go ahead, spin the wheel. As Robert points out, time of day is a big factor. You just can't backup the light and do an entire adult or a big group. Approve the Cookies This website uses cookies to improve your user experience. By using this site, you agree to our use of cookies and our Privacy Policy. Register to forums Log in.

Oct 13, 1. This is a powerful feature that I use a lot. Note: Even when disabled, the master flash will fire a preflash - making it appear to be enabled. Canon Speedlites use light not RF from the flash head for simple wireless flash communications.

This is basically a line-of sight system though indoor use can include non-line-of-site remotes if the light bounces off objects in the room sufficiently to communicate with the remote flash es.

The transmission range for wireless communication are periphery-center Four slave channel IDs are available to avoid conflicts with other photographers. Why use an external flash? The answer may be obvious to owners of camera bodies without a built-in flash, but not so clear to those using bodies with a built-in flash. The built-in flash is great for fill flash to light the shaded areas such as people's eyes in a pictures. The built-in flash is also useful for adding catchlights sparkle in a subject's eyes.

The next most-obvious answer is to raise the flash high enough from the camera that the lens and lens hood do not block the light - creating shot-ruining dark half moons in pictures. Because the light source is very small and is located very close to the imaging axis, using the built-in flash as a main light often results in a harshly-lit picture often with red-eyed subjects.

Items close to the flash are often overexposed, the background often becomes black, harsh shadows typically abound and subjects tend to become flat looking. I use direct-flash-as-main-light typically in "M" mode only as a last resort, much preferring to use a higher ISO, wider aperture, slower shutter speed, image stabilization, tripod But, sometimes there is no choice - it is simply too dark, the subjects are in action In this case, you simply must use the flash for the main light.

But, this does not mean the flash must be fired directly toward the subject. The better grade accessory flashes feature tilt and swivel heads which allows them to redirect the light toward a larger white or other similarly-neutral-colored reflective surface such as a ceiling, wall, piece of white foamcore, commercial reflector Thus, the main light becomes the wide reflecting surface and the broad light source creates a much softer, less flat and far more pleasing image.

The swivel and tilt features allow the EX II to be aimed as desired. In addition, a huge range of flash modifiers can be used with accessory flashes to create a broader lighting surface for direct flash, bounce flash or a combination of both. Getting the flash out of the camera hot shoe is a great step toward better flash pictures. This allows specific placement of the flash in relation to the camera. Keeping the flash mounted higher above the lens to send the subject's shadow lower - where it is not as unpleasant.

A bracket is also useful for macro photography. The wireless remote capability of Canon's Speedlite flashes discussed above offer even far greater advantages. An accessory flash can be mounted in a softbox or umbrella for superb lighting. Multiple wireless remote flashes can be setup for a highly portable, complete professional lighting setup. Visit the links at the end of this review for more ideas and information on off-camera flash use. An additional significant reason to use an external flash over a built-in flash is the amount of lighting output the external flash can provide.

Wider lenses will have a shorter effective distance, for example Once you know why you need an accessory flash, the decision becomes "Which one? Canon makes a Speedlite EX, but it is rather featureless - good mostly for fill flash. The EX is not under powered for many uses, but the EX II's significant power advantage can become important when using a flash modifier such as an umbrella, softbox or diffuser - or bouncing light off a high ceiling.

The other primary difference is that the EX II can be used as a master to trigger remote Canon wireless slave flashes while the EX can only act as a slave flash. The EX can then be used as a remote flash. You can still utilize the EX's focus assist, but need to know that all focus points are not covered as in the EX II.

The fact that the EX II can be powered from an external power source will be important to photographers expecting heavy flash use. The EX does not have this capability, nor does it have the PC terminal. Instead of a dial for adjusting settings, the EX utilizes rounded parenthesis-shaped buttons. I can understand making buttons safe from accidental changes, but these buttons are narrow and require an excessively deep press to make changes.

The dial is much easier to use. The EX II can cope with both crop and full-frame sensor bodies and lenses, compensating for the differences in focal lengths. The flash also has a guide number of with a reach to This distance will obviously depend on the f-number being used. For example, when the flash is set to Some feedback has stated that especially in TTL mode, exposure compensation is hard to set for individual groups, preferring groups A and B to be set by a ratio. However, I use a third-party wireless trigger with more flexibility, which definitely fills in the gaps if you wanted to explore this route.

For a single flash set up, operation is far easier. For instance, the turning of the rear dial can change flash exposure compensation. In full TTL mode, the flash is extremely straightforward to use and throws out plenty of illumination for everything but distant subjects.

In manual mode, power levels can be easily dialed in and a brief press of the pilot light is a quick way to fire off a test burst to make sure everything is working. On a typical photoshoot, the EX II just simply works and gets on with its intended job, exactly what you need from a reliable Speedlite. Mar 10, Reply to thread Reply with quote Complain.

Reply Reply with quote Reply to thread Complain. Brian A. KENTGA wrote: It appears that the connectors needed to attach the spedlights to softboxes are almost as expensive as some of the moderately priced studio strobes. Kent Quality studio strobes will last you for decades. Buy a budget priced umbrella kit like this one and you are all set. Sailor Blue's gear list: Sailor Blue's gear list. F Forum M My threads. Latest sample galleries. Tamron mm F2. Panasonic S 35mm F1. DJI Mavic 3 Cine sample gallery.

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