Canon flashgun or equivalent

BoopDeWoop

Rocker said:

ToneControl said:

which camera is it for?

good canon flashes let you do strobe-sync flash (which lets you fill in shadows when taking outdoor portraits in a sunny day, like at a wedding)

I have a very good old one - the 550EX, no longer in use
the used prices are not high nowadays, hence the fact mine is still sitting here unsold after I sold off my canon 5D and lenses

Canon EOS400.

ToneControl said:

what pics are you taking anyway?
if it's indoors posed pics in one place, then borrowing/renting/buying 2 studio flashes will give way better results than on-camera flashes

Indoors but using studio flashes sounds like overkill.  A very small wedding, no pro photographer, so it is up to me to get decent images. I will check the place out soon and see what might be needed. There is always the possibility of borrowing flash gear....

Your Canon is a crop sensor so probably a bit naff with low light levels. Personally I'd rather carry a fast prime lens- even the Canon 50 mm 1.8 that's about £100 than a flash. Flash looks wank unless you know how to use it properly like Raymond there. I hate flashes- my last two weddings were shot without flash at all and I never missed a shot because I didn't get my flash out of the bag.

If you must have something check out www.mpb.com for a second hand job.

holnrew

Jaw dropping pictures from @RaymondLin ;

ToneControl

the other problem with on-camera flash for a wedding is that the battery recycle time will kill you
you'll need 4 or 5 sets of batteries

I did my mate's wedding in 1999, and used no flash in the church, then none outdoors. Followed by a few on-camera 550ex photos in the reception. It was film in those days, so far more difficult for light, and digital SLR should be fine indoors now for a wedding

He spent £18k on the wedding (which was a lot in 1999), but for some reason got me and another amateur photographer mate to do the pics

Beware: hardest part is organising people for the group shots, unless you have ushers to do it for you, and you already have a game plan - few of us can give instructions quickly that work for large groups at a wedding without planning in advance, as I discovered. 

RaymondLin

Actually, I only need 2 sets of batteries....

ToneControl

RaymondLin said:

Actually, I only need 2 sets of batteries....

I had a lot of trouble with the 550ex using up sets of 4 AA rechargeables, I thought people had to use those large external power packs for professional work?

RaymondLin

ToneControl said:

RaymondLin said:

Actually, I only need 2 sets of batteries....

I had a lot of trouble with the 550ex using up sets of 4 AA rechargeables, I thought people had to use those large external power packs for professional work?

Eneloop pro recharables and I shoot f1.4 normally at 1/128th or 1/64 power.  Full power at 1.4 is too bright.

ThePrettyDamned

RaymondLin said:

ToneControl said:

RaymondLin said:

Actually, I only need 2 sets of batteries....

I had a lot of trouble with the 550ex using up sets of 4 AA rechargeables, I thought people had to use those large external power packs for professional work?

Eneloop pro recharables and I shoot f1.4 normally at 1/128th or 1/64 power.  Full power at 1.4 is too bright.

Same here. Wonderful things. I also have an external power pack for using high speed sync and ganged speedlights outdoors - hss is hugely wasteful. 

I really want a godox ad200 - about 3x the power of a speedlight, portable, s fit modifiers and both bare bulb and Fresnel heads. Still won't kill the sun, but it'll fill in and still be ultra portable and great for indoors work. Yum. 

ToneControl

RaymondLin said:

ToneControl said:

RaymondLin said:

Actually, I only need 2 sets of batteries....

I had a lot of trouble with the 550ex using up sets of 4 AA rechargeables, I thought people had to use those large external power packs for professional work?

Eneloop pro recharables and I shoot f1.4 normally at 1/128th or 1/64 power.  Full power at 1.4 is too bright.

I think the high speed sync was the problem for me for batteries

RaymondLin

ToneControl said:

RaymondLin said:

ToneControl said:

RaymondLin said:

Actually, I only need 2 sets of batteries....

I had a lot of trouble with the 550ex using up sets of 4 AA rechargeables, I thought people had to use those large external power packs for professional work?

Eneloop pro recharables and I shoot f1.4 normally at 1/128th or 1/64 power.  Full power at 1.4 is too bright.

I think the high speed sync was the problem for me for batteries

Ah, I don't need to, I do have an external battery pack but haven't needed it.  I just shoot 1/200th and less.  With currently DSLR I can shoot at 3200 ISO without much noise.

ToneControl

RaymondLin said:

ToneControl said:

RaymondLin said:

ToneControl said:

RaymondLin said:

Actually, I only need 2 sets of batteries....

I had a lot of trouble with the 550ex using up sets of 4 AA rechargeables, I thought people had to use those large external power packs for professional work?

Eneloop pro recharables and I shoot f1.4 normally at 1/128th or 1/64 power.  Full power at 1.4 is too bright.

I think the high speed sync was the problem for me for batteries

Ah, I don't need to, I do have an external battery pack but haven't needed it.  I just shoot 1/200th and less.  With currently DSLR I can shoot at 3200 ISO without much noise.

yeah, I suppose my flash days were with 200 ASA film

RaymondLin

ToneControl said:

RaymondLin said:

ToneControl said:

RaymondLin said:

ToneControl said:

RaymondLin said:

Actually, I only need 2 sets of batteries....

I had a lot of trouble with the 550ex using up sets of 4 AA rechargeables, I thought people had to use those large external power packs for professional work?

Eneloop pro recharables and I shoot f1.4 normally at 1/128th or 1/64 power.  Full power at 1.4 is too bright.

I think the high speed sync was the problem for me for batteries

Ah, I don't need to, I do have an external battery pack but haven't needed it.  I just shoot 1/200th and less.  With currently DSLR I can shoot at 3200 ISO without much noise.

yeah, I suppose my flash days were with 200 ASA film

Off topic, I think current release of cameras kinda make photography WAY too easy at times.  Like the new Sony A9, that thing tracks faces like nothing else came before, it even knows where the eyes are on the face and lock onto the eyes so the eyes are in focus.  Once it finds a face it locks on to it and you can shoot 20fps, almost video like and holding it down and if you only shoot JPEG, the buffer will go on forever.  So you have an in focus subject, unbeatable low light performance, you machine gun the thing and pick your moment later in the computer.  The EVF will tell you whether you are exposed correctly at every step of the way.

The only skill you have is framing the photo…but the timing, even if you exposed incorrectly, the files have so many latitude you can pull back incredible amount of information.

Then you have a silent shutter, like truly silent, the EVF has no black out meaning you don't get that split second blackout when the mirror flips up.  No one knows you are taking the photo, by the time they did, even if they did, you would have taken about 40 or 60 shots….in silence.

I shot some video with my 5DVI, with the model walking towards me, like a catwalk then when she hit a mark she stop and walk away.  I pressed the shutter and start recording, the camera then tracks her face all the way, adjusting focus at F/2.0 towards me and all the way back.  All automatic.

boogieman

Photography has been getting deskilled ever since the invention of digital. Once decent PP software was available to the public, it got even further dumbed down: most people can turn a mediocre shot into a reasonable one with software. The hardware is now catching up to make everyone think they're David Bailey. However, I still think most of the skill of a truly great photo is in the photographer's hands (or their imagination) and there will always be "photographers" and "camera owners".  

ThePrettyDamned

RaymondLin said:

ToneControl said:

RaymondLin said:

ToneControl said:

RaymondLin said:

ToneControl said:

RaymondLin said:

Actually, I only need 2 sets of batteries....

I had a lot of trouble with the 550ex using up sets of 4 AA rechargeables, I thought people had to use those large external power packs for professional work?

Eneloop pro recharables and I shoot f1.4 normally at 1/128th or 1/64 power.  Full power at 1.4 is too bright.

I think the high speed sync was the problem for me for batteries

Ah, I don't need to, I do have an external battery pack but haven't needed it.  I just shoot 1/200th and less.  With currently DSLR I can shoot at 3200 ISO without much noise.

yeah, I suppose my flash days were with 200 ASA film

Off topic, I think current release of cameras kinda make photography WAY too easy at times.  Like the new Sony A9, that thing tracks faces like nothing else came before, it even knows where the eyes are on the face and lock onto the eyes so the eyes are in focus.  Once it finds a face it locks on to it and you can shoot 20fps, almost video like and holding it down and if you only shoot JPEG, the buffer will go on forever.  So you have an in focus subject, unbeatable low light performance, you machine gun the thing and pick your moment later in the computer.  The EVF will tell you whether you are exposed correctly at every step of the way.

The only skill you have is framing the photo…but the timing, even if you exposed incorrectly, the files have so many latitude you can pull back incredible amount of information.

Then you have a silent shutter, like truly silent, the EVF has no black out meaning you don't get that split second blackout when the mirror flips up.  No one knows you are taking the photo, by the time they did, even if they did, you would have taken about 40 or 60 shots….in silence.

I shot some video with my 5DVI, with the model walking towards me, like a catwalk then when she hit a mark she stop and walk away.  I pressed the shutter and start recording, the camera then tracks her face all the way, adjusting focus at F/2.0 towards me and all the way back.  All automatic.

Indeed. The key for me is making shots most people can't - that means off camera flash, reflectors, modifiers and gels. 

It astounds me how few people use gels - I love adding colour to lights, whether it's a couple of ctos to make a low light shot a moody blue with a warmly lit surface, or even adding greens and purples to "dirty" the clean flash. You can get some really natural looking photos by using wacky colours to imply place. 

Rocker

In a church for a wedding you don't have a lot of time to setup shots! Flash needs to be on camera or handheld. No room for studio stand mounted flash either. Simple straightforward shots is what I need to take. I need a flash that will do just that.

boogieman

Rocker said:

In a church for a wedding you don't have a lot of time to setup shots! Flash needs to be on camera or handheld. No room for studio stand mounted flash either. Simple straightforward shots is what I need to take. I need a flash that will do just that.

Get a Yongnuo or a second hand Canon then.
Invest in a diffuser for it though, at least you won't get any harsh shadows then.

Get a set of decent batteries (or preferably two, they're guaranteed to always run out at the crucial moment): Eneloops are very good.

Camera mounted flash isn't ideal. Try and get it off camera if possible: at the very least use it side-mounted with a bracket. 

Have a play around with it before the wedding and learn how to use the functions, especially power reduction. You rarely need full power flash in daylight, it's really just to add fill light.

Bump up the ISO on the camera if you can't get a decent fstop and/or shutter speed. 

Rocker

Thanks @boogieman, sound advice. Exactly what I required.