Fun with flashes

Thought I'd dust off the ol' weblog to bang out some thoughts I've got on my new photo toy- a Canon Speedlite 580EX II.

I've been into phtography for ever, but have had the bug really bad since I got my Canon S5 a couple weeks back. The lens and picture quality are awesome for the price of the camera (less than most EF lenses) and I've been having a blast shooting pictures with it. Like most bridge cameras, it has a lot of strengths (long zoom, smallish, easy to use) and a few weaknesses (horrible viewfinder, noisy sensor at ISO >200, weak flash.)

The S5 is Canon's first PowerShot camera with a hotshoe besides the G-series and the odd PowerShot 'Pro' cameras. Like most cameras, the built in flash is garbage. Canon doesn't even spec a guide number, but it's just strong enough to give red eyes to people about 10 or 15' away. Recycle time is listed at 12 seconds (!)- conservative but it still takes 6-10 seconds using a fresh set of Eneloops. Definitely room for improvement.

Upon opening the 580EX II's box, I was amazed at the size. I did lots of reading about Canon's flash lineup, but it never ocurred to me that I never saw a picture of the flash on a camera. I suppose its size would be proportional to an EOS 1, but it positively dwarfs my S5 in size and weight. I'm curious now how it compares to the 430EX. The main differences that the 580 gets over the 430 are a control dial instead of buttons, slave flash transmitter, more power, tougher build, configurable from late-model EOS bodies, and the option for an external power pack. Recycle time is less than the 2-second review I use on the camera so flash shots can be more spontaneous which is great for all the test shots (hundreds!) I took of the cats.

The LED-backlit LCD screen on the flash shows all the essentials including power level, focal length, range, etc. Controls are pretty straightforward with a few buttons and a control dial. The LCD display is a bit primitive when compared with Nikon's SB800, but it's just as useful once you get used to its peculiarities. For example, a blinking 'speedlite' icon means that the flash head is pointed 7° down. If the entire screen is blinking, the 14mm wide angle diffuser is out. The most baffling part of using the flash are the custom functions. There are about a dozen settings that can be adjusted which vary from power saving modes to subtle control tweaks. Nice, but counter intuitive.

I'm just getting started with the new light, but I never expected I'd see as big an improvement with indoor shots as I have. Depending on the size of the room, lighting 90° or 180° to the side and 45° up looks as good as sunlight. 90° up with the catchlight looks good too. If the flash is the primary source of light shots still look pretty stark, but I'm excited to see what I get for closeish outdoor shots for fill light. I'll post more once I get more shooting in, but here are some pros and cons I've seen so far:


Raves:
1. Tons of power makes indoor bounce flash shots easy
2. Zoom function matches correctly with the S5's focal length
3. Built-in catchlight is good for close subjects without using a diffuser
4. Excellent foot and mounting latch
5. Fine manual control over power makes using a fill flash easier for tricky shots
6. Excellent build quality- it will probably outlast the camera it's attached to

Rants:
1. Autofocus illuminator is completely unused with the S5
2. Primitive LCD display
3. Stiff control dial
4. Big and heavy
5. Flash zoom motor is noisier than the lens motor
6. Cryptic 'custom' settings menu