External Flash for Travel?

[yinsheng]

hi guys,

i am going to japan soon. i know i'll need my tripod for night scenery shots. so i'll definitely bring that. my question is would i need my external flash or would the pop-up suffice?

all my equipment would fit into my crumpler bag, but i dont wanna lug it around if i wont use it in the end. anyone care to share if they use their external flash alot overseas?

 

[daredevil123]

hi guys,

i am going to japan soon. i know i'll need my tripod for night scenery shots. so i'll definitely bring that. my question is would i need my external flash or would the pop-up suffice?

all my equipment would fit into my crumpler bag, but i dont wanna lug it around if i wont use it in the end. anyone care to share if they use their external flash alot overseas?

I always bring my flash gun. Never know when you will need it.

 

[pinholecam]

Honestly, hard to tell when its needed. Thats the pain of it.
For me, flash shots amount to maybe less that 2% of my travel shots. You'll have to determine if you need it based on the type of photos you usually take. I do bring it with me and decide for the day if I should/not bring it out based on the itinerary.

 

[Numnumball]

Bring it.. else u might regret not bringing it after ur trip..

 

[frederickykfoo]

Nowadays, always bring this small little one along even in Singapore.

http://www.metz.de/en/photo-electro...its/mecablitz-36-c-2/product-information.html

Small, good and cheap

 

[kokfann]

since it can fit into your bag, just bring it...you will never know when u need it.

 

[photoart]

reget bringing it is better than regret not bringing.....

not bringing it and missing good shots is a wasted.

bring it and not get to use it, nothing to lose

 

[kkgoxplore]

I would leave home without it, especially that you have a built-in flash. The built-in flash is usually suffice for fill in light. Bottom line: it's your preference.

 

[Reportage]

it all depends what you want to shoot?

if people, smaller is better so either a very good pns/compact dslr or rangefinder would be well suited.

if landscape, dont really need flash do you?

and so on...

doesnt hurt to bring though for the off chance that you would need to use.

 

[2evans]

If you want to travel lighter, don't bring the external flash. If you decide to leave it at home, perhaps can consider one of those flash diffuser attachments as it would make fill flash more pleasing.

 

[Edwin Francis]

It's a personal thing, but I'm a firm believer in travelling light when it comes to photo eqpt. Of course this come after many times when I brought a whole bunch of stuff "just in case". If you're a free & easy sort of traveller, on your feet most of the time, even a slight extra weight adds to shoulder soreness at the end of the day.
If you want outdoor fill flash or just to shoot friends indoors, your pop-up will do in most cases. Light, compact flashes like the Sunpak RD2000 look very tempting, but I wouldn't bother bringing a 580ex, or even a 430.

 

[woeilee]

hi guys,

i am going to japan soon. i know i'll need my tripod for night scenery shots. so i'll definitely bring that. my question is would i need my external flash or would the pop-up suffice?

all my equipment would fit into my crumpler bag, but i dont wanna lug it around if i wont use it in the end. anyone care to share if they use their external flash alot overseas?

Recommended to bring a small one like Canon 270EX. Fill flash is useful even for bright sunshine to counter the harsh shadow. However, build-in flash can't do high-speed sync hence most of the time you get super-overexposed picture. High-speed sync is allow on external flash.

 

[madmartian]

hi guys,

i am going to japan soon. i know i'll need my tripod for night scenery shots. so i'll definitely bring that. my question is would i need my external flash or would the pop-up suffice?

all my equipment would fit into my crumpler bag, but i dont wanna lug it around if i wont use it in the end. anyone care to share if they use their external flash alot overseas?

Just bring it along. What if your pop up fails? :dunno:

 

[Squid]

... going to japan soon. ...my question is would i need my external flash or would the pop-up suffice?

all my equipment would fit into my crumpler bag, but i dont wanna lug it around if i wont use it in the end.....

.... outdoor fill flash or just to shoot friends indoors, your pop-up will do in most cases. ....

Took my Nikon SB-800 flash to Japan trip. Did not regret it as I use it frequently for fill-flash, sync flash and indoor flash. Most important, a pop-up flash is useless if the built-in flash is not raised high enough to avoid leaving a semi-circle dark shadow on lower portion of image taken. So it is recommended thread starter to decide choice of lenses for upcoming Japan trip and confirm pop-up flash does not leave a semi-circle dark shadow on lower portion of image.

Lastly, a external flash improves image taken as its light source can be bounced off indoor ceiling for better image appearance rather than a harsh direct flash of a built-in flash.

 

[diver-hloc]

Use to bring my 580EX MkII.... find it to big and heavy.... now, got myself 270EX... not as powerful, but for normal use, should be better than the pop up flash that can't fill light over my lens with hoods :sweat:

 

[kaixiang]

Bring it. Even if you only need to use it once for the entire trip, you are going to find it worthwhile.

 

[chalib]

Get a 270EX