Need recommendation - Flash


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intrance

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Jul 13, 2005
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Woodlands
Hi guys..

Pls recommend me a good flash with bounce capabilities, to be used with my old trusty Canon S5 IS.

Im into general photography and mostly take indoor photos of my family.

Do pls recommend me some with price, less than $100.

Thx in advance..
 

canon's new 270 ex is roughly 200 SGD?
 

I guess the Canon 270ex is probably the cheapest canon flash with bounce. It's right around S$200, a bit more I think.

I used to use Vivitar 285HV flash units. They are UGLY, with a design that comes straight out of the late 70s. This would also be a "manual" setup, so you'd have to set the flash power manually (basically). There is a semi-auto mode on the flash itself (not TTL, but thyristor based mode) that makes it a bit easier, but it's still quite a bit more complex than using an integrated unit with TTL. Come to think of it, I don't know much about your camera, so I'm assuming it can use TTL. Anyway, the Vivitar units are bulletproof, with lots of power, good battery life, and reasonable re-charge times. I never had one fail ever. (disclaimer: the very old 285HVs used a higher trigger voltage that could potentially damage your camera. Don't buy very old / used copies of this flash).

The Vivitar in the US can be had for $90 new, but I don't know how available they are here. I assume they are around, they are monumentally popular in the US for "off camera" key use and strobist type of work.

Of course there are other brands, like "Seagull", which I've seen a lot in China. I think it's basically a better looking version of something very much like the Vivitar. Probably manual, and I don't know about reliability. I know they are in Malaysia (they are on the Malaysia ebay site for like RM144). I'm sure there are other non-canon brands made in asia somewhere (China) that are inexpensive and reasonably ok.

Hope you find what you're looking for. I would probably recommend getting either something REALLY cheap, or go for a nice unit from Canon so that if/when you eventually upgrade your camera you'll have something that works nicely with it.
 

hi i'm new to the forum.
may i know how effective are those entry level flash($<150sgd).
intend to use on a canon sx10.
are external flash really necessary?
 

I can only speak to the Vivitar 285HV. If by "effective" you mean how much light to the produce, I can tell you that it feels roughly equivalent to the 580EX I'm using now. The difference is that you'll need to do more manual exposure control to get the flash setup right, and/or balance flash with ambient. Using the 580EX in TTL mode gives you almost dead simple fill flash in daylight conditions without adjusting a thing. Using the Vivitar, you'll need to fiddle/adjust/try/fiddle again/adjust again/shoot. Your purchasing decision might be based more on the patience level of your subject (or yourself), more than the output of the flash unit.

In technical terms, I recall that the guide number (ISO at 100ft) of the Vivitar is 120, whereas the GN of the 580EX is something like 140, if I remember correctly. In practice under most normal working conditions, there is no big difference in pure light output.

I also found the Vivitar to be nicely consistent in color balance at varied power levels. I even used it in multi-light setups with my studio lights, or my other 580EXs.

Whether or not you need a flash is highly dependent on the type of photography you want to do. If you do a lot of photography in low-light and you find you're using on-camera built-in flash, then you'll get more pleasing results with an flash unit that can bounce. If you want to do flash photography with the flash off the camera (using a sync cord, or wireless, or something else), then of course you'll need a flash unit as well.

Take Care,
Eric
 

eric.. many thx for ur reply and sharing..

tho the 270ex is very nice and tempting to get but it too expensive for me to invest one.
i just need a good bounce flash with TTL.. i only use flash when need arise.. like during my kids birthday... sigh..
 

It occurred to me that Sunpak makes inexpensive TTL flash units. Check this out:

http://www.sunpak.jp/english/products/pf30x/index.html

I think that's a ~S$100 unit roughly, but I'm not sure. TTL compatible. Maybe you can find it in Singapore somewhere? I searched the forum, and found one that was sold at S$120 used (so maybe new it's a bit more) 4 weeks ago.

Eric
 

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