Canon Speedlite 580EX vs. Competition

Hi there, folks,

My wonderful wife recently bought me a Canon 20D. Then just the other day,
she asked me what I wanted for Christmas. To you heathens, that's December
25. Anyway, after reading the sales literature that came with the camera, I
told her I wanted a Canon 580EX Speedlite. She said okay.

Then I went to B&H Foto and referenced the price. It is $487 plus shipping!
What do you fine folks think of this product? Is it the best product for
the camera, or will an aftermarket autoflash system match or compare with
it? Which aftermarket product do you recommend? Will this product be as
compatible as the 580EX?

Thank you very much for your support.

Claude Baules

From: "Claude Baules"

I told her I wanted a Canon 580EX Speedlite. She said okay.

Then I went to B&H Foto and referenced the price. It is $487 plus shipping!
What do you fine folks think of this product?

For the past several years the flash Canon professionals use is the 550EX,
which is available for around $300 and still in stock. Not sure what the 580EX
does extra but if you want to save around $200 you can still get the 550EX.

dy (Bill Hilton) wrote in
:

From: "Claude Baules"

I told her I wanted a Canon 580EX Speedlite. She said okay.

Then I went to B&H Foto and referenced the price. It is $487 plus
shipping! What do you fine folks think of this product?

For the past several years the flash Canon professionals use is the
550EX, which is available for around $300 and still in stock. Not
sure what the 580EX does extra but if you want to save around $200 you
can still get the 550EX.

1) It recycles 20% faster.

2) It has more communication with the camera, theoretically yielding
better, more consistent results.

3) It's smaller than the shoebox that is the 550EX.

I haven't used one yet, nor even seen an in-depth review. However, the E-
TTL2 system in the 20D already means more consistent results with the 550
and 420s, so I'm having a hard time justifying rushing right out...

Claude Baules wrote:
Then I went to B&H Foto and referenced the price. It is $487 plus shipping!
What do you fine folks think of this product? Is it the best product for
the camera, or will an aftermarket autoflash system match or compare with
it? Which aftermarket product do you recommend? Will this product be as
compatible as the 580EX?

See my Canon speedlite comparison page:
http://skylane.kjsl.com/~dave/speedlites.html

-Dave

Claude Baules wrote:
Then I went to B&H Foto and referenced the price. It is $487 plus shipping!
What do you fine folks think of this product? Is it the best product for
the camera, or will an aftermarket autoflash system match or compare with
it? Which aftermarket product do you recommend? Will this product be as
compatible as the 580EX?

See my Canon speedlite comparison page:
http://skylane.kjsl.com/~dave/speedlites.html

-Dave

A lot of people are buying the Sigma EF-500 DG Super with good results. It's
arguably as good as the 550EX and costs around $200. Two weaknesses are that
the manual really sucks and if the built in diffuser breaks, it needs to go back
to Sigma for repairs.

According to this Sigma page, it supports ETTL-II:
http://www.sigma-photo.com/html/news/500dg_super.htm

A lot of people are buying the Sigma EF-500 DG Super with good results. It's
arguably as good as the 550EX and costs around $200. Two weaknesses are that
the manual really sucks and if the built in diffuser breaks, it needs to go back
to Sigma for repairs.

According to this Sigma page, it supports ETTL-II:
http://www.sigma-photo.com/html/news/500dg_super.htm

Jim Townsend wrote:
Eric Gill wrote:

dy (Bill Hilton) wrote in
:

From: "Claude Baules"

I told her I wanted a Canon 580EX Speedlite. She said okay.

Then I went to B&H Foto and referenced the price. It is $487 plus
shipping! What do you fine folks think of this product?

For the past several years the flash Canon professionals use is the
550EX, which is available for around $300 and still in stock. Not
sure what the 580EX does extra but if you want to save around $200 you
can still get the 550EX.

1) It recycles 20% faster.

2) It has more communication with the camera, theoretically yielding
better, more consistent results.

One communication feature is that it compensates for the 1.6 crop factor
when using 35mm lenses and adjusts the back reflector accordingly to
provide the optimum beam pattern. This only works with the 20D / 480 EX combo.

My 10D/420EX adjusts for the crop factor just fine.

Andrew

Jim Townsend wrote:
Eric Gill wrote:

dy (Bill Hilton) wrote in
:

From: "Claude Baules"

I told her I wanted a Canon 580EX Speedlite. She said okay.

Then I went to B&H Foto and referenced the price. It is $487 plus
shipping! What do you fine folks think of this product?

For the past several years the flash Canon professionals use is the
550EX, which is available for around $300 and still in stock. Not
sure what the 580EX does extra but if you want to save around $200 you
can still get the 550EX.

1) It recycles 20% faster.

2) It has more communication with the camera, theoretically yielding
better, more consistent results.

One communication feature is that it compensates for the 1.6 crop factor
when using 35mm lenses and adjusts the back reflector accordingly to
provide the optimum beam pattern. This only works with the 20D / 480 EX combo.

My 10D/420EX adjusts for the crop factor just fine.

Andrew

Andrew wrote in
:

Jim Townsend wrote:

One communication feature is that it compensates for the 1.6 crop
factor when using 35mm lenses and adjusts the back reflector
accordingly to provide the optimum beam pattern. This only works
with the 20D / 480 EX combo.

My 10D/420EX adjusts for the crop factor just fine.

Andrew

Really? So if you shoot at 50mm the flash zooms to 80mm to give a beam of
light that covers the area that the camera will capture?



--
Mark Heyes (New Zealand)
See my pics at www.gigatech.co.nz
"There are 10 types of people, those that
understand binary and those that don't"