Fix my 580EX or go to a qflash

jbakerphoto

So I think I fried my canon 580EX flash. The pilot light will not come on any more. Canon is quoteing a fix it price of 183 so that is well 183 bucks... I mostly shoot horse event and I have just started doing senior portriats. (I did 2 in april) I used the 580 ex off the camera in manual mode for both applications. I might shoot with it on camera 10-20 % of the time. I have been toying with the idea that maybe a quantum flash might be a better solution for me for now. (More Power, faster recycle,ect!!!) I have been looking on ebay for used ones (dont even want to talk about a new one) and there are several qflash t2 for around 250ish (last week there was one with the turbo battery pack for 250ish). The only thing I could see messing me up is if i ever decide to start shooting indoor people events I might be wishing I had something on camera or if I wanted to go to a ettl radio slaves to get access to high speed sync and ettl off camera. So what do yall think? Dump the 580 ex (fix it later) and go to qflash or fix the 580ex. Thanks in advance....

ziggy53

While I like Quantum flashes, it is my understanding that they do not support E-TTL II, only E-TTL. The distinction is that E-TTL II adds distance information from the lens (using a compatible lens which supplies distance information). E-TTL by itself is not bad but it can create overexposed subjects in situations with a dark or distant background. If the subject is generally in the central portion of the frame then you can use center-weighted mode instead of matrix metering, and that is said to help.

If you don't need to add an external, high-voltage batter pack (aka the Canon CP-E3 or CP-E4) I rather like the Sigma DG Super flashes.

A Sigma EF-610 DG Super with Canon E-TTL II compatibility is around $250USD and has very similar power and capabilities compared to the Canon 580EX.

http://www.adorama.com/SG610EOS.html?utm_term=Other&utm_medium=Shopping%20Site&utm_campaign=Other&utm_source=gbase

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/741717-REG/Sigma_189101_EF610_DG_Super_Flash.html