Sigma VS Canon Flashes

Wulven

I have a 30D and i'm looking at flashes. I borrowed a 580 EX from a friend to try out and i'm also looking at a Sigma EF-530 DG Super.

Anyone have experience with that one and any pitfalls?

Thanks much!

Scott_Quier

I have two 580EX and one Sigma 500 DG Super flashes.

For the most part, the Sigma flash works very well. It has nice power, is very compatible with my 20D and 30D - no issues there. The bang-for-the-buck ration on this flash is quite high (that's a good thing, higher is better).

There's only a couple down-sides to the Sigma

• While it provides for high-speed shutter sync, it reverts back to "normal" after every exposure
• Accessing the HSS settings is done through a menu-like structure - it's not real quick
• Of lesser importance - while the head does swivel and rotate, moving the head about these two axis requires that you press two different buttons. On the 580, there is only one release button and this makes for a slightly better interface.
• Build quality is not as nice/solid as the 580EX.

Am I going to sell my DG Super anytime soon. Probably not. I'll probably hang onto it as a third-string backup.

Wulven

great thanks for your reply. I will try the sigma. ~140 buck difference with most of the features seems worth it.

ziggy53

Scott_Quier wrote:

...

There's only a couple down-sides to the Sigma

• While it provides for high-speed shutter sync, it reverts back to "normal" after every exposure
• Accessing the HSS settings is done through a menu-like structure - it's not real quick

...

Scott,

I mostly use the Sigma (EF 500 DG Super) FP flash mode in manual mode of the camera. To set FP mode (start with ETTL mode on the flash) I set the camera shutter speed to maximum normal flash sync speed (1/200th/1/250th depending on my camera), tap the "+" button twice (on the flash unit), and then move the camera shutter to a speed faster than normal sync, say 1/800th. As long as the shutter speed remains faster than normal sync, the flash stays in FP mode.

I just tried this on both the Canon 350D/XT and 1D MKII bodies and the behavior was the same.

I agree that there is absolutely nothing "intuitive" about having to tap the "+" button to change modes, in fact it's a pretty stupid user interface in that regard, but I found that with only a little practice it became second nature.

Would you mind terribly trying this procedure on your cameras and Sigma flash to see if the method works on the Canon 20D/30D bodies as well?

Thanks,

Scott_Quier

Ooops
I mis-remembered the behavior of the Sigma flash. Here's what happens with HSS and the Sigma; as long as the SS stays above 1/250, the HSS stays engaged. But, if you are, for example, shooting in Av, and the SS falls below 1/250 the HSS will disengage. So far, so good. But, what happens if the light changes a bit and the required SS for the selected aperture is now again above 1/250? Because the HSS has disengaged, your SS is not now allowed to go above 1/250 - you get an over-exposed background.

All that being said, if you are shooting manual mode, the shutter speed will not fall below whatever you set it to and the HSS disengage is not an issue. And, truth be told, I'm almost always in manual mode when I'm shooting with flash.

ziggy53

Scott_Quier wrote:

I mis-remembered the behavior of the Sigma flash. Here's what happens with HSS and the Sigma; as long as the SS stays above 1/250, the HSS stays engaged. But, if you are, for example, shooting in Av, and the SS falls below 1/250 the HSS will disengage. So far, so good. But, what happens if the light changes a bit and the required SS for the selected aperture is now again above 1/250? Because the HSS has disengaged, your SS is not now allowed to go above 1/250 - you get an over-exposed background.

All that being said, if you are shooting manual mode, the shutter speed will not fall below whatever you set it to and the HSS disengage is not an issue. And, truth be told, I'm almost always in manual mode when I'm shooting with flash.

That matches my experience.

To be clear, on the Canon 580EX (and I think the latest 580EX II) you set the HS/FP mode by pressing a single button and then you can cruise up and down the shutter speeds as you like, and the flash uses HS/FP mode at speeds above the flash sync speed and works with normal output at sync speeds and below. This is a tremendous convenience especially if you want to "drag shutter" indoors and then have to go outdoors and work against the sun!

Set it (to HS mode) and forget it!

Scott_Quier

ziggy53 wrote:

That matches my experience.

To be clear, on the Canon 580EX (and I think the latest 580EX II) you set the HS/FP mode by pressing a single button and then you can cruise up and down the shutter speeds as you like, and the flash uses HS/FP mode at speeds above the flash sync speed and works with normal output at sync speeds and below. This is a tremendous convenience especially if you want to "drag shutter" indoors and then have to go outdoors and work against the sun!

Set it (to HS mode) and forget it!

Except for the bolded part above, we are on the same sheet. I'm just not sure about the bolded - this is something I would have to research and/or test.