For a newbie, 580ex or 430ex?

TaDa · February 22, 2008

I have been in this hobby now for about 3 months and love every moment of it. With tons of advice from you folks, when I was getting my kit together, I purchased a 580ex flash to go with my kit. I have an offer to trade my 580ex for a NIB 430ex plus $80. From everything that I've read, the two big differences between the flashes are the distance of light that the 580 covers is greater and the 580 can be a master where the 430 can only be a slave.

Honestly, I do not see myself setting up slave units anytime in the near future. I guess what I'm asking is should I trade away my 580 or would I immediately regret my decision? All of the functions that I've been reading up on like E-TTL II, are the same between the two flashes I believe.

Robinivich · February 22, 2008

Currently I have the 430 EX and love it, but I will say that the 580 EX is on my shopping list. Bounce flash is a wonderful wonderful thing, and they both give it to you. My advice, and this is what I expect you'll hear a lot of, go for the 430 first, it's an amazing flash in it's own right, and go from there to see what you need, really the 580ex just has more power, recycle, and master functions. If you know right now that the 430 isn't powerful enough (which seems unlikely) then go for the 580, otherwise save the money until you know you want 2 flashes, etc. (master and slave setups, and a fancying of stroboscopic flash, which I forgot to mention, are the reasons I'll eventually upgrade)

This is what I did, and I'm very happy with the results, I got my first flash faster (less time saving) and learnt what I like and don't like (again havnig spent less), and when I'm ready I'll be growing into the bigger one, and I'll still have the 430 as a slave or for a second body

colourbox · February 22, 2008

TaDa wrote:

I have an offer to trade my 580ex for a NIB 430ex plus $80....Honestly, I do not see myself setting up slave units anytime in the near future. I guess what I'm asking is should I trade away my 580 or would I immediately regret my decision?

Because the new upgraded 580EX II is out, you could entertain this option: Go for the trade. Then, a couple years down the road if you get serious about multiple flashes, you buy the 580EX II. You use that as your master and your 430ex as the slave.

ivar · February 22, 2008

I don't have a 580, but I do have a 430. I've never felt like I needed a different flash yet. I kinda like TaDa's suggestion actually.

evoryware · February 22, 2008

I have both. I can control my 580EX by 1/3 stops and the 580EX can control my 430's by 1/3 stops. The 430 as a Master seems to only do full stops.

Also my 430's eat my batteries in about 2 days when left off, but the 580EX last over a week on the same rechargable batteries. This is why my 580EX is always with me and my 430's tend to stay home.
I am going to sell one 430, but keep the other for location stuff. It will fit in my Slingshot 300 better than an Alien Bee.

ivar · February 22, 2008

evoryware wrote:

The 430 as a Master seems to only do full stops.

what do you mean?

Manfr3d · February 22, 2008

TaDa wrote:

I have been in this hobby now for about 3 months and love every moment of it. With tons of advice from you folks, when I was getting my kit together, I purchased a 580ex flash to go with my kit. I have an offer to trade my 580ex for a NIB 430ex plus $80. From everything that I've read, the two big differences between the flashes are the distance of light that the 580 covers is greater and the 580 can be a master where the 430 can only be a slave.

Honestly, I do not see myself setting up slave units anytime in the near future. I guess what I'm asking is should I trade away my 580 or would I immediately regret my decision? All of the functions that I've been reading up on like E-TTL II, are the same between the two flashes I believe.

I bought the 580EX II as my first automatic Flash for my Camera. I knew
that one day I would upgrade from a 430EX if I bought it so I saved a bit
and got the big gun in the first place. The speed and power is amazing
and I've already run into situations where a 430EX would've been to weak.

This photo is pretty horrible but you get an idea of the power of the 580EX II:

The gym holds 3 basketballcourts. Flash was pointed upwards with
catchlight card pulled out (hence the overexposed foreground).
Zoomhead was at 24mm. Camera at f4 with 10mm wide angle lens and ISO 1600.

TaDa · February 22, 2008

Thanks for all the feedback guys. When you factor in PP fees and shipping, it would have been damn near a push, and I've decided to hold on to the 580. The extra reach comes in handy when I'm trying to take some distant pictures of my son sitting in his seat at Madison Square Garden and the like, and with the faster recharge rate, I will miss less of those "perfect" pictures as I seem to shoot in a lot of dark locations.

Thanks a ton all. Everything I heard is that the 430 is a great starter flash, but since I have the 580 as my starter flash, even better. That concert picture pretty much says it all. That flash looks like it lit up the whole hall.

evoryware · February 24, 2008

The 580EX can shoot @ 1/3 stops of power. The 430EX shoots full stops unless it is set as slave to the 580EX.

430EX master does full stops of power:
1/1, 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, 1/16, 1/32, 1/64, 1/128

580 EX and 430 as it's slave can do:
1/1, 1/1 - 0.3, 1/1 - 0.7, 1/2, 1/2 -0.3, 1/2 -0.7, 1/4, 1/4 -0.3, 1/4 -0.7, 1/8, 1/8 -0.3, 1/8 -0.7, 1/16
etc to 1/128

sometimes I just need a minor adjustment.

edit: yeah if I drop from 1/32 to 1/64 I go from f/11 to f/8 as an example.

For a newbie, 580ex or 430ex?

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