Moonrise & Aurora

Moonrise & Aurora

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1

Could you kindly suggest an external flash for 1000d within 100$ to 150 $. My main interests are portraits and wedding.

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I'm just an amateur, but the conventional wisdom is that 1000D with any cheap flash is not going to be enough to work weddings. Other than that all of the suggestions below would be fine for portraits. I would suggest getting one of the 20'+ ETTL cords as well. – Rob McCready Jul 12 '11 at 23:44

4 Answers

up vote 3 down vote

I've got a Lumopro LP160. This is a nice flash for manual-mode use - it's got power comparable to the 580EX, and a rotating, tilting zoom head. It works as an optical slave, with a mode that ignores TTL pre-flashes. I believe this flash unit is a favorite of the strobist crowd, as they tend to favor manual flash settings, anyway. I paid $160 for mine -- $10 over your budget.

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up vote 2 down vote

If you prefer manual flash, you can try Yongnuo YN-560, or the newly released YN-565EX speedlite. The YN-565EX is said to be a duplicate of the famous Canon 580EX II and is pretty much a 580EX II without HSS and master capabilities but it can be a ETTL or optical slave. A lot of photographers here use this flash and due to its low price, they're very popular among starters.

These flashes might require a little more getting-used-to comparing to Canon branded units, but they are cheap and let you learn the hard way. Also if you ever decide to go pro and buy the 580EX II, you can always use the YN-565 as a slave.

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1  
I second the YN-560, I use it as an off-camera slave and really like it. I plan on buying a YN-565EX soonish. – Dave Nelson Jul 12 '11 at 12:11
Is the 565EX available now? Can't find it for sale anywhere. Have been using the 460II's and love them for their simpleness, but would be nice to have one with some TTL info too – Dreamager Jul 12 '11 at 12:53
A 580EXII w/o a master is a... 430EXII :-) – ysap Jul 12 '11 at 13:47
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As with everything, take care of the experiences and quality of these cheaper options. I just had one YN565EX which died after 4 months. After reading other people's experiences, I'm kind of reluctant to even spend 30$ to ship it back and get a new one... And another thing, YN565EX is both manual and fully automatic flash... – Miljenko Barbir Jan 6 '12 at 11:39
up vote 1 down vote

Try the Metz MZ36, a well respected budget brand. It has E-TTL, which means it can use exposure information taken Through The Lens to work out how much flash is needed. You can also tilt the flash head up to bounce it off the ceiling, essential for avoiding blown out faces.

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up vote 1 down vote

Vivitar 285

I am a big fan of the Vivitar 285.
You might be able to get them for under USD 100 (amazon price today is about 90 bucks).

I have 2, which I have been using for a couple of years now. I use them in conjunction with Catcus 5 radio triggers.

The only annoying thing about them is that they have full power, 1/2, 1/4 and 1/16. 1/8 seems to have mysteriously disappeared!

Still, they're wonderfully robust, reliable, cheap and reasonably powerful.

I also like the twist-to-set power knob, which (to my mind) is much easier than pushing an up or down button several times to get the desired power setting.

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I second Vivitar 285HV.. one of the best and inexpensive manual flashes around. – Sridhar Iyer Jul 12 '11 at 16:38

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