MarkBarbieri
Semi-retired
- Joined
- Aug 20, 2006
- Messages
- 6,172
I just got a trio of Canon 600EX-RT flashes. I find it interesting that the Canon 1D-X and 5D Mark III are getting tons of press but the flashes are hardly mentioned. Both cameras are very nice, but they are just revolutionary upgrades of their predecessors (unlike a revolutionary camera like the Nikon D800). The flashes, on the other hand, are truly special in that they are radio controlled.
Why is radio control a big deal? Because if you've ever done multi flash shoots with optical slaves, you know what a pain it is to control the slaves. You have to make sure that every slave's sensor has a direct line of site to the master flash. That ranges from being a minor difficulty to requiring major hassles depending on where your slaves are. Now, with the radio controlled flash, you can put the slaves anywhere nearby and they will fire regardless of whether you can see them.
There are other advantages as well. The slaves can now talk back to the master. They can let the master flash know when they are ready. You can even set up a beep to sound when all the flashes are ready to fire.
There are some other improvements. The zoom range increased from the old 24mm-105mm to 20mm-200mm. That helps not just with telephoto lenses, but also with the ability to manually zoom in the flash to concentrate light on one area of your picture.
They also made huge improvements to the flash controls. In the past, I had to bring my manual with me when I wanted to do anything non-trivial because it was so complicated. They've added several buttons and little LCD labels over the buttons. They have also color coded the light so that you can quickly see if the flash is in normal mode, master mode, or slave mode. There is another light that tells you whether the flash is in radio contact, so no more "did it fire? What about now, did it fire?" games as you try to get the master/slave relationships set up.
As you can tell, I'm really excited about the new flashes. I work with my wife on these multi-flash shoots and struggling to get flashes working right in the field is really annoying because it frustrates her and wastes your subjects time. I think flash issues have been my highest stress inducer when doing shoots. These should go a long way to reducing that stress.
There are downsides to the new flashes. I haven't measured or done a direct comparison, but they feel heavier than the 580EXII flashes (which weren't small to be begin with). They don't have a simple optical slave, although you can buy a small one cheap. The biggest downside is the price. These things are selling for just over $600 each. Assuming you want to take advantage of the radio links, you'll need more than one, so it isn't a cheap upgrade.
They are so much better that I expect a flood of used 580's and 430's to hit the market pretty soon. Is it better to snap up those bargains or wait until you can afford the RT flashes? Everyone has to decide that on their own. Eventually, the RT technology will filter down to the cheaper flashes. I also expect that Nikon will have to answer with their own radio controlled flashes. So if you can't get one now, just know that they will eventually be coming to all brands and price ranges.
Why is radio control a big deal? Because if you've ever done multi flash shoots with optical slaves, you know what a pain it is to control the slaves. You have to make sure that every slave's sensor has a direct line of site to the master flash. That ranges from being a minor difficulty to requiring major hassles depending on where your slaves are. Now, with the radio controlled flash, you can put the slaves anywhere nearby and they will fire regardless of whether you can see them.
There are other advantages as well. The slaves can now talk back to the master. They can let the master flash know when they are ready. You can even set up a beep to sound when all the flashes are ready to fire.
There are some other improvements. The zoom range increased from the old 24mm-105mm to 20mm-200mm. That helps not just with telephoto lenses, but also with the ability to manually zoom in the flash to concentrate light on one area of your picture.
They also made huge improvements to the flash controls. In the past, I had to bring my manual with me when I wanted to do anything non-trivial because it was so complicated. They've added several buttons and little LCD labels over the buttons. They have also color coded the light so that you can quickly see if the flash is in normal mode, master mode, or slave mode. There is another light that tells you whether the flash is in radio contact, so no more "did it fire? What about now, did it fire?" games as you try to get the master/slave relationships set up.
As you can tell, I'm really excited about the new flashes. I work with my wife on these multi-flash shoots and struggling to get flashes working right in the field is really annoying because it frustrates her and wastes your subjects time. I think flash issues have been my highest stress inducer when doing shoots. These should go a long way to reducing that stress.
There are downsides to the new flashes. I haven't measured or done a direct comparison, but they feel heavier than the 580EXII flashes (which weren't small to be begin with). They don't have a simple optical slave, although you can buy a small one cheap. The biggest downside is the price. These things are selling for just over $600 each. Assuming you want to take advantage of the radio links, you'll need more than one, so it isn't a cheap upgrade.
They are so much better that I expect a flood of used 580's and 430's to hit the market pretty soon. Is it better to snap up those bargains or wait until you can afford the RT flashes? Everyone has to decide that on their own. Eventually, the RT technology will filter down to the cheaper flashes. I also expect that Nikon will have to answer with their own radio controlled flashes. So if you can't get one now, just know that they will eventually be coming to all brands and price ranges.
