Canon Digital Rebel,,,,,what flash for night @ Disney??

[Blaze12]

Got the Rebel about a month ago. We have tickets for MNSSHP, MVMCP, and the Pirate and Princess party. Any suggestions on a new flash for taking photos during these parties????

 

[mhutchinson]

The three I am still trying to pick from for my 20D are the Canon 430ex, Canon 580ex, or the Metz 54. Right now I am leaning towards the 580ex for the faster recycle time and slightly better range. But the Metz has that nice fill flash built in to the unit. I have 2 friends that swear by their 430ex.



But it will definitely be one of those three.

Mike

 

[boBQuincy]

I have Canon's 220EX. It's small and light but lacks the power to light up a distant subject unless I use ISO 800 or more.
If I buy another I will go with the 430.

 

[MarkBarbieri]

The 220 can't be angled up to bounce off of the ceiling. That's an unacceptable drawback to me.

Taking good flash photos is very hard. You need to do a lot of research and practice if you want to get good at it. The biggest problem with shooting a flash shot of something straight ahead is that the light level falls off exponentially so things close up are brightly lit and things behind them are not.

Another really handy thing to do with a flash is to move it off of the camera. This can be done with a bracket. That helps remove red-eye problems and adds a bit of texture to the photo. Subjects illuminated straight on from the camera look very flat.