Which Flash?

Wires

Wires

Wires

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Hi,

I have been asked to do some friends wedding photos in June and August.

I mainly take photos as a hobby an not much more than that. My friend knows this but they don't have the budget to afford a professional wedding photographer and so asked me.

I only have a standard hot shoe flash which I do not think will be good enough for wedding photos.

So my question is Which flash to get?

I would prefer it to be a canon flash or a flash that is very good and compatible with canon cameras. Budget is a max of £200.

Thanks.
 
canon ex 430 would do the job well.
Though as everyone will say - wedding for friends is not a good idea, especially if you have never done a wedding before or even shadowed one.

they will place an expectation on you , regardless of what they tell you - id avoid.
 
I have done some assisting at weddings but mainly just being a pet ect only taking photos once the person I was assisting had finished. But I understand what you are saying.

Thanks for the advice on the flash too it was the one I was thinking of getting just wanted to see other peoples opinions.
 
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the 430 is a good choice

i would also say its not a good idea, but if your going to go for it, get LOTS of practice with the flash before hand
 
Yea I will be pestering a lot of ppl for help with practice even meeting up with the bride to be a lot to talk about it before the day.
 
good luck, hope it goes well for you

its good to have a proper flash anyway, so good to have your own.
 
iamtheoneneo said:
canon ex 430 would do the job well.
Though as everyone will say - wedding for friends is not a good idea, especially if you have never done a wedding before or even shadowed one.

they will place an expectation on you , regardless of what they tell you - id avoid.
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I've done countless family/friends weddings as a very amateur 'tog and there's never been a question of 'expectations'..

@the OP, I would however sit down and explain your concerns about expectations etc.. quite frankly if the alternative is 'nothing or Uncle Buck and his P&S', I'm sure they will know anything is a bonus..
 
I have explained to them my lack of experience and concerns with doing it and they understand but literally the alternative is her uncle doing it who mainly takes nature shots and ofc he will be there doing it as well. I at least have some studio experience and like I say being an assistant to a wedding photographer.

I try to avoid this kind of photography due to all the planning around the day and being kept to what tends to be a strict time schedule.
 
Yongnou 565EX is a copy of the canon 580II at half the price. Well within budget! Also works with wireless triggers if you fancy messing with stylish shots.

Only downside is it doesn't come with a stofen, yet it does come with a white card which will prove useful.
 
Just to warn you, on-camera flash photography is a whole different game than to just using natural light, especially in low light (instead of just fill flash).
And then off-camera flash is a whole different level to on-camera flash.
With little practise, it's quite easy to underexpose or overexpose shots, or even get the lighting completely wrong.
So whatever you're doing make sure you get tons of practise in before the day.
 
James J said:
Yongnou 565EX is a copy of the canon 580II at half the price. Well within budget! Also works with wireless triggers if you fancy messing with stylish shots.

Only downside is it doesn't come with a stofen, yet it does come with a white card which will prove useful.
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Don't they? Both the YN-560s I have came with stofens. That's a shame, but tbh a gary fong *ahem* inspired *ahem* mod isn't to hard to find for a few pennies and they're arguably more useful.
 
Ksanti said:
Don't they? Both the YN-560s I have came with stofens. That's a shame, but tbh a gary fong *ahem* inspired *ahem* mod isn't to hard to find for a few pennies and they're arguably more useful.
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Mine didn't sadly :( Bought it last week and it definitely didn't come with one which I had to source separately which was annoying. I've looked at the DIY approaches but I don't have the time at the moment to try them sadly.
 
My 568 came with a Stofen, they should all come with the "free gift" in the box - are you sure you didn't chuck it out? They're not in the main box :)

As for a flash, one other cheaper option to look at would be a 2nd hand 550EX. They're built like tanks and pretty much last forever so no worries about 2nd hand, and they have the added advantage of being able to run as a master should you ever decide to use multiple flashes using ETTL.
 
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Yongnuo flashes don't officially come with a stofen, as in that they aren't included in the box. Most companies that sell them give it for free though.
 
I've just ordered a Yongnuo YN565EX for £103. It will be my first flash but after reading reviews it seems to be great value for money. It is almost a carbon copy of the Canon 580 EXii but at a 3rd of the price.

The only thing it hasn't got that I may wish it had later is high speed sync but I wouldn't use it much so for the saving it was a no brainer.
 
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maximusmi2 said:
I've just ordered a Yongnuo YN565EX for £103. It will be my first flash but after reading reviews it seems to be great value for money. It is almost a carbon copy of the Canon 580 EXii but at a 3rd of the price.

The only thing it hasn't got that I may wish it had later is high speed sync but I wouldn't use it much so for the saving it was a no brainer.
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I got one recently. Love it to bits :)
 
The 565 is excellent bang for the buck.. just make sure you buy it with warranty :-)

Feature wise, it loses master mode, HSS, slightly less adjustable head and the modelling light is completely useless. The external build quality is excellent though, on par with my Canon flashes.
 
I need to upgrade my 468 to 565 at some point.. 565 has plenty more power!

Beepcake said:
Feature wise, it loses master mode, HSS, slightly less adjustable head and the modelling light is completely useless. The external build quality is excellent though, on par with my Canon flashes.
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It still has slave TTL so very handy if your camera has built-in commander function.
 
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