Canon Speedlite 580EX II Flash for Canon EOS Digital SLR Cameras

I have to give praise to Amazon and the Canon 580EX II. The delivery was a day ahead of the schedule date of delivery and the pricing is unbelievable compared to anybody else! I will be purchasing another one!

I just started shooting weddings this year, and thought I could make do with just a 430ex. Then I went to a friends wedding, and their photographer shot 9 quick shots in a row with his flash, and I was wondering, wow how did he do that?

Then I saw that he had this 580exII and the CP-E4 external power pack. Once I got this combo, it made a night and day difference. Don't have to worry about whether or not my flash will be charged when something special happens. Don't have to worry about changing batteries. This combo is a must for any low light photographer.

I've tried many substitute Flash attachments for my Canon cameras over the years. Being as "cheap" as I am, I delayed this purchse for years. What a mistake. This is a great device and has exceeded my expectations in every way.

From page one of the manual:

"Cautions for firing continuous flashes
* To avoid overheating and degrading the flash
head, do not fire more than 20 continuous
flashes. After 20 continuous flashes, allow a rest
time of at least 10 min.
* If you fire more than 20 continuous flashes and
then fire more flashes in short intervals, the
inner overheating prevention function may be
activated to make the recycling time about 8 to
20 sec. If this occurs, allow a rest time of about
15 min. and the flash will then return to normal."

The business end of the flash head browned and melted during the first shoot. It would still fire, but not zoom. It was powered by Duracell 2650mAh NiMH rechargeable AAs and had an Expo Imaging Ray Flash attached to it. It was mounted on a 1D Mark III with 90mm TS-E. It started functioning normally after it cooled down, but I took it back anyway. The 580EX II with Ray flash is a GREAT light weight on camera fill, but this combo is no good for shooting continuously for extended periods (about 3 minutes or longer.) Maybe the Nikon SB-900 if you can live without ttl? Otherwise, Alien Bees or Profoto will do, but at greater expense and much greater weight. The Ray Flash did include two shims, which allowed me to mount it on an old Nikon SB-80DX, but I only took a few test shots with that combo before I returned both items. Good luck!

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My wife was anticipating getting this new flash, as it was for her photography business and it had come time for her to upgrade and update her equipment, so of course when she got it, she loved it. Just one of the things that she liked about it was the fact that it is a lot easier to mount onto the camera. No, more turning to tighten and un-tighten that pain in the finger wheel on her old flash. This is a must have flash.