I've been looking for a more powerful flash to use with my BB now that I have a long lens (as well as for other general photography). I have a Canon 430, but had been considering getting myself a 580 (the 600 is considerably more than I am willing to spend). I've recently been reading good things about the Nissin Di 866 mk II which has a similar GN to the Canon but is considerably less expensive. Does anyone have experience with this unit?
I don't know the answer about the Nissin, but an important consideration is whether there's a BB model that will sit securely on the head of that flash.
Years ago I had success customising one of the BB models for a 420EX (mainly padded out with adhesive felt). Later they noted that the 420EX wasn't supported, but it had worked for me. I later updated to a 580EX which I'm still using. Customising a BB might work, but it is easier if they actually support it.
Incidentally I still use that 420EX as a slave in the studio for E-TTL work, although the tiny switch I wired into it which locks the zoom at 50mm is no longer really useful.
One advantage of the 600EX and the 'II' flashes is the ability to set flash configuration via the camera's onboard menus. Occasionally I want to tweak one of the 580EX's custom functions and have to check the PDF manual in my phone to remember which number means what. At those points I wish I had a 580EX II.
I'm not sure what the menu/etc interface is like on the Nissin.
In the same vein, there are some flash UI features that are useful with the BB:
Can you manipulate the zoom setting? Sometimes just slightly off from 50mm is advantageous (e.g. something closer to 35mm if using a 1.6x crop body - even if that seems counterintuitive).
Does the flash's LCD give you feedback about available distance based on the camera's current ISO and aperture settings? With the 580EX I find this makes using manual fill-flash easy.
Hmmm, David, I hadn't thought of that. I have a BB for my 430, but hadn't considered the BB issue with this flash. I could contact the BB folks and see what they recommend. As for your questions, it is my understanding that it does everything the 580 EX II does plus. It is controllable from the camera menu, does work as master and slave, and actually has a second flash head for portrait lighting. I just don't know about any quality/durability issues.
interesting Charlie, so it has more reach than the 580. I've just ordered a 600 for a wedding next weekend so I'll be interested to see how it performs.
I got to say, I have the 600EX-RT flash (first speedlite, so can't compare), but plenty powerful. As Charlie states, I also have no need for the Better Beamer when photographing songbirds at set-ups close range, does better with out it. However I still use the BBeamer in the field when I need flash at unpredictable ranges. As for price, there's not a big difference between the 580 & the 600 so I went with the 600.
This is all very interesting, but a bit off-topic. As much as I would love a 600, its not possible. I'm looking at a used 580 EX II vs. a new Nissin. Does ANYONE have any experience with the Nissin?
I seriously wouldn't recommend a third-party speedlite for a Canon EOS sytem, but that's just me, for compatability reasons. I would definitly go for the used 580 EX II with out question as it "was" the standard for bird photography with a BBeamer.
Flash recommendations
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