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

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I am photographing my cousins wedding and I really want to make sure that my photos will come out excellent, so I was looking around for a good speedflash. I was considering a LED ring, but after reading a blog by a photographer who does weddings and uses a 580EX II, I knew I had to spend some money into a great flash. This thing was not cheap, but its definitely worth the investment. I bought this along with a Gary Fong lightsphere and it is awesome! I did so many different tests with this flash. Some with the lightsphere and some without. Even without the sphere, the flash itself is incredible. I took my camera into my bedroom at night, turned on my bedroom light, which is a bit orange, and took some sample photos. The flash made my room look like it was sunny. I couldnt believe it. No gross dark shadows behind things. The flash takes 4 AA batteries, has a great locking switch so it will never slip off the hot shoe, and it comes with a leather pouch. I honestly love this thing the second I took a photo with it. If youre going to shoot events, especially at night or in poor lit areas, you need this flash! Ive never raved so hard about something, but this deserves attention. Incredible! I added some photos so you can see how awesome it is. The 1st photo is with the Gary Fong Lightsphere. The 2nd photo is with the 580X II. The 3rd one is with the Canon EOS 7D Mark II built in flash. And the 4th photo is without flash.

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It is really unbelievable how "smart" this flash is. That flash reads the light through the lens of the camera, knows your camera settings and adds the amount of light needed to make up the exposure. It helps the lens find focus with a little red flash. There are so many features. It can function as a master flash controlling multiple slave flashes. It is reading the light evaluating your setting and communicating with other flashes all in small fractions of a second. It can be used off camera either wired or with radio transmitters or as a slave itself. I am no pro by any means. I did do a favor wedding. I found out quick, during the father daughter dance, that I couldnt focus because I didnt have enough light. I was trying to be cute and use radio transmitter to trigger 3 remote flashes. That would be fine but with no focus there is no photo, no flash from the remote flashes at all. People with point and shoot cameras were taking pictures. I am about to crap my pants. It dawned on me that I have to have my 580EX II on the camera for the focus assist (red light). I quickly recovered and caught the last half of the dance.

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I love my two Canon Speedlite flashes, which I use sometimes on-camera, and sometimes off-camera with the ST-E2 infrared controller. All these devices include an autofocus assist beam, which is nice, because my EOS 5D3 and 1D4 bodies do not have flashes or AF lights. Sometimes I use the ST-E2 purely for that feature alone. Speedlite 580EX II (bought December 2009) This is a very reliable, easy-to-use flash. It replaced a Speedlite 550EX, which was quite complicated to operate. Unlike the old 550EX, you push in one button and you can tilt and swivel the flash head with ease. The flash recharges quickly and gets lots of shots out of a set of batteries (see note). The flash can act as a master or slave with another Speedlite via infrared; I use it with the SE-E2 below. It’s a bright flash, with a guide number of 190ft. The zoom on this flash is 24-105mm, or 14mm with the extendable panel. I keep this flash in “slave” mode. The 600 below is much easier to use and more versatile. However, if you can pick up a 580EX II for a good price, it makes a good slave — assuming of course that you’re controlling via infrared. If you might want to go radio frequency, it’s of no use unless you use a Pocket Wizard or some such. Speedlite 600EX-RT (bought July 2012) This is the flash I use most often, because it’s slightly brighter, and the automatic zoom has the best range. (Though in practice, I can’t see the difference in brightness compared with the 580EX II.) Both have the one-button release for tilting and swiveling. Although this flash’s specs say that it’s a little bit brighter than the older model, with a guide number of 197ft, in practice it’s the same. I like the width of the coverage, from 20mm-200mm, with the extendable panel bringing it to 14mm. The 600EX-RT can work as a master/slave with either infrared or radio frequency. I’m committed to infrared because I have the ST-E2 master (which is infrared, as opposed to the ST-E3 which is radio), and because my other flash is infrared-only. If I were starting over, I’d go radio, because in order to use infrared the “eye” on the slaves has to be able to see the infrared beam from the master. Maybe some day I’ll sell the 580EX II and the ST-E2 and move to a full radio frequency system. I switch this flash from standalone mode to slave mode, depending on what I’m doing. Fortunately it’s easy to make that change. Speedlite ST-E2 (bought January 2011) I use this mainly to control the 580EX II and 600EX-RT flashes, but sometimes use it standalone if I want the autofocus assist light. HINT: The 580 and 600 flashes work best with lithium AA batteries. You get a lot more flashes than with alkaline batteries. I keep eight of them in my camera bag. The ST-E2 uses a 2CR5 battery, and I keep one spare in my camera bag. HINT: Both the 580 and 600 flashes have tripod mounting sockets on the side, hidden under rubber covers. Those are really handy! They also come with “feet” with tripod sockets which are good for when you don’t need to use a full tripod.

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Its a fairly rugged flash that works fairly well in ETTL mode. I get very consistent, , very good results. Definitely a pro level flash. I can control flash exposure compensation from the back of my camera (Canon 5D mark II),. Flash swivels the full 360. I bought mine in a very used state and it seems to be holding up well. Some nights I will take 450 flash shots at an event, sometimes taking 3 shots rapidly in multi firing mode. The flash is able to recycle and keep up. I can take about 250 shots before the recycle time starts to lag enough that I have to swap in a second set of rechargeable batteries. If you are debating the 430EX versus the 580EX II, go for the 580. The extra power is needed should you decide to bounce the flash. Its not all that super powerfully anyways. It feels slightly above average in the power department, which is enough a vast majority of situations. The 360 degree swivel head is definitely helpful. The flash and batteries definitely add a bit of weight to your rig, but thats the price to pay for controlling lighting where ambient really isnt going to cut it.

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I have owned this unit only a few months and am finally getting around to learning how it works. I think it will be okay, but it has a serious flaw as of the moment, and tomorrow morning I will have it shipped out to a Canon Service Facility. Because of difficulties trying to slide the unit onto the camera and the inability to get the lock lever to "click" into position, I posted a message on the Canon Community Forum. The person responding said that the Mounting Foot apparently may be too tight and the Lock Lever will not slide all the way to the right so that the Lock Release button engages and locks the foot to the camera. I am hoping that when it is repaired / replaced, the unit will work properly. I have read about some other problems people have had with this unit also, and I hope I do not encounter those later on. I am beginning to work with this flash unit. First, I own a Canon 80D. Apparently the less expensive Canon camera models have limitations when working with Speedlites, especially when they are set as a "slave" and are off camera. More limitations when on manual mode. When the unit is set as a slave and is off camera, the flash synchronization button does not work (first curtain, second curtain, high speed sync).. When the camera is a slave, on manual, the "group" will not show. On the built-in flash settings, the Shutter Sync. is "grayed out". The only way all the functions can be controlled from the Canon 80D is if the flash unit is in the hot shoe or if you buy an off camera TTL cord. Off camera slave use is controlled by an "optical" beam. Now, if you owned the Canon 7D or more expensive Canon cameras, none of these problems would exist. Literally everything can be controlled on the camera, even when the flash is set as a slave and is off the camera. No fair. Something tells me that for those of us who own the more affordable Canon camera models, even the 600EX II will set off the same set of limitations. I may be wrong, but that is my gut feeling. Only the high end Canon cameras come with radio transmitters. The rest of us are stuck with the optical wireless communication system.

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It`s a must have product especially if you use it in dark places or for professional work. Indoors and in smaller rooms, it is effective when used as a bounce flash off the ceiling or walls, creating a nice, even soft light, especially if the reflective surfaces are white. Now i have 2 of these. easy to work with no matter where. Perfect if you are traveling by plane, you will always have good light. If you have auto focus lense, it`s THE BEST way to use the infra-red focus system of the flash. It doesn matter how dark it is, you will have your subject focused really fast.

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The prouct works as advertised. I know why didnt I just by the EX600. Well because I like the EX580 II its a work horse. One of my flashes broke during a shoot. It was already damage prior too. I do weddings and have been using the 580EX II speedlight for over 9 years. It does a great job. It is a pro flash by the way. This was Cannons flagship back in the day ran about the same price as the 600 series and new 480 III and it still a great flash. I pair it with the pocket wizard and my skills and off we go we are in pro level with out the high cost. I am glad I am getting them at this price very resonable even at a used price range. Dont miss out on these deals as some will learn that if your not doing off camera flash then you dont need to spend a lot on a flash. If you are getting into photography then this is the flash to get for the price. There are a lot of videos on how to use and the manual is very specific. You do not have to spend $7000 on equipment and accessories to be a pro its all in the lighting and the eye of the photographer. I am

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I have had this flash since July 2007. It is very decently weather- and dust-proof: I live in Costa Rica, have used it in rain forest and on the beach and it still works just fine. It is quite powerful with an guide number of 58m (hence the "580" name) when zoomed at its maximum of 105mm full frame equivalent (on a crop sensor it is covers the same field of view as a 70mm since the "focal distance" of the flash does not depend on the sensor size - yes I know, it can be confusing). The main features, as you most likely know, are its capability to do multi (i.e. stroboscopic) flash and to be master as well as slave remote controlled in ETTL with the legacy Canon optical control. Would I buy the same now if I were to break it? I would probably even though the 600Ex-RT ( Canon Speedlite 600EX-RT Flash ) goes for about the same price and proposes direct radio control in addition to the normal optical remote control we got to appreciate with the 580 and 430 (slave only for the latter). The 600 is a serious contender considering the ISO range of recent cameras. If I understand correcty, the 580 is much more powerful than the 600: the total amount of light required of the 600 to get a NG 60m zoomed @ 200mm is less than a third of that required of the 580 to get a NG 58m zoomed @ 105mm. In other words, the NG of the 600 if limited to 105mm zoom would be around 20 (assuming the same light losses which is irrealistic). Or, to put it another way, the energy delivered by a 600 to get a NG of 60m is concentrated on less than a third of the surface covered by the 580 for the same measurement. If I am right, then it makes the 600 actually weaker than the 430, although otherwise much better endowed in the features department. In reality the energy delivered by the 600 is most certainly above a third of that put out by the 580 as there are necessarily bigger losses in the extended zoom; yet I would be very surprised that the flash is as powerful as the 580: zooming from 105 to 200 and only increasing the NG by 2 meters would not be very efficient. This would certainly explain why so many people who shoot events report less thermal shutdowns with the 600: if it releases less energy, it heats up more slowly! Also the head of the 600 is bigger not because it is more powerful but because it has a longer zoom: 200mm instead of 105mm. However whoever does remote flash control with the native optical master has struggled with the line of sight limitation as well as the 80 degrees field of control from the 580 as a master (or worse the popup fash of the 7D or the 60D, very useful but necessarily pointing straight ahead). The 600 gets rid of that limitation and this is a serious advantage, but you will need at least one 600 and a ST-E3-RT to control it in addition to your camera to get just one remote flash, as opposed to one 580 or a 430 and a remote capable camera (7D or 60D) for the optical remote control. The 580 remains a very good flash and if you dont mind the line-of-sight/80 degrees requirement or if you need a powerful flash to freeze motion in a wide area, the 580 should fit your bill better than the weaker 600. However if you shoot with a 5DIII at 3200 ISO and want a flash for the future, the 600 should be your choice. Other advantages of the 600 over the 580: Its wider range of zoom allows a better control of light distribution down to 20mm (instead of 24 for the 580) and its longer zoom set in manual can be used for a tighter snoot, although I prefer using grids anyway for the quality of the feathering. It also features a mechanism to hold gels although I am not a priori convinced of its usefulness - the ExpoImaging ROGUEGELS-U Rogue Photographic Design Rogue Gels Universal Lighting Filter Kit already work on any cobra flash with a simple elastic band. Then it has apparently a much better screen with two differnt backlight colors used to distinguish masters from slaves and report overheating units. Better menus are certainly... better, although once one gets used to the 580Ex-II and it idiosyncrasies it wont make much of a difference (think explicit menu option instead of holding the zoom button down to go to remote setup). As for me I am not replacing my 580Ex-II any time soon unless I break it or get robbed, and then I might very well replace it with another 580 just to get the power to light wide scenes from some distance. We will see. ________________________ Edited in July 2014: The 580 ExII remains an excellent flash but I have learned quite a lot in the intervening years. Except when shooting events and mingling in the crowd, where getting a proper exposure essentially mandates TTL, and filling in shadows in bright sunlight where you want the high speed sync feature, I mostly use this flash in manual. If this is how you want to use it, dont spend so much on a single flash when for the current price of $679.99 + $5.49 shipping you can get nine YN-560III with embedded YN603 receivers plus a set of YN603 transceivers to trigger them all. This does not mean you should not consider a 580 ExII for the situations I mentioned above, but if what you do is flashlit landscape at sunset or studio photography, you are better off with more numerous lights to position here and there for much less $$$.

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I own more than one Canon 580EX II flash. They work well both on-camera and off-camera. I use them mounted on my Canon 7D and the 5D. I have bounced them off of umbrellas; shot through soft boxes; used several of them at the same time; and they worked as promised. The learning curve is a little high only because one has to learn what all of the little symbols means and which settings do what. I use disposable AA batteries in mine and the recycle time never seems to get long enough that I notice. My only misgiving is that these things just cost way more than they should. I have been in the wholesale photographic equipment business for a few decades and I know that many manufacturers set their prices for accessory equipment based on the price of the cameras that they are designed for. I just have to say the six hundred dollars is way more than a flash like this should cost, no matter what it does. Having said that, I will still probably buy more of these (or its successor) when I need them.

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Man, whats not to like??? Sure you can go and buy a cheaper, older used model, (you couldnt go wrong there) but then you miss out on all the other cool attributes of this monster of a flash. It was release in 2007, and they have yet to release a "later greater model". The metal hot shoe is a huge upgrade. I have a 420 ex, and the plastic shoe on that baby broke once dropped. I got it repaired for 60 bucks, (so no biggie). And even though I dont plan to drop this one, you would think that the metal shoe would hold up. It does work right out the box, however it takes some time and education on the product to start achieving the shots you want. This is good because you become a better photographer when you know your equipment. Trust me, you dont want to be a know it all in this area, read some literature if your new to iTTL. Invest some time reading the owners manual, (because there is sooooooo much to 580 ex II). Amazon shipped it fast. (Their pretty good at this) If ordered directly from Amazon the product is not a Grey market flash. (this = Factory warrantee) And, at this price, its cheaper than buying from another legitimate business.

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