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

The Canon Speedlite 580 EX is the best investment I could have made for my camera. The recycle times are next to nothing with fresh batteries but once the batteries start to get to the end of their life it recycles times are a bit longer. I can't express how much I love this little piece of equipment. It makes the photos i take just that much better. I've recieved more compliments on my photography since I've used it. The only bad thing about it is that its a little heavy, but not too heavy.

I highly recommend this product to all of my friends!

When I purchased this I thought that it was going to be the holy grail of flash units. I had two 430EX units that I could not slave to, it was upgraded from the 580EX but what I got was a unit that has failed me so many times that I don't even carry it with me. First, this unit will work fine for the first 15 shots, but after that it freezes up, it won't fire, it won't react to any of the buttons on the back and it actually locks up my 40D to where I have to remove the battery AND the CF card to get my camera to work again even if I take the flash off. I've read that it gets too hot, that there is a problem with the wiring in the base etc, but why hasn't canon said something more about this? I would figure that their flag ship product would be hands down the best ever, but alas, nothing. I would not purchase this unit until Canon first admits they have a problem and then goes out and fixes it and even recalls the units out there so those of us with them can have a working unit.

Sorry to have a bad review on it but I wasted my money when I got this flash unit.

Side note, the first 10-15 flashes do work very well, but again, you would expect more than that. (yes I've checked the batteries, changed them and done all that others have suggested online before I posted this review).

Hope this helps someone out there.

Douglas.

Bought this as a gift for my wife. She is just getting into photography, but she loves it. Good for beginners all the way up to professionals. fast, easy to adjust, relatively inexpensive.

I'm from Canada and just recently ordered and received this 580 EX II flash; I will deffenitly order from this supplier again, Amazon is great, I saved $ 248.00 from buying in Canada and yes, I paid the taxes at the border. I have used the flash a number of times and it is everything you read in these articles, just amazing... perfect tone and balance, no shadows, when using the bounce... if you don't have a detachable flash for your DSLR and take family photos, your missing out; this flash makes great photos, just amazing... great job Canon... Thanks Amazon...

This flash is powerful. I bought this flash to replace my broken one (lumopro lp120) and this flash just amazes me. I always use manual mode because i use it as a off camera flash (appreciates the pc port), but when it's on the camera, ETTL works awesome. It's twice the power of my previous flash. There's no noise except for the little tick when the flash fires. Recycle time is quick at 3 secs full power with fresh nimh batteries. I only wish it wasn't so pricey, but i guess you get what you pay for. The built quality is top notch.