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

I've just started using the product, but so far it fully meets my expectations. Good power, nice color balance, and easy to use.

I don't have any problem with this flash, but I do have a problem with Amazon. It said that there is a fifty dollar coupon, so I assumed (incorrectly) that my price would the 370.00 less the coupon for 320.00 Low and behold I found out 370.00 was the price after the coupon. No one is selling this darned flash for 420.00. I wish flakey practices and gimmicks like this would stop. I'm really frustrated.

Three Canon 580EX II speedlights form the core of my location lighting kit, supplemented by 2 Canon 540EX speedlights. The 580EX II is fast, powerful, easy to use, flexible, built like a tank and is smarter than you and I combined. The 540EX has the same Master/Slave, ETTL and manual circuitry as its newer cousin, about as much power, and sells on Ebay for about $200 or so. The 580EX II is very flexible, very dependable, has a fast recycle time, has twice as much power as a Nikon 800 flash, and the fastest control panel operation I have ever used. The key is a circular control wheel to change modes and settings, similar to the circular wheel on the back of most Canon DSLRs. The design is so good that Nikon stole it for their new generation 900 flash unit.

Canon EX series flash units are controlled by coded pre-flashes rather than infrared light, as are Nikon units. These pre-flashes happen so quickly that one can barely see them. The 580EX II can control three separate groups of flash units (a,b,c) with a virtually unlimited number of flashes assigned to each group. With ETTL operation, one can set the lighting ratio of each group independently through a seven f/stop range, from 8:1 to 1:8. In Manual mode, the output of each group can be set from 1:1 to 1:128 power. The list of options goes on and on: multi-flash setting for true "stroboscopic" effects, auto or manual zooming of the flash coverage from 24mm to 105mm, a wide-angle panel that extends this to 14mm, and a cool little pull-out white card to bounce some light into your subject's eyes when you are bouncing the flash unit off the ceiling or wall or whatever you can find. It syncs with high speed Canon shutter speeds, has automatic or manual matching of the unit's color temperature output to the camera's white balance setting, and full integration with the Canon 40D, 50D, 1D MkIII and, I believe, the new 5D MkII. I control my master 580EX II unit directly from the menu of my Canon 40D camera. The master unit can be set to not fire with the other flashes and still send out the pre-flashes to control all of the slaved strobes. I know I've forgotten a bunch of less frequently used features; the instruction book is about 250 pages long. Oh, did I mention that the flash head swivels 360 degrees from either left or right and points straight ahead and straight up and at any angle in between? Makes it easy to point the flash head into a bounce umbrella or the corner of a room and still aim the sensor at the master flash unit.

I tried to determine the maximum outdoor range over which the 580EX II would trigger a slave flash, and gave up at 175 (measured) feet, when I had run out of driveway and was standing in the woods. I'll test it again someday and see when I reach its limit. And, the 580EX II and 540 EX strobes, when used as masters, can still control all three groups of slaves (in manual mode, not ETTL) when triggered by a sync cord (580EX II) or a wireless remote (both the 580EX II and 540EX).

All in all, the best portable flash I have ever used during a 35 year career in photography.

The flash is perfect and powerful , arrived in time and in the excellent condition.

I thought long and had about spending this much for a flash unit. This was my second year of doing the local football games and with a start time of 7:30 pm, it didn't take long before there was no daylight to take pictures by. We can't afford big fancy lens, so a good flash was the best answer. I set my camera to 1/200th in the manual mode and boost the ASA to 1600. I get good clear pictures with the unfortunate demon eyes effect in many. I use Photoshop to correct. I love the distance this flash will cover. I also like the fact that my camera battery lasts longer since I am not using the built in flash. I did invest in and recommend good rechargeable AA batteries for the unit. I can't believe I waited this long to get an external flash!