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flash photography techniques
just ambient light | which flashgun? | flash brackets
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Which is the best flashgun?
One of the most frequent questions I get asked, is what flashgun or speedlight would I recommend – especially to someone wanting to go beyond just using the camera’s built-in flash.
Moving away from the camera’s built-in flash to a larger flashgun opens up an entire world with new possibilities in lighting. Especially so if you are moving up to one one of the camera’ manufacturer’s dedicated speedlights. The addons and gadgets that you find on the market that are supposed to improve the quality of lighting from the camera’s built-in flash, are just ways to grab some of your cash without really offering you an improvement.
To improve your flash photography, you absolutely need to get a larger on-camera speedlight. The question then is, which one?
Each manufacturer offers a variety of options at different price points. I suspect the initial reaction for anyone stepping into the world of flash photography, is to be hesitant about buying a large and expensive speedlight .. and then they err on the side of caution, getting a speedlight that is cheaper, but also limited in specifications and ability.
But let’s step away from the equipment for a few minutes, and consider what we want to achieve with flash. So let’s look at this candid portrait of a baby held in her mother’s arms:

To get that specific lighting quality – soft and directional light – you need to bounce your flash. Bouncing your flash gives you a larger light source, and hence softer light.
But it isn’t enough to just simply bounce off the ceiling directly over you. That would give flat light that gives no shape and form and dimension to your subject. If you look at that portrait of the baby girl, you will see that one side of her face has more light than the other.
It is this interplay between light and shade that gives a quality of light that is both interesting, and flattering to our subject. To get there, I had to consider the direction my light needed to come in from, and I wanted to have the light from my flashgun bounce back from the interior of the room to my left-hand side.
In order to do all of this – get soft directional light from my speedlight – it is essential that my flashgun has a head that can both rotate and swivel.
So if you are looking at various speedlights, I would strongly recommend that you dismiss any that don’t allow the flash head to rotate and swivel. Anything less would just limit you, and ultimately be a waste of your money. You’d be better off investing a bit more money in a more flexible speedlight.
Also, in bouncing flash like this, we waste a fair amount of light. It really isn’t an efficient way to use the light. But .. we aren’t after efficiency here. We desire light that is flattering – and then we inevitably come back to those two words – soft and directional. So in bouncing flash, we waste a lot of energy from our flash, and to be able to get enough light onto our subject, we need a strong flashgun.
Therefore my next recommendation would be to get a powerful flashgun – as powerful as you can afford.
I rely heavily on TTL flash technology as you can see on the previous pages and on various other posts on this website. So I would strongly recommend a flashgun that is TTL capable and integrates properly with your camera.
So I would recommend to anyone, even if this is your first foray into buying a speedlight, to get the top-of-the-range that the specific manufacturer offers. Even if it seems overkill and a lot of money in comparison to your camera or a lens, the combination of flexibility and power and integration with your camera system. A smaller, less capable flashgun could very well just end up frustrating you in the limited potential it offers. A full-featured flashgun loaded with mouth-watering specifications could very well make your life easier and your photography more interesting and pleasurable.
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So here are the flashguns I would recommend above all:
If you have a Nikon camera, then the obvious choice is the Nikon SB-900 Speedlight. A full-featured powerful flashgun that has a flash-head that rotates 180′ to either side, which makes it very flexible in where you can bounce your light.
If you have a Canon camera, then my best recommendation would be the Canon 580EX II Speedlite. This flashgun also rotates 180′ to either side, which is an ability that few flashguns offer, setting it apart from most flashguns available on the market.
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Similarly then, if we look at what is the msot powerful and flexible flashguns available for other manufactuers, I would recommend the Pentax AF-540 FGZ P-TTL for Pentax owners, and the Sony HVL-F58AM flashgun for owners of Sony D-SLRs. And also the Olympus FL-50R shoe-mount flash for Olympus users. .
These flashguns are spendy, but they also won’t limit your potential as a photographer.
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If you need instruction on flash photography, I do present workshops and seminars,
and I also offer individual tutoring sessions.


Bigger is Better, is true, but also there are smarter flashguns as well ex. SB-600, for amateur or advanced amateurs…
if you are a full time photographer then bigger is Better if not then buy 2 x SB-600 (if your camera built on flash can support wireless ccommunication like D70 upward)…
Comment by Soran — August 14, 2009 @ 1:08 pm
Comment by Neil — August 14, 2009 @ 1:28 pm
I’ll second Neil’s comment on the SB-600; while it is certainly an excellent flash, I very quickly became frustrated in not being able to get the head pointing to the critical spot where I wanted to bounce. Also, there is the added bonus that it has a PC sync connector meaning I can use my pocket wizards without a shoe adapter which I had to use with the SB-600. All worth keeping in mind if you think you’d be looking at upgrading your speedlight in the future.
Comment by AubreyG — September 15, 2009 @ 5:58 am
Interesting: here in Europe (Spain in concrete) Metz is well known and appreciated. The Metz 58AF works quite well.
Comment by paurullan — January 12, 2010 @ 6:15 pm
Neil, I recently discovered your site and have been enjoying the learning you provide here quite a bit! Thank you for your efforts! (BTW, beautiful photography!)
I’ve been learning photography for ALMOST 50 years now. I started with a simple camera (today, we’d call it a point-n-shoot!), 620 film, single shutter speed, flash without battery (it punched a hole in the bulb and the atmosphere caused it to burn!). Then I became one of my high school’s newspaper photographers. I used a Graflex Speed Graphic (2.25×3.25 inch plate film). I had a Honeywell Strobonar 600. It had a guide number of 80 (feet). Not a lot UNTIL you realized it was at ASA/ISO 25! You could light half of a football field with this light (IF you got above ground level. At ground level you’d just overexpose everything close!). This was my first experience with strobe flash units. To vary the output I put neutral density gels over the head. Move forward to 1980 and I purchased a Canon A-1 and shortly after got the 199A flash. At that time it was the most powerful hot-shoe mounted flash they made (they made a 533 and then a 577, but they were “potato masher” types similar to the Strobonar). Now, today, I have a Canon EOS 40D and a 580EX II (going to get 1-2 more 580’s in the near future for additional capabilities). I ALWAYS get the most powerful and versatile flash I can afford!
I’m just an amateur photographer (I tell people I’m a PHOTO-GRAPHER, not a PHOTOGrapher. I can do a great job of recording what I see, but NOT a great job of making it a GOOD photograph. I’m working on that! :)). Eventually I’ll probably get some studio lights just to provide greater capabilities!
Again, thank you for the site and the insight.
Comment by Steve Combs — January 13, 2010 @ 2:42 pm