Which Speedlite for my Canon 600d I am new to Photography

[Brian205]

Which Speedlite for my Canon 600d

I am new to Photography

I am choosing between

a) Bower SDF680C Digital Flash for Canon SLR Cameras, Guide Number 139

http://www.adorama.com/BOWSFD680C.html

or

b) Bower SFD926C Dedicated Digital Flash for Canon SLR Cameras, Guide Number 125

http://www.adorama.com/BOWSFD926C.html

I want a Wireless Speedlite,

btw how does these Speedlites do the Wireless Connection with the 600d if they can ?

Does both use Slave Function, does both have Wireless Channel Selection.

Does My camera the 600d have Wireless Channel Selection by Radio Signal I know my camera has Slave Function Pls Help pls

[ScottyP]

Hi Brian.

Your camera does not produce radio signals and neither of these flashes works off of them.

One of the two has "slave mode" but the other doesn't that I can see. The built-in flash on your camera can act as a "master" and will trigger the slave set up off camera. This works as long as the slave can see the flash from the camera but it is not as good as radio wireless for this reason.

The recycle times on these flashes are a bit slow. Check out the Canon 430 EXii flash. It recycles faster and will be more rugged.

If you want radio flashes you can get Canon 600's but they are a bit more expensive. And you need 2 or more of them, or 1 plus a radio transmitter, to actually use the radio triggering. Or look at Yongnuo radio flashes for quite cheap. They are Chinese and people have different opinions on them but Bower are 3rd party too and the Yongnuo would be at least as good but with better features.

[ebiggs1]

There is a difference between "wireless" and infrared.  Both are wireless but that word usually describs a radio transmitter.  Your camera can not do that by itself.  It can trigger the 430 EX II which is your best option.

[TCampbell]

BTW, I also used to think it was infrared due to the red lens covering the receiver in the base of an external speedlite.  It turns out it is visible optical light that it uses... not actually IR.

The 600D (T3i) pops up it's built-in flash and uses that white light to tell the external flash when to fire (and all the other E-TTL info that it transmits.)

[ebiggs1]

"BTW, I also used to think it was infrared due to the red lens covering the receiver in the base of an external speedlite.  It turns out it is visible optical light that it uses... not actually IR."

Tim,

It is indeed IR at least that is my understanding. I suspect the confusion about the IR is believing the source is the LED's under the red lens on the front of the flash.  The source of the IR on all master flashes is from the main flash tube. The flash tube emits both visible light which we see and IR energy which we can not see. The filtering out of visible light from the pre-flash for the IR based signaling occurs when the light reaches the slave. A filter in the slave blocks the visible light and passes the IR.

[Skirball]

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@Brian205 wrote:

I want a Wireless Speedlite,

btw how does these Speedlites do the Wireless Connection with the 600d if they can ?

Does both use Slave Function, does both have Wireless Channel Selection.

Does My camera the 600d have Wireless Channel Selection by Radio Signal I know my camera has Slave Function Pls Help pls

---

Do you want TTL or not?  If you're planning on using it wirelessly then you might not use TTL as much as you may think.  That said, I think it's good to always have 1 TTL flash, for on-camera use. 

I'm a big fan of Yongnuo, and own a lot of their stuff; none of which has ever failed. I used to recommend the Canon 430ex II for reliable TTL flash, but Yongnuo just keeps getting better and better.  You can get one of their TTL flashes for a third the cost of Canon.   Yonguo makes the YN-565 for TTL, and YN-568 II for TTL and HSS.

If you just want manual flash, the YN 560 III or IV, with built in radio receiver, is one of the best options on the market, from any brand.

Then you need something to trigger the camera wirelessly.  If you want eTTL get one YN-622C-TX for on your camera, and a YN-622C for each flash.  Otherwise, just get the cheap YN-603 II triggers for manual only.

[Brian205]

Just to Clarify

1) My Canon 600d has a Slave Function and it does Not have any Radio signal or Infrared Wireless Connection between an External Speedlite ?

2) is the E-TTL just like the Operating system or Firmware of the 600D Flash System ?

3) Does the 600d have a Wireless E-TTL or something like that ?

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So the Only option I have for my 600d wireless connection to a Flash is

a) Slave Function.

b) I buy a Wireless Transmitter and receiver

[Skirball]

1) My Canon 600d has a Slave Function and it does Not have any Radio signal or Infrared Wireless Connection between an External Speedlite ?

Correct, though I'm not sure it's called a slave function?  The 600D can use it's flash to trigger speedlights that are off camera, and set in slave mode.  But it has no Radio or IR signal.

The IR is something that is on speedlights.  As mentioned above, it's really just red light.  But it's used for focus, not for triggering flashes.

2) is the E-TTL just like the Operating system or Firmware of the 600D Flash System ?

TTL is an automated flash function, and it will be a function on a speedlight, not a camera (though you're cameras flash does have eTTL).  It lets the flash/camera decide how much flash power it needs.  In a nutshell, it fires a flash before opening the shutter so it can measure how much light it needs, then fires a second time with the shutter open to expose the scene.  It all happens very fast, you can barely see it.

Flashes will either come in manual only, or offer TTL in addition to manual.  Manual is just that, you choose the power level, and it fires during your shot.

eTTL is Canon's version of TTL.

3) Does the 600d have a Wireless E-TTL or something like that ?

As mentioned above, the 600D can use its on-camera flash to trigger other flashes, and yes, it can do it in eTTL. 

The down side to this is that the flashes have to be in the line of sight of the camera's flash (more or less).  [And it uses up your camera battery for the flash]  When you want to place flashes in modifiers or behind people, or screens or in a completely different room, it doesn't work so well.  So people use Radio Frequency transmitters to trigger the flashes.  It used to be an expensive thing to have, but now it can be done quite cheap, and quite reliable.

 

So the Only option I have for my 600d wireless connection to a Flash is

a) Slave Function.

b) I buy a Wireless Transmitter and receiver

 Pretty much.  You could also get a long cord to get it off camera, but it's really not a great option.