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Speedlite Recommendations

laney_norman
Contributor

Hi, 

 

I am looking for a recommendation on Speedlites. 

 

I have a Canon Rebel 3ti and I am looking to purchase a Speedlite flash that will help capture professional indoor portraits and interior real estate photos. 

 

Any product recommendation is welcomed! 

 

Thanks in advance!  

 

 

4 REPLIES 4

Waddizzle
Legend
Legend

How serious are you when you say "professional indoor portraits"?  Check out Robert Hall's YouTube channel.

 

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFm_9pXD75zENnVudnRtchplWql_QDqOE

 

That is a link to a series of videos that teach you the basics of using speedlights and light meters.  Check out his other videos about using professional Godox strobes, which are more powerful than speedlights.

 

I think real estate photos look best with natural lighting, so a tripod and a longer exposure can work for most shots.  Using studio lights, flashes, and strobes to create a lighting mood seems to defeat the purpose to me.  A fill flash for shadows would not hurt.  But, HDR shots seems like simplest approach to me.

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"The right mouse button is your friend."


@laney_norman wrote:

Hi, 

 

I am looking for a recommendation on Speedlites. 

 

I have a Canon Rebel 3ti and I am looking to purchase a Speedlite flash that will help capture professional indoor portraits and interior real estate photos. 

 

Any product recommendation is welcomed! 

 

Thanks in advance!  


If you're good enough to do professional work, you're good enough to need professional equipment. Buy the 600EX-RT II. And if you'll be photographing paying customers at actual events, buy at least one more as a spare.

 

Do not bother to argue the latter recommendation. I've been there, and it's a damned good thing that I had a spare. (It was a predecessor of the 600EX that almost did me in, but that doesn't matter; the point is what it is.)

Bob
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania USA

RexGig
Enthusiast

I believe that having started with a 580EX Speedlite, as a beginner, with my Canon Rebel XTi (400D) helped me to grow much faster. Most of my beginner kit was modest, but that top-tier Speedlite, and a good macro lens, stimulated quick learning.

A 600EX-RT can provide a tiny flicker of light, if that is all that is needed. A consumer-level flash cannot provide nearly as much light as a top-tier pro=oriented Speedlite.

If budget is a factor, a pre-owned 580EX II was Canon’s great leap forward, in Speedliting, moving ahead of the previously-dominant Nikon Speedlights. (I use both systems, so am not trying to start a brand war.)

580EX II and 600EX-rt Speedlites are nicely weather-sealed. Two of my 600EX-RT Speedlites FLOATED for a while, in their Canon padded fabric cases, during Hurricane Harvey! (My other two 600EX-RT Speedlites were with me, inside a Pelican Case 1510; I was on duty during the storm.)

 

I photographed crime scenes, from 2010 to 2018, which has some things in common with real estate photography. By 2017, I had accumulated four 600EX-RT Speedlites. I also kept a 320EX with me, as it was so handy, mostly using it as a constant-on light.

Quoted from prior post:

  • Best Features: Nikon SB-5000. ...

 

I am going to respectfully disagree with the above point, as the owner of both Canon Speedlites and Nikon Speedlights:

 

1. The SB-5000 requires dongles to use radio triggering. The Canon RT flash equipment has radio triggering built into the units.

 

2.Starting with the 580EX-RT, the latching mechanism on the top-tier Canon Speedlites became sturdier than the corresponding parts on Nikon Speedlights.

 

3. The top-tier Canon Speedlights effectively weather-seal against the correponding area around the flash shoes of the better Canon cameras. Nikon offers a separate rubber-like accessory, to effect this weather-seal.

 

4. The physical switches on Canon 580EX II and 600EX-series Speedlites seem sturdier than the corresponding parts on the SB-5000. I developed this opinion on my own, but, then, the power switch on my wife's SB-5000 has failed, which validated my assessment.

 

5. Nikon Speedlights, in my opinion, have declined in overall quality since the SB-800 and SB-80DX, which seem to have been the high-water-mark of Nikon Speedlights, and the Nikon Speedlights of that era were not weather-sealed.

 

6. Canon shooters have had the ability to use the camera's Flash Control menu to control Speedlites since 2012 cameras, and the 580EX II Speedlite. Nikon shooters did not have this ability until the D5/D500 cameras, in 2016, and only with the SB-500 and SB-5000 Speedlights.

 

7. I have used my 580EX II and 600EX-RT Speedlites in light rain. I do not intend to conduct a controlled-comparison experiment, to verify how long this would be effective, but two of my 600EX-RT Speedlites, in their Canon soft cases, floated about my bedroom, for a while, during Hurricane Harvey. When I found them, a day or two later, the insides of the battery compartments were dry.

 

8. If I am going to use use one large shoe-mount flash, with a Nikon camera, I will use my Metz 64 AF-1, rather than a Nikon Speedlight. The nicely small Nikon SB-500 does make a nice optical master/commander unit for a remote SB-5000. (I have not bought the Nikon accessories/dongles needed for radio-controlled flash, and have no plans to acquire it.)

 

Again, I own both Canon and Nikon flash units, so, I am not trying to start a brand war. I use both Canon and Nikon DSLRs. In my opinion, Canon's current top-tier Speedlites are notably better than Nikon's current top-tier Speedlghts.

 

I am not, and never have been, a "professional photographer," but did have a duty to create/provide evidentiary/forensic and crime scene images, regardless of weather conditions, during my final 7+ years of public service, from 2010 to 2018.

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