A new toy is awaiting me at home today. I finally broke down and got a digital SLR camera. I went for the Canon Rebel 10mb XTI with a lens that costs twice as much, the EF-S 17-55mm. I am also getting a flash for it, but I am still hesitant to get the 580ex since the 430ex seems to fulfill the needs of a non professional photographer, it’s cheaper and lighter. But hey, what do I know, I’m the newbie here. Any suggestions are welcome. But not matter which I choose, I plan to get Gary Fong’s fantastic Lightsphere diffuser. I will post some pics as soon as I take some.
Link: Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM at Amazon
Link: Canon Digital Rebel XTi at Amazon
Link: Canon 430EX Speedlight flash at Amazon
Link: Lightsphere II at Amazon
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Congrats on the new toys. That’s a great camera and the lens is good too. I personally have the 580 and a buddy of mine has the 430. They are both great flashes. I can’t give a whole lot of advise on which on but I will say that the new 580 ex II is about 100 cheaper than I paid for my 580 on amazon about a year ago. I think I would go with the 580 ex II if you could due to the better metering, recycle time, and the better/stronger build. I can’t wait to check out some photos…
Just a suggestion, but instead of the Lightsphere you might want to consider A Better Bounce Card (http://abetterbouncecard.com/).
Or you could try using Sto-Fen OMEW Omni-Bounce Diffuser. They work great too. I love mine. You can get them of amazon. Right now there there less than 13 bucks.
I have to ask. :)
What plugin is that you have for your mac that gives you your order status on Amazon? It’s not just email is it?
it’s not a plugin, it’s a widget called Delivery Status and has support for FedEx, DHL, UPS, USPS, Amazon, Apple and Adobe store. One of the most useful widgets out there. Oh, and it has support for Growl too so you can get notified even if you don’t have Dashboard open. Link: mikepiontek.com/
I searched to see if it was just a Growl plugin, but had no luck. This is great, thanks a bunch!
Congratulations on the purchase. I’ve just recently started in photography too and have the same camera (although it’s branded as the EOS 400D here in Australia).
I ended up getting the 430ex flash as it seems capable enough for what I want to do initially. Although eventually I’m looking at getting a 580ex II as well as it can be used as a master unit and the 430ex as a slave.
You might want to have a look at this blog if you are interested to see what can be achieved with small camera flashes:
http://strobist.blogspot.com/
There is also a cool video here on a model shoot done using a 430ex and a 580ex as master and slave:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQKqj4W0QWI
The 400D is a good upgrade from the 350D, which I’m using. As for the lens, good buy again!
Melvin,
I’m also an xTI owner and love it. I recently replaced my freebie lens with a canon 50mm 1.4 and I love it. I have to use my legs for the zoom but the pictures are fantastic and with 1.4 aperture … I don’t need no stinkin’ flash.
http://www.macsparky.com
I just bought a conon Eos 500d, great Camera but was looking for tips how to use it best, although your blog is not telling me there were some things that helped me.