# What 3rd party flash?



## rt (Sep 28, 2014)

Hi, I currently own a 430EX and a 580EX, along with a number of Canon cameras (DSLR and Powershot).

I am looking for two extra flashes:

Flash A, to be used off-camera:
Must have:

ETTL optical slave (Canon optical wireless)
Dumb slave, so that I can trigger it with my Powershot
Nice to have: some kind of radio slave support, any system.

Flash B, to be used on- and off-camera:
Must have:

ETTL optical master & slave (Canon optical wireless)
Dumb slave, so that I can trigger it with my Powershot (currently S90)
zoom
AF assist (reliable)
some kind of radio master & slave support, any system
Nice to have: video LED.

What are the current choices?


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## Marsu42 (Sep 28, 2014)

rt said:


> Hi, I currently own a 430EX and a 580EX, along with a number of Canon cameras (DSLR and Powershot).



Did you look at the Yongnuo site? As long as you don't plan to buy into their rt clone series, they seem to have a lot of reasonably priced and good products, including good af assist (other than their rt controller). They've also got their own proprietary, but reliable flash protocol which includes dedicated triggers for your legacy flashes. You can optical dumb-trigger all flashes with a small add-on diode that is plugged into the pc sync port. 

http://www.hkyongnuo.com/e-ourproduct.php?category=1.Flash

For flash reviews and user comments, this is the site too look at: http://flashhavoc.com/category/brands/yongnuo/


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## Gary W. (Sep 29, 2014)

Hey all,

I recently picked up 3 Pixel Mago ETTL speed lights that do what you are asking, even the video light! (It's a 2 watt LED light on the front.) I just did a firmware upgrade which opened up S1 and S2 capabilities, as well as having the ETTL, Manual and Multi (strobe) modes. All for $88!! Yes, they do work with Canon's optical system, I have tried it on my 7D and it worked as advertised. 

Gary W.


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## brianleighty (Oct 7, 2014)

Gary W. said:


> Hey all,
> 
> I recently picked up 3 Pixel Mago ETTL speed lights that do what you are asking, even the video light! (It's a 2 watt LED light on the front.) I just did a firmware upgrade which opened up S1 and S2 capabilities, as well as having the ETTL, Manual and Multi (strobe) modes. All for $88!! Yes, they do work with Canon's optical system, I have tried it on my 7D and it worked as advertised.
> 
> Gary W.



Yeah those Mago flashes seem to be the ones to beat right now. The Yongnuo ones weren't bad before but for the price it's pretty impressive given the specs.


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## InterMurph (Oct 7, 2014)

This is where you should start reading:

http://strobist.blogspot.com/2014/09/choosing-lights.html


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## FTb-n (Oct 8, 2014)

For ETTL, I prefer a Canon flash. For manual, I prefer Yongnuo.

While I occasionally use the flash on camera with a Roundflash ring light, the vast majority of my need is off camera. I've used Yongnuo YN460-II manual flash for several years with no problems. 

Recently, I started using the YN565EX-II with YN622-C remote triggers. The YN565EX-II has ETTL, but I don't use it. I prefer to manually control the power level. This flash has almost twice the power of the YN460-II and with the YN622-C triggers, you can fully control the power level and zoom setting from your camera's menu (at least with the 5D3). This is VERY handy.

For what it's worth, I don't like shooting with a flash at full power. It can shorten its life in a hurry. So, I often at less than 1/2 power, many times with two speedlites per umbrella. It's not necessary for small groups, but it enables the use of lower power levels, which means much faster recycle times.

Regarding ETTL, my first generation Canon 430EX is very good. But, the YN565EX-II is inconsistent in ETTL. I can't speak for the Pixel flash, but I would hesitate to expect reliable ETTL from third party speedlites. They have to reverse engineer the Canon ETTL software and I wouldn't expect the same results as with Canon speedlights.


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## Gary W. (Oct 8, 2014)

Hey all,

As for the Pixel flash and ETTL, I use two of the flashes on a monopod to shoot HS football, with the flashes in ETTL mode. The ONLY time I have exposure issues is if I try to shoot faster than recycle time allows... and that has decreased significantly since I started using the TD-381 battery packs. ETTL works very well!

Gary W.


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## Gary W. (Oct 8, 2014)

Hey all,

Here is a photo SOOC, Canon 7D with Tamron 70-200 Di VC USD lens with 2 Pixel Mago flashes firing in ETTL mode, @25% crop, no editing other than crop.

Gary W.


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## Skirball (Oct 8, 2014)

FTb-n said:


> For ETTL, I prefer a Canon flash. For manual, I prefer Yongnuo.



+1


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## jepabst (Oct 9, 2014)

Just to throw another unit in the mix; I am a wedding photographer in Chicago. I was using the Yongnuo products for a while, but have since switched. I loved them, but they didn't last very long. A whole summer of weddings and they would fail me. Now I am using the Godox Ving 860c - and I LOVE it. No more AA batteries. That's the best part, and it's powerful. I don't shoot a ton in TTL but it can do it. It's priced competitively. They are still a bit under the radar, but they have my approval including HSS and E-TTL.


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## Marsu42 (Oct 9, 2014)

jepabst said:


> They are still a bit under the radar, but they have my approval including HSS and E-TTL.



Interesting, I didn't know this one. It hasn't got the 200mm reflector of the Pixel or Canon large flashes though, and users on Amazon and Flashhavoc write something about the proprietary battery packs dying fast: http://flashhavoc.com/godox-v860c-ving-ettl-flash-review/


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## jepabst (Oct 9, 2014)

Marsu42 said:


> jepabst said:
> 
> 
> > They are still a bit under the radar, but they have my approval including HSS and E-TTL.
> ...



I have three of them, and they last the whole wedding. They get hundreds of full power pops. I would never need more than that. Getting rid of AAs from my workflow prep is really nice. I don't have it here with me, but if I recall it has 4 battery levels on the indicator, I've never seen it lower than 1/2.


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## Marsu42 (Oct 9, 2014)

jepabst said:


> I don't have it here with me, but if I recall it has 4 battery levels on the indicator, I've never seen it lower than 1/2.



Oh my, the thing even has a battery indicator? Take that, €500 Canon 600rt... :-o


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## Skirball (Oct 9, 2014)

jepabst said:


> I don't have it here with me, but if I recall it has 4 battery levels on the indicator, I've never seen it lower than 1/2.



That's common when using NiMH batteries with a battery gauge designed for alkaline. It'll go from full to half almost instantly and then hang out at half right up until it goes dead. They may have adjusted the gauge to try to account for it, but I've seen similar responses in cheap electronics. Still... it'd be nice to have a gauge.


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## brianleighty (Oct 21, 2014)

Marsu42 said:


> jepabst said:
> 
> 
> > I don't have it here with me, but if I recall it has 4 battery levels on the indicator, I've never seen it lower than 1/2.
> ...


My biggest gripe with pretty much every flash out there these days.


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## brianleighty (Oct 21, 2014)

One other flash I just learned about is by Shanny. It seems pretty good.
http://flashhavoc.com/shanny-flash-and-trigger-models/
http://flashhavoc.com/shanny-sn600sc-speedlite-review/


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## rt (Oct 28, 2014)

Thanks for everyone's recommendations. I went ahead and ordered a Pixel Mago, it arrived yesterday. Looks great overall, my issue is that I am unable to connect it to a PC to flash new firmware (which I need to do in order to enable S1/S2). The device is not recognized by Windows, Code 43 in Device Manager. I've tried on 4 different PCs/ laptops, Windows XP/ 7/ 8.1, same result everywhere.
More details in the screenshots attached.

Thoughts? Has anyone encountered this issue?

Edit: The issue was that I did not have OK pressed on the flash when attaching the USB cable. My fault.
My next issue is that the latest firmware won't flash, Firmware Error 01 -- apparently I got a X650C, not a Mago. Still S1/ S2 works as expected! I am attaching the original firmware in case anyone needs it.


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## Gary W. (Nov 1, 2014)

Hey all,

To update the FW on the Mago, plug the usb cable into the flash, THEN AT THE SAME TIME hold the "SET" button while you plug the usb cable into the computer. That will bring up the folder containing the FW in the flash. Make sure the new FW is named firmware.bin and then delete the in flash FW then drag and drop the new FW into that same folder. The FW is a zip file so make sure you unzip it first. Hope everything goes well for you!

Gary W.


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## Gary W. (Nov 2, 2014)

Hey all,

Here is the link to Pixel's site with the instructions:

http://pixelhk.com/Down/DownPage.aspx?Title=MAGO

Hope this helps!

Gary W.


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