So you are ready to buy a new flash for your DSLR camera. But do you know what you are really looking for? Well, to help steer you right in your buying process, I have made a list of the 10 most important flash functions you may want to consider when buying a flash. Here we go…

Flash-01Sigma EF-610

1 – TTL & ETTL – TTL (Through The Lens) is a function whereby the flash can interface with the camera’s light metering electronics, measure the amount of light coming through the lens, and set the flash output power accordingly to ensure the correct amount of flash power is emitted and added to your composition. ETTL (Evaluative Through The Lens) metering is the newer flash technology which is a more sophisticated type of TTL metering technology that is now being offered on newer flashes. Personally I find both the TTL & ETTL technology to often be quite fallible. The camera can often be fooled by large areas of white or black color in the photo composition and, as a result, send an incorrect light reading to the flash. This results in a photo with either too much flash light power or not enough. Better to set your flash power manually.

2 – Full Manual Control – Full manual control means it is possible to disable all the flashes metering technology and simply set the power manually on the flash at various flash power settings like full flash power, 1/2 flash power, 1/4 flash power, etc, and all the way down to 1/128 power. I very much prefer to set my flash to manual control, set the power to either 1/8 or 1/4 power to start with, take a test shot, and then adjust the power again according to the brightness of the test shot if needed.

3 – Recycle Time – This refers to how long it takes the flash to recharge itself with power from the batteries. Some flashes are faster than others, but a lot of this depends on how much of the flash’s total power you are using. The lower the power setting, then the faster the flash will recycle and be set to shoot again. Also, if you use rechargeable batteries they will recharge the flash a lot faster than using regular throwaway batteries. The best rechargeable batteries I have found for flashes are the Sanyo Enloop AA Nickel Hydride rechargeable batteries.

Flash-02Canon 600EX

4 – Multi-Flash – Is a function where the flash allows you to fire the flash rapidly in succession at a high frame rate for high speed continuous shooting. Not something I ever seem to really require myself though.

5 – Tilt & Swivel Head – Most good flashes will have a flash head that can swivel and tilt up or down separately from the main section of the flash body. This is great for changing the direction of the flash when the flash is mounted either on a stand or on the hot shoe of your camera.

6 – Wireless Capability – To make a flash really useful it needs to have the ability to be triggered wirelessly or remotely off of the camera so that you are not restricted to only using your flash mounted to the camera’s hot shoe. Depending on the make and model of the flash, they will offer different types of triggering capabilities. The older Canon flashes, like the 550EX, which I have a couple of, are not very versatile because they can only be triggered remotely by a proprietary trigger made by Canon. This Canon trigger costs an extra $200. The newer and better flashes can be triggered by a radio frequency as well as by light emitted from another flash. These features make the flash much more versatile as a slave when it can be triggered in sync with a radio transmitter sitting on top of your camera’s hotshoe or simply from the light of other flashes in the same area. The best thing is to look for a flash which has a nonproprietary optical sensor built-in which can then be triggered remotely by a simple pop-up flash on top of your camera.

7 – Durability – Of course it is important to have a well built flash. If you spend a lot of money for a flash they will probably be fairly well built. On the other hand, if you buy an inexpensive flash and it drops and breaks, then it is low enough cost to easily replace. So if you spend a lot of money you get a durable, well made flash, but if you spend less money you may get a not so well made flash, but at least one that is inexpensive enough to replace easily if it breaks.

Flash-03Nikon SB-910

8 – Zoom Function – Some flashes will have a zoom function which focuses the light into stronger, narrower beam. This is useful if you are shooting from a relatively far distance away from your subject or if you want the flash more focused in a small area of the frame. Zoom can be especially useful when shooting events where you might not be able to get so close to the subject and are forced to take a shot from far away. A good flash zoom beam will still reach far enough to light up the subject a bit when shooting from afar.

9 – Price – Price of course is a concern. Personally I find the top of the line flashes from say Canon and Nikon to be very expensive and in my opinion overpriced for what you get. Many of them run already half the price of a studio strobe. There are less expensive alternatives made by Sigma and other companies which are also good quality.

10 – Suitable For Your Needs – The main thing when buying a flash is to decide which of the above functions are ones that you will use and be sure that you get a flash that matches with your own personal requirements. If you decide you don’t need all the fancy electronics of the high priced branded flashes then there is no reason to spend a lot of money for functions you are not going to use. You are better off buying an inexpensive, 3rd party flash which will still emit light that is just as good as the more expensive flash models.

Flash-06Sigma EF-610

In terms of actual flash brands and models themselves, some of the most popular flashes for DSLR cameras at the moment are the Canon 600EX and the Nikon SB-910. Both of these flashes will set you back between US$500-$550 and basically have all the functions I covered above and more. Since I hardly rely on the electronics of the flash, I don’t need fancy, top of the range flashes full of functions for my use. So if you want to save a lot of money, then I would recommend buying a Yongnuo YN-560 III (Chinese made) flash for around $80. They are well made, do the job nicely, and can be remotely triggered via a built in optical sensor. So for less than 20% of the price of a Canon or Nikon flash you can buy yourself 6 of these Yongnuo flashes and create a portable remote flash setup for very little money. You could also consider the Sigma EF-610 for about half the price of the Canon of Nikon.

Now, Nikon and Canon do offer some lower cost flash models too, but they will have less features and you are still perhaps better off buying a Yongnuo if you don’t need all the bells and whistles.

Flash-04Yongnuo YN-560 III

For remote triggers you can spend hundreds of dollars on Pocket Wizards if you like, but I don’t. I simply buy inexpensive Chinese made radio triggers for about US$15-$20 on eBay. These will trigger your flashes remotely so that you can fire them off the camera. They will work with most any brand of flash and contain a small radio transmitter which attaches to the hotshoe of your camera. Then there is a radio receiver which connects to the flash itself to trigger it in sync with the camera. The model of Chinese made radio trigger I like is one known as the PT-04. If you want you can search for it by name on eBay and lots of results should come up.

Flash-05Wireless Radio Trigger PT-04

There are of course more functions that some of these flashes offer, but this should give you a lot to consider already. Personally, I just ordered another Yongnuo YN-560 III because all I ever really need is a reliable wireless flash that I can control fully manually and trigger optically. I am also not needing all the other features and functions that I mentioned. And for the low price of a Yongnuo, I don’t have to worry about breaking it or losing it because the replacement cost is minimal.