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As long as you can find a value priced copy of the now discontinued 430EX for E-TTL/TTL-II, jump on it. It may not be the older A-TTL compatible. Used copies sell close to new street. A casual photographer will likely not miss the incremental 430-EXII changes that trend $50+ more. Even if you have designs toward making money with your Canon, this is a good, nicely powerful first/budget entry that can grow with you as a remote triggered flash under a 580EX master. It has a 9-point AF set that is a best match for 7-point non-pro EOS ala' Rebel XTs, et. al. The greater AF point set in higher end Canons match up better with the 580EX. Automatic mode works quite well, but there will be occassions when you need to 'fool' it, or go full manual to get the desired illumination. For instance, focus on a close object in low light and the flash may well reduce power resulting in good object lighting with an underexposed background; auto mode is not always 'brainless'. It's a great idea to go back to the camera manual and see its remarks about using Canon Speedlite ... very helpful. For whatever reason, I get best XT results by using (*-FEL) flash exposure lock in (P)rogram mode. To illuminate a distant background, try zooming on it with FEL, then widen the shot. It has its own exposure compensation sets and reads the camera's Ev, too. Full power auto flash with 4sec recycle is seldom. Recycles of 2-sec or far less are the norm. Among its features is an automatic zoom flash head with four basic focal lengths out to 105mm and a pop out wide-angle diffuser that brings in 14mm. The flash 'knows' when the diffuser is in place. Automatic head zoom only happens with the flash head parallel to the lens. Auto bounce flashing can oft benefit from a manual focal length setting. One 430EX 'hit' is that the select buttons do not have a very 'positive' action. The infrared pre-flash sensing improves your camera lens auto-focus and is compatible with Tamron/Canon lenses designed for EOS. If you don't care about delving into the idiosyncracies of this sophisticated flash and prefer automatic E-TTL / II operation exlusively, then you can pocket some money with some well reviewed and/or promising 3rd parties, inviting you to research the following: Phoenix DZBIS-112CII with flavors in Canon and Nikon for $80 street. It's auto E-TTL/II only with swivel bounce in a non-zoom head. It gets good reviews with a hit on the lock-down ring that can be stripped by over-tightening. It reviews as a satisfying value in a slightly less powerful, slightly slower recycling flash. It's a fairly large unit. Phoenix PZ139 is too new to find user reviews at this writing for $130 street. It adds 5 manual power selects with power zoom head. It's a little less powerful, which probably won't matter with 98% of typical shots. Recycle is slower than 430EX, which may rarely matter. Nissin Di622 streeting at $160, dismiss the hype as a 580EX equivalent. It's closer to the 430EX with 5 manual power sets (buttons-no LCD), comparable power, recycle and power zoom. This unit also features remote use in a system that is very lightly reviewed and sorely undescribed. A vendor phone call to find out more is wise. Omega-Satter distributes Phoenix while Nissin is from NissinUSA. Both companies need to hire a marketing person who can do a better job of describing their products on respective web sites ... not very satisfying.Read full review
I recently purchased a Canon 430 EX flash on Ebay. The flash I received was like new, but auctioned as a used unit. There were no scratches or scuffs on the unit. It was missing the box and the foot stand (a usual circumstance when buying on Ebay). Like most Ebay items it did not carry a manufacturers warranty. The Canon 430 EX flash is a great value flash for those looking for both E-TTL II and the power of manual flash control. I chose the 430 EX mainly because of price when compared with the Canon 580 EX units. I needed a flash that would work in an E-TTL environment and link up seamlessly with my Canon EOS T1i (500D). I also needed to use a flash in a radio wireless mode for portable location shots where line of site was not available. I wanted to have a true Canon flash because of its integration with my camera that other flashes can not emulate. However, I do mix different flash units when using my manual remote radio triggers when on location. The 430EX is a best value in that it has all the truly important features: bounce, swivel, auto zoom head, autofocus assist, good power, and E-TTL II compatibility. It also has two things that put it ahead of most independent flash units. First and foremost is the high flash synch capability. This is invaluable when using the flash for outdoor, sunny day fill flash portraits. Large apertures (for shallow depth of field) and bright light necessitates shooting at faster shutter speeds. This can truly make all the difference in your outdoor portraits. Second, and of equal value, is the wireless capability. The 430EX, the 580EX, some older flashes and the ST-E2 controller can be assembled into a portable, multi-flash wireless set. This is a setup I use most often using the ST-E2 as the master on camera and using multiple 430EX units off camera. I also am using the Cactus V4 remote triggers and receivers until I can afford the more costly Radiopoppers or PocketWizards MiniTTL and Flex TT5. The Cactus units are non-E-TTL only where the Radiopoppers and newer PocketWizard units utilize E-TTL II. A couple of notes about the flash; when you lock it on the hot shoe, it can be very, very difficult to unlock (you twist a wheel to tighten it on). It is a tight location for a person like me with big thumbs. I would recommend a diffuser (like a STO-FEN) so that the light can be subdued especially when you wish to brighten the flesh tones of the people in the photo or to light the shadows under a hat. Finally, flashes perform best with rechargeable batteries. The rechargeable (I use Energizer) have a higher capacity when used in a flash. I've definitely noticed this with my flash.Read full review
I love the quality of the flash compared to my own camera flash! I like the fact that I can use a lower ISO like 200 ISO in the same lighting that I normally have to use a high ISO like 1600 ISO. The only thing I don't like about it is you have to use 4 AA batteries to power it!! If you don't use high quality AA's then the flash doesn't last very long!! I was hoping it would have a battery like my Canon Rebel XTI!
If you are interested in learning about flash photography and its creative possibilities then this is the flash to get. The 220 is too small, too weak, and does not swivel, the 580 is too big and too expensive. The 430 (or the 420 if you can get a good used one), fits nicely in the middle. This is specially important if you are mainly interested in discovering whether you are into flash photography or not. The flash itself is designed beautifully and it gives you a lot of creative control (for example, you can decrease the output up to 1/64th). It provides easy Flash compensation as well and the easy swiveling allows for better looking bounced photos.
Both the original 430EX and 430EX II are an affordable way to add a secondary light to your speedlite setup. While you could spend a lot of money on AC-powered strobes, speedlites are perfectly fine for small studio and portrait setups. Couple a 430EX with a master light (580EX), or a transmitter (ST-E3 or 7D camera) and you've got a ton of creative lighting possibilities at a fraction of the cost of a full blown studio setup. While Speedlites don't replace the need for full powered strobes in a rigorous studio, speedlites are powerful and more portable. It's a good way to start learning studio lighting, and you can always "graduate" to real strobes in the future. The 430EX has two advantages over the EXII: It's cheaper (you shouldn't really pay more than $200 for it) and it has a dedicated master/slave switch. The 430EXII has a metal mount, is silents and recycles slightly faster.Read full review
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