Glen wrote:
> I'm just a pure amateur using photo knowledge I learned in the late
> 70's in college and electronics I've learned in the past 3 decades.
>
> Here is what I've found out.
>
> If you want to go the thyristor route, Sunpak has the Super 383
> and 444D. Both have 3 f-stop auto range, manual power ratio down
> to 1/16, tilt and swivel heads.
>
> The 444D adds a 3 position manual zoom, and fold up reflector card.
> The 444D also needs a module to put it on your camera. They have a
> standard one with just the thyristor (STD-1D), a Canon TTL module
> (CA-3D), and Canon TTL module with auto focus lamp (CA-1AF), anybody
> know if the lamp works with a E-TTL system? I don't know if these
> last two have thyristors or not.
>
> Can you tell I've been researching this a while? My wife gave me
> the 550ex for my birthday, and I love the power, the auto zoom
> and AF assist lamp, but the E-TTL drove me nuts when I tried to
> shoot candids at parties. Under exposed, over exposed. I know,
> use the FE (*) button to preflash, but that sort of ruins the
> candidness, but that's been discussed before. Anyway I had an
> old 283 lying around, but the voltage was over 200 so that was
> out. Then I checked my wife's 188A Speedlite, less than 5V, I
> tried that. What do you know, perfect exposures no matter where
> I pointed the camera.
>
> So I bought a Super 383, basically a 283 clone without the
> removable thyristor. Works great. I used it at our last party
> with a LumiQuest bounce (dubbed the flash condom) and got over
> 100 shots off with only a few under or over exposed. Most of
> the under exposed shots were due to slow flash cycling time, the
> others were because I under estimated the distance and used the
> wrong auto setting.
>
> I've been looking into the 444D because of the zoom and included
> fill flash card. Neither flashes cycle as fast as the 550ex, so
> I've also been looking into the TR-PAK IIA. It will bring down
> the cycle time to < 2 sec, but runs the risk of burning out the
> flash head from heat buildup. The 383 runs about $70 and the 444D
> (minus the module) $100, modules range from $22-$75 for a total of
> $122-$175 with the Sigma Super 500 being $180. My 383's voltage
> runs a tad over 6v, so it's a judgment call as to whether it's
> going to damage the D30's insides.
>
> I've also got the ST-E2 for low light AF assist, it helps, but for
> some reason the 550ex AF lamp works better.
>
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I use a 550EX with a Quantum turbo battery. Recylce time is under 1 sec.
DO NOT USE fast film with the 550EX if you want candids. There is not
enough working distance and flashes will overexpose. Use ISO100 or 160.
If you prefer you can set the 550 to work TTL by setting CF3 on the flash.
You can also use manual and use a meter to set lighting and thereby use
simple slaves. For me the 550EX has it all.
Peter K
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