580EXII or 2x430EXII ?

I have to shoot a wedding soon for some friends and I am no event photographer to be honest.I prefer to shoot wildlife and landscapes but I don

I just shot a wedding yesterday. I used one set of energizer rechargeable in my 580EX and shot 750 shots. My wife did the same with my 580EXII for 550 shots. I feel the 430 does not have enough power. I use an omni-bounce on my 580

750 shots?????maybe was something wrong with the flash or I had no idea on how to use it properly because it is a huge difference between 70 and 750....


thank you very much for the reply Mark

Mark was likely using the 580EX in ETTL mode, which varies the flash power as needed (correct me if I

70 shots does sound very low. I

thank you very much Ben,could you give me some more details about this pixel batt pack please?where can i buy it and how much it costs?thank you

The battery pack is called the Pixel TD-381. This is suitable for Canon speedlites. I bought mine from ebay, they cost around $55 - $65 so it's not a huge expense. You need at least 12 batteries for it to work properly but it'sbeen really good for me.


Here's a link to a good review of it, this guy also makes some wicked strobist gear.


]http://www.flickr.com/groups/strobist/discuss/72157622919317987/

I would say I am getting around 750 pops or so out of my Eneloop batteries. Bryan had a link to a special at B&H a little while back and I purchased two packages. Comes with 8 in a package. They work great. I would second on the 580ExII. I have both the 580 and 430 and my 430 only sees time on a day when I am taking picture of the kids in the studio and need a hair light or secondary fill. 430 has some power just not enough for they type of event your doing. Have a good time and good luck!

Rechargables also lose some poop after awhile and never last as long as they did when new. You also might want to raise your ISO so your flash doesn't have to work as hard and can recover quicker.

thank you all,I try to gather as much information as possible.the pixel pack seems very good,I will try to buy one and I will go for 12 eneloop batteries to power it.


regarding "raising the ISO" can you please be more specific ?


thank you

By increasing your ISO your flash will have to do less work to provide the same exposure.


So, for example, if you were shooting at ISO 100 and your flash was firing at full power, increasing the ISO to 200 might allow your flash to fire at half power. Thereby reducing the power required to fire the flash, and thus reducing your recycle time on the flash before you can fire again.


That would give you more shots before your batteries go flat.