Slow recycle time with my Speedlite 430EX

[Mark Elberson]

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This past weekend I was taking some indoor snap shots usinga 430EX on top of my 50D. I was shooting in manual at f/8 and 1/60 and 100 ISO. The flash was set to E-TTL II. With this setup I was lucky if I could get a shot off every 3 seconds which made it much more difficult to catch the moment. I do realize that f/8 @ 100 ISO in a poorly lit room will require a lot of flash but I would rather give up a stop or two of ISO as opposed to lowering my aperture due to depth of field.


I have two questions:


1) Would I have dramatically better recycle times if I cranked up the ISO to 400?


2) Would upgrading to the Speedlite 580EX II be worth while as it relates to recycle time? My father-in-law was using one with his 40D and was able to take shots in rapid succession where I was waiting for my flash to prime (sorry, I do not know what his camera settings were)
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[Keith B]

I'd say the 430EX for most indoor camera mounted stuff is pretty good.


f8 indoors, trying to light a room is tough. If you shot at say 5.6 (could go lower too) your flash would would be working at half the power and you'd find the background would be brighter too. I'd leave the ISO alone or maybe go to 200. Every full ISO stop equals to one full f-stop.


If you need the background sharp, increase ISO. If you want the background softer, open the f-stop.


More than likely your father-in-law was shooting at wider f-stop. I don't know the exact numbers but the 580EX probably doesn't recycle a whole lot faster.

[Dallasphotog]

I use both flashes (a lot at the same time with the 430 slaved to the 580) and I have never noticed a cycle time difference. Before you start dissecting all the technical stuff, I would look at the batteries.

[TheRoff]

I was just going to say, check the batteries. I have had slow recycle times with low batteries on my 580.

[Mark Elberson]

I am using "PEARSTONE" 2900 mAh NiMH batteries. They were fresh when I put them in but could have suffered some discharge since the time they were charged. Has anyone used these before? I've heard good things about ENELOOP batteries but I purchased the PEARSTONEs due to the 2900 mAh rating and favorable reviews at B&amp;H.

Doing some quick real-world testing I found that the difference between f/8 and f/4 is huge as it relates to recycle time (as expected). It seems that from most of the responders that the recycle times between the 430 and 580 are marginal so in order to obtain better results I will shoot at the largest aperture that I can while maintaining the desired amount of DOF. I will admit that I set my camera to f/8 because I was being lazy!

[Keith B]

Try shooting some pics in full auto mode with the flash set to E-TTL. You will probably notice the f-stop is going to be pretty wide. Probably somewhere around 4 give or take. If you put you ISO on auto it may even throw that to 400 and the increase your f-stop.


The cameras goal is to use as little flash power as possible. Well, within reason.

[SupraSonic]

My Advice:


1.Check youre flash battery if chargable type must be at least 2500amh


2.Alternative use ENERGIZER battery E2


3.Check you're battery camera.... make sure it freshly charge...

[peety3]

The 430EX can shoot 43 meters at the longest zoom position when shooting at f/1 and ISO 100 (Canon flash models are their guide number expressed in decimeters - who ever thinks in decimeters?). f/8 is six stops less light, or 1/64th as much light. So...it'll have enough power to reach about 2 feet, 2 inches at max power. Boosting to ISO 400 would get you out to 8 feet, 8 inches, or would let you run at 1/4 power, most likely cutting your recycle time to 3/4 second or so. I don't know the 430s well, so if they have a green flash confirmation light, were you even getting that?


The 580EX II would have more power, likely allowing you to pop away at a lower relative power (maybe 7/8s of full power at ISO 100), thereby shaving some recycle time. Adding the external battery pack (of which I'm now a HUGE fan!) would drop it to roughly 1 second.


The other shooter's settings could have resulted in shots that needed significantly less power - wider aperture, higher ISO, different metering, who knows. It might have been a good time to swap flashes and try.