What Speedlite or External flash for Crop Body

[neuroanatomist]

Watch for rechargeable batteries they make your flash recycle time increase.

Sorry, but that's incorrect. NiMH batteries have lower internal resistance than alkaline batteries, and thus NiMH batteries can deliver power faster to recharge the capacitor more rapidly than alkaline batteries.


The Canon flash manuals say nothing on this issue, but if you can bring yourself to look at a Nikon manual, recycle times are listed. For example, the SB-800 manual (p. 19) states that NiMH rechargeable batteries take ~4 seconds to recycle whereasalkaline batteries will take ~6 seconds to recycle- that's 50% longer with the alkaline AA's than with the rechargeable batteries.

The higher the mAh number, the more power it can deliver, which means that
your flash will recharge faster.

Also incorrect, actually. The higher the mAh, the more flashes you get from a charge. The mAh value is a measure of the battery's capacity, i.e. how much charge it can hold, not how fast it can deliver it (although a fully charged battery will deliver power faster, because as charge is depleted, internal resistance increases). The recycling speed is primarily determined by the chemistry of the battery being used, which determines the internal resistance. That's also apparent from the manual linked above, since rechargeable NiCDs with 1000 mAh have the same 4 second recycle time as rechargeable NiMHs with 2000 mAh.

[Mark Elberson]

To further bolster what John said...

Don't use alkalines - NiMH batteries will save you lots of money and will work better. NiMH batteries have much less internal resistance than alkaline batteries resulting in significantly shorter re-cycle times (up to 50% faster). NiMH batteries also give more consistent (full) power until they are discharged while alkalines will recycle the flash more and more slowly as they expend their life. Adding environmental concerns and cost to this equation should make the decision to use NiMH batteries a no-brainer. Buy lots of them and use them in everything you own that accepts them (get a smart charger such as is made by Powerex). Eneloop AA batteries come highly recommended. A new-at-the-same-time weather-sealed Compact Battery Pack CP-E4 or the older non-sealed CP-E3 can be used for faster charging and more flashes-per-battery-change.

[jimr]

All good to know. Thanks for pointing out the errors in my ways.


I know what will be on my shopping list this weekend []