Suggestions on a good Speedlite battery pack!!

[Jordan]

Note, NOT a pack that you put 6 or 8 AA batteries in, but a genuine external battery like a Quantum or something. I saw that Godox packs are under $100 but I read some TERRIBLE things about them. There is one called the Bolt Cyclone that is fairly cheap too. The Quantum are expensive, and even some of those are getting bad reviews.

My New Year's Resolution is to use my flash more and more. I want to take photos like the one below. I shot this earlier today. Here's how I did it. Canon 5DMk3 & Tamron 24-70mm f/2.8 VC @ 52mm with a CP filter mounted on a tripod. 2 sec shutter delay. I was camera left with a 580EXII Speedlite and a Cowboy receiver (trigger in the camera's hot shoe). I shot it at f/11, 1/50sec ISO 160. The flash's power I can't remember, but I think it was 1/1 or 1/2 power. This all worked great, but these are the kind of shots I want to do CONSISTENTLY and more easily. Also, the batteries on my 580 go QUICKLY.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to not-to-expensive gear I can purchase that will make this all much easier? I was thinking of PocketWizards, but these triggers seem to work alright for me so far (though shooting at like 1/500 sec would be quite nice...) I'd love a big softbox, but that's a lot to carry and setup and that will drastically reduce the light. *SIGH* I'm quite experienced with photography in general, but not so much flashes. Any suggestions??

www.freshphotoblog.com

[andnowimbroke]

Yikes. 1/1? Sounds like you need a bigger flash/monolight with a power pack. Would increasing your ISO help drop the amount of light needed from your flash. You'd need to cut the shutter speed also I guess if you did. Is there a way to frame your shot tighter and still get the same feel so you could move the light source closer? Just trying to think of things to try before buying more stuff. Nice looking shot though.

[Sean Setters]

Anyone else have the Full House theme song stuck in their head?

[Rocco]

Anyone else have the Full House theme song stuck in their head?

Ha! My first thought was Mrs. Doubtfire, so House of Pain's "Jump Around" is what came to mind.. But man, you are spot on.

[Joel Eade]

This is what I use for bird photography along with Powerex 2700 mAH batteries. I can get several hundred shots no problem but I am using only using fill flash. I use a 580 EXII usually in ETTL mode at around -2 1/3 stops.

http://www.outdoorphotogear.com/stor...tery-pack.html

I know you said this isn't what you want but it is a fraction of the price of the Quantam packs and it works quite well with fast recycle times too, of course dependent on the flash settings. I looked at the Quantum products and they are very nice but they are very pricey. This Phottix unit is identical to the Canon battery pack but much less expensive.