Battery duration and recycle time for Canon 580EX II flash

[Carlos Lindado]

Hello:


Recently, I acquired a Canon 580EX II flash (great flash, BTW) and a pack of 4 Sony CycleEnergy 2700 mAh NiMH batteries plus 360 mA charger. I tested the batteries (fully charged) firing the flash at full power and I got approximately 120 shots. I don't consider this a bad figure except for the recycle time: after 80 shots the recycle time was about 3-4 seconds, and after 100 shots it went down to 8-10 seconds. For the last 5 shots, the flash took about 30-40 seconds to recycle! Do you think these numbers are normal? I wonder if I'd do better with Eneloop batteries (hard to find in my area). Thanks!

[iND]

I have 3 580EX II flashes and I use the eneloop batteries.


I use mostly off camera flash with a fill camera mounted, and frequently set the on camera flash to

[Carlos Lindado]

Thanks for replying, iND. I took batchs of 10 continuous shots (continuous meaning as soon as the pilot lamp was red again), and I let the flash rest 15-20 minutes between batches. I wonder if the slow recycle time was caused by overheating (although the manual states letting the flash rest for 10 minutes after 20 continuous flashes).

[andnowimbroke]

Sounds pretty insane for a recharge rate. Can you move the light closer to your subject or increase the ISO on your camera to help relieve some of the pressure off the flash?

[andnowimbroke]

Sorry. Just re-read what you were looking for with the test and not an actual shoot. my answer wasn

[Fast Glass]

Sounds about right for full flash power based on what other people have told me. In real life with resting the flash between cycles and using less powerfull flash you should get better recycle times and more flashes.


John.

[Carlos Lindado]

Thanks for your replies! I know it