How is the ETTL vs. AUTO? That's my main concern. On a 580EX I'm constantly compensating (even in a perfect situation).

Thanks in advance.

I think it's still not out yet....

Mario

My store got them last week.. we've sold about 6-7 of them already.

Well, I will give you some insights on a new 580EX II flash since I just got it.

Paid $450 (have a friend in a store). The feature I was exited about is the new auto mode. It turns out that the flash has two Auto mode (regular and auto manual). In the regular "Auto" mode the flash automatically changes the ISO and F/stop as you adjust the camera. In a "Auto Manual" YOU have to adjust the ISO and the F/stop in flash to match camera's settings. Here comes the disapointing part (at least for me) the "Auto" mode only works for 1DIII and the "Auto manual" works for all EOS camera's.

The battery door is nicer than the old 580EX (personally I never had any trouble with 580EX battery door).

Another drawback for me is that the "master"/"slave" switch (like it was on the 580EX) on the 580EX is not there. You have to go in to the menu. Meaning you have to press and hold the button and then make the switch to "master"/"slave".

The metal shoe is nice. Overall I think the new 580EX II is overpriced. I'm sure it will come down in price soon (to about where the 580EX was).

whoa whoa whoa... full dedicated auto only works on the 1d3? man that sucks....
Since you have one already, do you know if it works in auto-manual mode off camera or on different cameras (like my 25 year old AE-1?) That's the big thing I'm wondering about.

I'm sure a simple firmware upgrade will fix this and knowing how stingy Canon is they won't give it to us.

I'll check in the manual for you.

ok, I got the 580EX II. I tried auto mode (that's why I bought it) and all I can say is.... IT REALLY SUCKS!!!

It's been underexposing like crazy! By as much as 3 stops! My 25 year old canon 199A does a MUCH better job.

Can you test your 580II in auto mode? I gotta find out if my flash is just faulty or if all of them are garbage...

(ettl mode works fine)

I put this in the other 580 exII thread but will include it here too.
I didn't want to pay the ridiculous $500 for the EXII so I got a Metz 58AF-1 instead. Nowhere in the literature did I see that it does not work with radio slaves such as pocket wizards! Apparently, it takes all 5 contacts being triggered to set the flash off rather than just the one that every other flash in the world uses. Lame.
That and the menu system made setting flash EV very difficult- you have to push a button 5 times just to get to the right spot to make adjustments. Lame.
So I found another EX used instead. $500 is just way too much for a flash that won't do anything more for my 5D and 20D than the previous version. But if you can't find one used, and you use off camera radio slaves, the Metz is not a good alternative. Either wait for prices to come down or suck it up

Colin, why are you using a 580 as a slave flash triggered with a pocket wizard? That's a lot of bells and whistles that aren't being used. Since you're setting your slave flash manually, why not just use a Vivitar 285HV for a fraction of the cost? And no extra cords to buy. The cord that comes with your PW plugs right into it.

I just picked up two 580EX II's over the weekend (still have one 580EX for sale if anyone is interested). The metal foot and battery door are BIG improvements. I like the weather sealing a lot, too, though I don't have a weather-sealed camera at the moment. The flash head is just slightly bigger, so my omnibounces fit VERY snugly. I also used them with radio triggers over the weekend, and the addition of the PC socket is VERY welcome! They are also now totally silent while recycling, which was very nice for the party I shot last night. All in all, two thumbs up...except maybe at the price...but I found them for $450 at Canoga Camera...I think they are the same price online.

I did try it in AUTO Manual and it did underexposes by about a stop or more. So, the Auto mode exposure sucks and on top of it you have to change ISO/Aperture.

There are not too many alternatives right now. I was thinking of getting the Metz 58. I have tried it before and everything takes long to set up (slave/exposures). I think I'm going to see if I can get 580EX. At least on the 580EX the Master/Slave switch is on the
the outside.

Colin
I was not quite sure on your statement.
Are you saying the Metz is not a good alternative and does not work well with pocket wizards and not the Canon 580II.
Just wanted to make sure.

Troy

This is very disappointing that the auto sensor does not work well. I'm going to exchange my 580II today for another one and see if I get the same results.

Anyhow... I tried out another 580EX II. It did the exact same thing as my first one. The guy at the store was like, "it's normal, it's not defective". excuse me? Normal to underexpose by two to three stops consistently? and NEVER get the exposure right? whatever. He didn't seem to understand that even my old 199A gives MUCH better auto exposures than the 580II. So I asked him if he had a Sunpak 383 or a Vivitar 285HV sitting around we could compare it with. He had a Nikon SB-28 so we put it on auto and set it exactly like the 580II, put it onto the 30D we were using and boom, good exposure. Put the 580II back on and again, crappy underexposed photo.

what the hell are the idiots at Canon thinking? There's gotta be some kind of custom technique I'm missing because it's hard to believe a $560 flash can be so crappy.

I ended up returning it instead of exchanging. I'm just royally annoyed.

Backup. What if my primary goes down? I can shoot manually, but I wouldn't want to shoot an entire wedding that way. I already have non-dedicated flashes and strobes but a backup 580 allows me the comfort of only carrying 2 flashes total and both can do either job.


Yep, it's no good, I do not recommend it. It does not work at all with pocket wizards. If you need something now, get the 580II. Only get the Metz if you never use pocket wizards and you don't mind a really poor menu system.

You have a very good point. It is good to have two flashes that you know will operate the same in all situations.

Personally if I were a canon user I would purchase old nikon sb-24s 25s or 26s. They have full manual controls and they have a standard sync port. you can buy them for about $15 more than you can buy one of those paramount cords that connects your PW to your canon flash. So for $50 you can buy a powerful flash that you can plug directly into your PW with the included plug. That is cheaper than the Vivitar 285HV.

My two cents.

Yeah, since I switched to Canon a couple of months ago, I kept all my Nikon flashes (5 total) to use for off-camera units for that reason. But I picked up 2 Canon 550EX units to use in our cameras' hotshoes.