Canon 430EX Speedlite Flash for Canon EOS SLR Cameras - Older Version Reviews

Average Customer Rating - 4.7 out of 5 stars

233 customer reviews

A Wonderful Backup!, October 30, 2005
I added this flash to act as a slave to my 580ex in infallible situations. This flash is phenomenal! The output is dead on and the exposure it gives is fail-safe, thanks to the ETTL-II that the 420ex lacked. Even when it's connected to the shoe mount on the camera it's awsome. The lighweight is thoroughly much appreciated as I now tend to shoot with this as a totter around flash. Highly recommended as a backup or main flash unit!!

Great flash!, December 10, 2005
I am a greenhorn to SLR flash photography, and I spent several weeks researching various flashes, both by online reviews, and by going down to the local camera shop with my Canon 350D (Rebel XT contained by US), and I finally decided on the 430EX over the Canon 420EX, Canon 580EX, and Sigma 500ST Super for a few reasons:

1. Manual Control- Not solely does this give you the obvious handiness to have more creative flexibility, but as a beginner, it give you the opportunity to experiment, and practice the more technical skills of flash photography. Another benefit of manual mode is the aptitude to use opitcally triggered slave flash units in a multi-light setup. Fully automatic E-ttl mode flash will trigger the slaves beside the metering preflash, and make using optical slaves impossible while using the onboard flash. (there are work arounds, but they involve reducing the output of the onboard flash to a minimal level by FEC or covering the flash beside something, limiting your flexibilty in creating a lighting setup). This manual flexibilty be the primary reason I choose the 430EX over the 420EX.

2. Remarkable recycle times. I have no quantifiable data for this, just subjective touch. The 430EX out-performed the 420EX here. Not by a huge amount, but it was noticable. Under the same conditions-bounce for stuff, low ambient light (meter read .3 sec at f4), the 430EX would be able to fire stale an extra few shots in succession without have to wait for recycling. Depending on the battery-operated level I could get 3 to 5 more partial power cram flashes in low ambient light, pressing the shutter release immediately with the 430EX over the 420EX. Again, not a huge difference, but noticeable.

3. Build point was better than the Sigma. I use my camera a lot, surrounded by the most hostile of camera environments (I am an elementary school teacher) and it swings around and bangs into things, and get swung around and banged into things...etc. The build quility compared to the Sigma isn't that different for a casual user, who will lift pictures at home, or in a more controlled environment. In particular, the Sigma freestyle door felt weak. This wasn't a result point for me, but it helped me lean towards my decision.

4. Finally, the ending factor was the ability to function as a slave within a wireless setup that isn't optical. Optical slave setups are great for experimenting, and studio type setups, when you have the only camera contained by the room. But they do not work when every mother and father is taking a picture at the school play, and in the adjectives, I plan to upgrade/expand to include infared control of a flash setup. Again, there are other options for non-optically controlled slaves, but the 580EX plus Canon slaves is an smooth way for a non-pro like me to turn.

For me, the primary selling point was manual control. I probably would own gotten the 580EX otherwise, and just might do so in the adjectives if I can save my pennies. The Sigma 500ST Super was thoroughly tempting as well, and if you want a powerful flash, booklet control, and don't plan to use a multi-flash setup, or you use an optically triggered setup, I would recommend that flash highly as well.

One second point, the AF assist on the Canon flashes will cover all the focus points on a 350D (Rebel XT), and 20D, whereas the Sigma will only illuminate the center AF reliably. This AF assist is much nicer than the built surrounded by flash assist, and has a reasonable catalogue for most portraits and group shots in low light.

I hope this review help you! It took me a long time and lots of research to decide, and hopefully, I have presented my reason in an intelligible manner!
Have fun and run lots of pictures!

Great Flash!, February 2, 2006
Make no mistake about it-- this flash is a superb value. With adequate options and settings to dazzle even those of us who have be photographing for a while, this one makes a great purchase. Absolutely outstanding fill-in and bounce flash capabilities. Very powerful, totally precise, and the sync mode is phenomenal. Made the mistake of ordering the 220 and had to return it in a day because, pardon my French, it's a piece of unwanted items. I shed the extra $150 for this one and ever since I got it I've ran a series of intensive test (informal though) and am nothing but amazed and glad I ended up order this one! Definitely great, great product! If you are a low-light/night pro I suggest the 580 instead which is definitely in a league of its own. But for the rest of us this one will give somebody a lift you a long way.

Nice Flash, worth the Money, December 10, 2005
If you are looking for a flash for your SLR then you really singular have two choices, this or the 580EX. The lower-end flash would be a waste of money and space because it doesn't provide much more after your camera's pop-up flash.

The flash is very impressive; you can setup a short time ago about any bizarre exposure you want on your camera and the flash will produce enough lighting to make the picture actually come out (with-in its limits). Bounce flash is really supportive for shooting near-by subjects; it greatly reduces the hash shadows that often ruin indoor pictures against white walls. I am vastly happy with the recharge time. At close collection you can normally get 2 or 3 markedly quick shoots in until that time having to wait at adjectives; after that it is still pretty fast. When it has to fire strong it recharges in a couple of second on good batteries. If you enjoy the original Digital Rebel then the 430EX also add flash compensation control.

I don't own a 580 so I can't really comment on the advantages. It has a longer range, color warmth information, -3� down angle and wireless master mode; it is also larger. At the time I bought this one the 580 was twice the price so I didn't even consider it; the prices have come down for a moment, so it may be worth looking at. You should also keep in mind that the 430 does support wireless slave mode, so if you buy a 580 down the road you can still use this flash as a slave.

A few tips:
1. Always save spare batteries; weak battery cause very slow recharge times on distance shoots.
2. Always monitor for the flash icon in the prospect finder. If you are shooting quickly in low-light and you arise to press the shutter before the flash has recharged you could find your self have to wait through a completely useless 10" exposure.
3. If you find that you have a proclivity to accidentally tap the Depth of Field Preview button the side of the camera then you probably want to use the flash's custom side to disable "Depth of Field Preview Illumination" (I think that is how its worded). Normally the flash strobes when that button is pressed; which annoys your subjects and forces you to hang about about 5 seconds for the flash to recycle.

Nice design update. Works similar to a charm., December 4, 2006
The 430 is plenty of flash for many photographers. and makes a nice walkaround flash, backup, or outstanding slave flash for someone who get bitten by the photo bug in a serious way. The just current flash model that can compete is the Canon 580EX, which costs about a hundred bucks more. Forget the Sigma flash. The 580 is a much better unit (I'll explain contained by a sec), but it is bigger, heavier, and again, more expensive. The 430 can do most of the important things a 580 can do that an amateur is likely to use, and later some.

Here are the important differences... The 430 is pretty powerful, but the 580 is much more powerful than the 430 (GN 58 vs GN 43 (meters)). That's a lot of extra accomplish, or extra bounce capacity. Again though, the 430 is plenty strong in it's own right. The 580 have a fun strobe feature that the 430 does not have. The 580 have much greater manual control than the 430, by virtue of individual able to adjust it's output in double the number of increments compared to a 430. The 580 have 14 custom functions, while the 430 has 6. The 580 has an easier to use function controls than the 430's "button wheel". The 580 head can rotate 180 degrees within either direction, and be set to less than 90 degree to the lens axis, while the 430 can only rotate to 180 degrees within one direction, and cannot dip below 90 degrees to the lens axis. The 580 can control other 580's, and 430's as slaves via it's infrared optical control transmitter/reciever. The 580 covers all focus sensors on EOS cameras up to the 45 points used by the pro bodies. The 430 covers up to 9 sensors, which is fine until you win beyond the 5D body (the Rebel line, 10D, 20D, and 30D are fully covered). Both flashes include a pull out huge panel that will cover a lens as wide as 14mm on a full frame body, or as wide as 10mm on a 10,20,30D, or Rebel body, but the 580 also have a pull out "catchlight" panel designed to put sparkle in the subjects' eyes when using the flash within bounce mode. There are a few more things, but that should cover the big ones.

OK, the 580 is the knockout champion, so why did I rate the 430 with 5 stars? Because it deserves them. Canon be wise enough to pack really good power, and a FULL feature set into the 430 minus screwing the prospective buyer by leaving out one or two crucial features that would force them to spend the extra bucks on a 580. The 430 is built well, looks sweet, works like the fine instrument it is, and is significantly smaller than the 580. The certainty is, I use the 430 as my preferred flash more often than not. A trip to the car race, a birthday party, general photo fun, relatives stuf, etc. It is more flash than most people will ever need, at a devout price. For those times that I need more, or want to use multiple flash units, the 580 unwieldy artillery is brought out, and the 430 becomes a second unit below the control of the 580. Both units come with a clever little "foot" that allows you to position them on any flat surface, so you can set up your scene lighting short having to use tripods to hold your slave flash units.

If the photo bug bites you, you will finish up owning both flash units. Get the 430 first. If you never get into serious multi flash setups, the 430 will serve you simply fine. I you do, you will end up buying it anyway :).

By the way, someone complained roughly cycle time on the 430. That was nonsense. Either it be a defective unit, or the reviewer was on the cheap, and used alkaline battery. All flash units are very current hungry when they recharge after a full blast of hurricane lantern. Alkaline batteries are not capable of deliver high current levels more than a few times when they are unmarked. Internal resistance builds up, and they begin to deliver such small current rates that you could sing an entire opera between flashes (no concern what brand of flash). Always use a high current technology battery approaching NiMH in a flash unit. You can buy a set of four 2700 MAh rechargeable battery at WalMart for about seven bucks, or buy a brick of 24 of them online for about a buck respectively, and get a good charger for cheap too. With the right battery, your 430 will recover from a full power flash in smaller number than 4 seconds (about 2.5 in solid life), and for less than full power shots (fill flash, etc.), you can take several shots surrounded by one second. Alkaline batteries will work in a pinch, but to be exact the only time you should use them. Lithium is a good technology for flash unit too, but is still rather expensive. Buy NiMH for now.

Makes indoor shots look great., March 29, 2006
I bring most of my shots indoors, and was encouraged to buy this flash. I be blown away by how much better my shots look when bouncing the flash. Much more natural looking lighting. I think this is the best entry I have bought for my XT, I love it.

Lots of good reviews for this, so i don't necessitate to add much more, but I wanted to rate this 5 stars because I am so at ease with it.

Buy it! Buy it! Buy it!, January 9, 2006
I just received my Canon 430EX later week, so I have limited experience using it. I am enormously impressed with its solid construction, LCD screen, and selectable (available) instruction manual controls. Also with the test shots I made so far range from 2' to 20'. Perfect exposures. I bought it for my Canon EOS SLR Digital Rebel 6.3MP. Did a lot of shopping around trying to find a flash not quite so expensive. Found tons of the "bargain" brands were not totally "dedicated" to my camera, therefore some of the features will not work. Even have incorrect advice from some of the major camera chains. So beware! Some do not put out as much table lamp, too. Be sure you are getting what you want. The other reviews here at Amazon are very good, do read them. The price Amazon offer it for is reasonable, especially when you consider free shipping and (for most) no sales excise. I highly recommend this one.

Heavy Hitter, January 23, 2006
I love almost everything about this flash. Especially the accurate lighting when you bounce it stale the walls or ceiling. Coupled with a f/1.8 lens, I was even competent to take some decent indoor basketball shots this weekend. My solely beef is the weight. Very heavy once you pack contained by those four AA batteries. I don't know if the reviewer who said that the flash was lightweight be A-a-a-rnold or not, but I find it very top heavy when you put it on something similar to the 300/Rebel.

Best flash for the money, June 23, 2006
Simply put, if the price isn't too high, this is the best flash value for the newer E-TTL II flash system cameras (all the current digital EOS). Be wise in chosing a flash, because if it's not E-TTL II compatible, you'll have vastly poor results with the latest digitals.

The 430EX is a best merit in that it has adjectives the truly important features: bounce, swivel, auto zoom head, autofocus assist, devout power, and E-TTL II compatibility. It also has two things that put it ahead of most independent flash units.

First and foremost is the high-ranking flash synch capability. This is invaluable when using the flash for outdoor, sunny day flood flash portraits. Large apertures (for shallow depth of field) and bright light necessitates shooting at faster shutter speeds. The HFS allows this, although it is not as power effecient as not using this mode. This can truly cause all the difference in your outdoor portraitures.

Second, but of smaller amount value, is the wireless capability. The 430EX, the 580EX, some elder flashes and the ST-E2 controller can be assembled into a portable, multi-flash wireless set. I feel this is rather undesirable for most, as the cost required could effortlessly equip one with a very nice studio lighting outfit. However, some might find this to be of more use than others.

Although the 580EX have a few more features, and a bit more power, it's probably not the best choice for the average flash photographer, due to the much higher cost.

If this flash is still out of your budget, there are several other flashes that are E-TTL II compatible from other manufacturer, but none will combine the features and build quality of this Canon.

Huge improvement for my Canon G7, December 8, 2006
I've just this minute stepped up from my Canon S400 Elph to the G7. Outside shots with the G7 have be excellent, but inside shots with the built-in flash have not done this camera even-handedness. After talking to a knowledgeable friend and reading reviews and discussion forums on various photo sites, I decided to take the plunge on the 430EX.

I cannot start to emphasize how much better indoor shots are with the 430EX flash. Gone is red-eye and washed-out pasty-faced pictures of my toddler kids. Using the pivoting potential of this powerful flash to bounce flash, my indoor shots are much nicer with more natural lighting effects and a fully lit-up room. Shots of the kids are crisp and automatic looking with no more red-eye.

The ETTL-II support works flawless with the G7. Installation and use is a snap. Unless you be aware of the need for manual overrides, a hulking amount of calibration happens automatically between the sensors in the camera and flash, including a hurriedly pre-flash to further achieve a better calibrated picture. After doing a go through on ETTL-II I was amazed at the complex interactions that happen between the camera's sensors and the flash.

The flash does looks huge on this camera with the flash tilted up, but it actually looks fully clad when tilted forward. I will say that it is reasonably pale and I have not had any issues keeping the camera fair or steady with the flash mounted and holding in my hand. In my opinion, the improvement contained by picture quality for indoor shots far outweighs my original concerns give or take a few the flash being too large for the camera.

The combination of the G7 camera and 430EX flash have given me a very satisfactory apparatus that produces excellent quality pictures indoors while still having a sort of compact camera to use in the brighter outdoors where an external flash is not required.

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