I'm doing a family photoshoot for a friend really really soon.
I'm fixing to rent an 85mm 1.8 or the 50mm 1.4 for two weeks so I have time to get the lens down and what not.

I really don't feel like paying almost a 100 to rent a flash for 10 days.

If there is anyone with a Canon Flash that will let me borrow it? I know I haven't met any of you in person but I'll give you the money when I pick up the lens, give you a copy of my driver's license and stuff so you know where I live. hahaha.

 

$100?!? you can get nice flashes for around there or a little more. dude just find the same one on amazon buy it and then return it after your done lol. as long as its within 30 days they could care less

 

What kind of portraits do you plan on doing, because to me the prime lenses you mentioned seem somewhat limited, also what kind of flash are you looking into for this photoshoot.

 

I have Canon's Best Speed Light Flash thats out on the Market... ~> 580EX2

It has anything and everything your looking for! ~> It has a bounce card attached which is ideal for portrait pictures

LMK how much you're willing to pay . Also, I would need a little more then your drivers license seeing its a $525.00 flash!

Let me know!
-Chris

 

It's just separate portraits for each family member, then a few together, one of the children together, one of the mother and father and so on. Most likely during the day, not mid day either, but not sunset, or in the morning after the sun's out. The most I'd need the flash for is to soften shadows under eyes, nose, chin and so on.
I'll check out amazon.
Thanks CEMAYHALL I'll be speaking with you if anything.

 

Honestly, you could buy a Vivitar 285 for $85ish and learn how to use it in manual pretty quickly. It sounds difficult, but talk to btuner as he's learned to use his very quickly. When you buy these expensive Canon or Nikon flashes you're paying for the TTL metering which is very convenient in some situations, but it's not a must-have in a situation like yours.

My Nikon flash has TTL, but even still it really only has 1/64, 1/32, 1/16, 1/8, 1/4, 1/2 and 1/1 power settings (you can adjust in 1/3 stop increments between those, but that's really slight tweaking). If you start at 1/8 power and check your histogram and screen, you will probably only need to do 2-3 test shots to get the flash exposure very close.

If you're interested in trying it out, set your on-camera flash to manual and try it out. It's really not difficult at all.

TTL is useful when your subject-to-camera distance is changing a lot from shot to shot such as in a sporting environment. It's also good if you want to be lazy (and often times I do )

 

+1...

I'm not sure about the higher end Nikon Flashes but I bought my Canon 580EX2 over the 430 mainly b/c of the built in on-board bounce card! Sure you could buy a bounce card adaptor but who really wants to fool with one of those every time you use the flash? ~> I'm sure there are nice flashes out there that will save you a bit of money but I only use Canon products (Call me OCD!) Also, if you ever get stuck in the rain, the 580EX2 is water resistant

Let me know what you'd like to do!
-Chris

 

It seems like you don't need anything more than the on-board flash, it's good to learn your way around that.

 

I'm intrigued by this, I didn't realize they made a water resistant flash. Does it have some sort of cover so that the hotshoe cant get any water in it? Does it have visible signs of being water resistant or is it just sealed?

 

its not like your camera is water resistant so there's not really a point, unless your strobing and your shooting from under an umbrella while its raining lol