If you shoot a Canon camera and want a small speed light or
external flash this post is written with you in mind. First off, you may be
asking yourself why buy a small speed light when there a bigger ones out there
that so exactly the same job. There are several reasons why a small speed light
will suit your needs better than a big speed light, and some of these include:-
- Big speed lights are too much for smaller Canon cameras (top end point and shoot cameras and CSCs) to deal with. Okay, you can put whatever speed light in the hot shoe you want but big speed lights on small cameras are awkward, cumbersome, affect the balance/feel of the set up and just not nice to use.
- Big speed lights take up more room. If you have a big camera bag and don’t mind the weight and bulk of a big speed light this point won’t affect you. If, however, you like to travel light or use a small camera bag a small speed light is just what you need.
- Big speed lights require more batteries. The large speed lights require 4 x AA batteries whereas the smaller speed lights require 2 x AA batteries. The more batteries you have the more charging you have to do, and the more batteries you have that could potentially go “missing” – and missing batteries are a pet hate of mine.
- Big speed lights are sometimes too powerful. Most of the time you will appreciate a lot of flash power however there are times when you need the smallest kiss of light to enhance the photo. In these instances a big speed light may be too powerful, even with the power dialed right down. One of the smaller, and slightly less powerful speed lights is a better choice in these circumstances.
- Big speed lights cost a lot more than smaller speed lights. If you are on a budget or can’t justify spending a lot of money on an external flash you will find one of the smaller speed lights a lot easier on your wallet.
The above is not an exhaustive list and there are several
other reasons one of the smaller speed lights may be a better buy for you.
Before dismissing a small speed light and jumping right in to buy one of the
bigger speed lights I urge you to slow down, take a step back and carefully
think about what you need from the speed light and what you want it to do.
The best small speed
lights
Okay, so we know that small speed lights are very useful and
if you want a speed light for your Canon camera they are worth considering, but
what are the best small speed lights?
The term “best” is subjective and the best small speed light
for you may not necessarily be the best small speed light for me, and vice
versa. Fortunately, there are a handful of small speed lights that consistently
get good reviews and write ups, and these include:-
Nissin i40 (Full review here)
 |
GUIDE NUMBER (35MM @
ISO 100) – 27M / FOCAL LENGTH COVERAGE – 24MM – 105MM / RECYCLING TIME – 0.1 –
4 SECS/ ETTL - YES / EV COMPENSATION ON FLASH - +/- 2EV / SLAVE - YES /
VERTICAL TILT – 0 – 90 DEGREES/ HORIZONTAL TILT – 0 – 180 DEGREES/ DIMENSIONS –
100MM X 50MM X 50MM/ APPROX PRICE $USD/£GBP - $230/£155/ POWER – 4XAA BATTERIES
|
Metz 26 (Full review here)
 |
GUIDE NUMBER (35MM @ ISO
100) – 26M/ FOCAL LENGTH COVERAGE – 24MM – 85MM/ RECYCLING TIME – 0.3 – 8 SECS/
ETTL - YES/ EV COMPENSATION ON FLASH - +/- 3EV/ SLAVE - YES/ VERTICAL TILT – 0
– 890 DEGREES/ HORIZONTAL TILT - NONE/ DIMENSIONS – 63MM X 85MM X 85MM/ APPROX
PRICE $USD/£GBP - $140/£75/ POWER – 2XAAA BATTERIES
|
Canon 270 EX (Full review here)
 |
GUIDE NUMBER (35MM @
ISO 100) – 27M/ FOCAL LENGTH COVERAGE – 28MM – 50MM/ RECYCLING TIME – 0.1 – 4
SECS/ ETTL - YES/ EV COMPENSATION ON FLASH - NO/ SLAVE - YES/ VERTICAL TILT – 0
– 90 DEGREES/ HORIZONTAL TILT - NO/ DIMENSIONS – 77MM X 66MM X 65MM/ APPROX PRICE
$USD/£GBP - $170/£180/ POWER – 2XAA BATTERIES
|
Godox TT350 (Full review here)
 |
GUIDE NUMBER (35MM @
ISO 100) – 36M/ FOCAL LENGTH COVERAGE – 24MM – 105MM/ RECYCLING TIME – 0.1 –
2.2 SECS/ ETTL - YES/ EV COMPENSATION ON FLASH - +/- 3EV/ SLAVE - YES/ VERTICAL
TILT – 0 – 90 DEGREES/ HORIZONTAL TILT – 0 – 90 DEGREES/ DIMENSIONS – 140MM X
62MM X 38MM/ APPROX PRICE $USD/£GBP -
$85/£70/ POWER – 2XAA BATTERIES
|
I have used all of the small speed lights above and all of
them are very good at what they do. I can’t (and won’t) the best small speed
light for your particular needs because I don’t know anything about you or your
photography style. All I can say is that all of the above small speed lights
are very good and I guarantee you won’t be disappointed with any of them.
Related reading
Below are some links to other flash photography articles,
posts and tutorials you may find interesting. Please feel free to head on over
and take a look:-
- The basics of flash photography
- How to gang 3 speed lights
- When to use a flash in ETTL mode
- Off camera flash on a budget
Photography ramblings video playlist that may be of interest
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