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Canon 430EX Speedlite Flash for Canon Pro1, Pro 90, G Series and all EOS SLR Cameras | 
 enlarge | Brand: Canon
Category: Photography
List Price: $400.00
Buy New: $187.95
You Save: $212.05 (53%)
New (59)
Avg. Customer Rating:  207 reviews
Media: Electronics
Autographed: No
Memorabilia: No
Batteries Included: No
Shipping Weight (lbs): 4
Dimensions (in): 6 x 2 x 2
Legal Disclaimer: Warranty does not cover misuse of product.
MPN: SL-430EX
Model: SL-430EX
UPC: 013803057003
EAN: 0013803057003
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Features:
| • | Replaces the Canon Speedlite 420EX Flash | | • | Automatic selection of camera white-balance settings and auto-adjustment of zoom flash position to match camera's sensor size | | • | Flash head zoom covers the range 24mm to 105mm; integrated diffusion panel allows extends coverage to 14mm | | • | Compatible with distance-linked E-TTL II system; supports other EOS cameras that do not support E-TTL II, when required | | • | Flash head moves up from 0 to 90 degrees, left from 0 to 180 degrees, and right from 0 to 90 degrees |
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Product Description
This exciting new addition to the EOS System combines compact size and affordability with an added dose of features and sophistication. Improving on the previous model, Speedlite 420EX, the new 430EX can now be set into manual flash mode (full power~1/64). Flash compensation can be set on the flash unit, and manual control of the flash zoom head is now possible. Improvements in its circuitry make recycle time 40% faster, and since it is compatible with Canon's wireless E-TTL, it can be used as an affordable "slave unit."
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| Customer Reviews: Read 202 more reviews...
 Great flash! December 10, 2005
537 out of 545 found this review helpful
I am a beginner 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 in 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 only does this give you the obvious ability to have more creative flexibility, but as a beginner, it gives you the opportunity to experiment, and practice the more technical skills of flash photography. Another benefit of manual mode is the ability to use opitcally triggered slave flash units in a multi-light setup. Fully automatic E-ttl mode flash will trigger the slaves with 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 with something, limiting your flexibilty in creating a lighting setup). This manual flexibilty was the primary reason I choose the 430EX over the 420EX.
2. Remarkable recycle times. I have no scientific data for this, just subjective feel. The 430EX out-performed the 420EX here. Not by a huge amount, but it was noticable. Under the same conditions-bounce for fill, low ambient light (meter read .3 sec at f4), the 430EX would be able to fire off an extra few shots in succession without having to wait for recycling. Depending on the battery level I could get 3 to 5 more partial power fill flashes in low ambient light, pressing the shutter release quickly with the 430EX over the 420EX. Again, not a huge difference, but noticeable.
3. Build quality was better than the Sigma. I use my camera a lot, in the most hostile of camera environments (I am an elementary school teacher) and it swings around and bangs into things, and gets swung around and banged into things...etc. The build quility compared to the Sigma isn't that different for a casual user, who will take pictures at home, or in a more controlled environment. In particular, the Sigma battery door felt weak. This wasn't a decision point for me, but it helped me lean towards my decision.
4. Finally, the last factor was the ability to function as a slave in a wireless setup that isn't optical. Optical slave setups are great for experimenting, and studio type setups, when you have the only camera in the room. But they do not work when every mother and father is taking a picture at the school play, and in the future, 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 easy way for a non-pro like me to go.
For me, the primary selling point was manual control. I probably would have gotten the 580EX otherwise, and just might do so in the future if I can save my pennies. The Sigma 500ST Super was very tempting as well, and if you want a powerful flash, manual 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 last 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 in flash assist, and has a reasonable range for most portraits and group shots in low light.
I hope this review helps you! It took me a long time and lots of research to decide, and hopefully, I have presented my reasons in an intelligible manner!
Have fun and take lots of pictures!
Nice design update. Works like a charm. December 5, 2006
380 out of 382 found this review helpful
The 430 is plenty of flash for many photographers. and makes a nice walkaround flash, backup, or outstanding slave flash for someone who gets bitten by the photo bug in a serious way. The only 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 in 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 then 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 reach, or extra bounce capacity. Again though, the 430 is plenty strong in it's own right. The 580 has a fun strobe feature that the 430 does not have. The 580 has much greater manual control than the 430, by virtue of being able to adjust it's output in double the number of increments compared to a 430. The 580 has 14 custom functions, while the 430 has 6. The 580 has an easier to use function wheel than the 430's "button wheel". The 580 head can rotate 180 degrees in either direction, and be set to less than 90 degrees to the lens axis, while the 430 can only rotate to 180 degrees in 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 get beyond the 5D body (the Rebel line, 10D, 20D, and 30D are fully covered). Both flashes include a pull out wide 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 has a pull out "catchlight" panel designed to put sparkle in the subjects' eyes when using the flash in 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 was wise enough to pack very good power, and a FULL feature set into the 430 without screwing the prospective buyer by leaving out one or two important 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 fact is, I use the 430 as my preferred flash more often than not. A trip to the car races, a birthday party, general photo fun, family stuf, etc. It is more flash than most people will ever need, at a good price. For those times that I need more, or want to use multiple flash units, the 580 heavy artillery is brought out, and the 430 becomes a second unit under 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 without having to use tripods to hold your slave flash units.
If the photo bug bites you, you will end up owning both flash units. Get the 430 first. If you never get into serious multi flash setups, the 430 will serve you just fine. I you do, you will end up buying it anyway :).
By the way, someone complained about cycle time on the 430. That was nonsense. Either it was a defective unit, or the reviewer was on the cheap, and used alkaline batteries. All flash units are very current hungry when they recharge after a full blast of light. Alkaline batteries are not capable of delivering high current levels more than a few times when they are new. Internal resistance builds up, and they begin to deliver such small current rates that you could sing an entire opera between flashes (no matter what brand of flash). Always use a high current technology battery like NiMH in a flash unit. You can buy a set of four 2700 MAh rechargeable batteries at WalMart for about seven bucks, or buy a brick of 24 of them online for about a buck each, and get a good charger for cheap too. With the right batteries, your 430 will recover from a full power flash in less than 4 seconds (about 2.5 in real life), and for less than full power shots (fill flash, etc.), you can take several shots in one second. Alkaline batteries will work in a pinch, but that is the only time you should use them. Lithium is a good technology for flash units too, but is still rather expensive. Buy NiMH for now.
A Wonderful Backup!!! October 31, 2005
105 out of 109 found this review helpful
I added this flash to act as a slave to my 580ex in certain situations. This flash is phenomenal!!! The output is dead on and the exposure it gives is perfect, 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 very much appreciated as I now tend to shoot with this as a walk around flash. Highly recommended as a backup or main flash unit!!
Nice Flash, worth the Money December 10, 2005
57 out of 57 found this review helpful
If you are looking for a flash for your SLR then you really only 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 then your camera's pop-up flash.
The flash is very impressive; you can setup just about any bizarre exposure you want on your camera and the flash will produce enough light to make the picture actually come out (with-in its limits). Bounce flash is really helpful for shooting near-by subjects; it greatly reduces the hash shadows that often ruin indoor pictures against white walls. I am very happy with the recharge time. At close range you can normally get 2 or 3 very quick shoots in before having to wait at all; after that it is still pretty fast. When it has to fire hard it recharges in a couple of seconds on good batteries. If you have the original Digital Rebel then the 430EX also adds flash compensation control.
I don't own a 580 so I can't really comment on the advantages. It has a longer range, color temperature 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 a little, 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 keep spare batteries; weak batteries cause very slow recharge times on distance shoots.
2.Always watch for the flash icon in the view finder. If you are shooting quickly in low-light and you happen to press the shutter before the flash has recharged you could find your self having to wait through a completely useless 10" exposure.
3.If you find that you have a tendency to accidentally tap the Depth of Field Preview button the side of the camera then you probably want to use the flash's custom feature 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 wait about 5 seconds for the flash to recycle.
Best flash for the money June 24, 2006
48 out of 48 found this review helpful
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 careful in chosing a flash, because if it's not E-TTL II compatible, you'll have very poor results with the latest digitals.
The 430EX is a best value in that it has all the truly important features: bounce, swivel, auto zoom head, autofocus assist, good 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 flash synch capability. This is invaluable when using the flash for outdoor, sunny day fill 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 make all the difference in your outdoor portraitures.
Second, but of less value, is the wireless capability. The 430EX, the 580EX, some older 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 easily equip one with a very nice studio lighting outfit. However, some might find this to be of more use than others.
Although the 580EX has 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 manufacturers, but none will combine the features and build quality of this Canon.
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