Customers Review Amazon Product

How could it be better?
Wow. The 430 EX II exceeded my expectations! What a great flash. I use it with an XSI and it is absolutely awesome. I keep it aimed up at the ceiling and it produces great results. It is so bright! When you use it in conjunction with the zoom, it performs awesome too. It really lights up a long way. I use it with rechargeable battteries and it cycles almost instantly. I can pretty much snap 5 shots in a row and it keeps up, then needs about 2 seconds to give me another 5 shots. Use good rechargeable batteries, like 2650 milliamps. They work best.

Hats off to the folks at Canon, they did it again!

Low light focus
I use this external flash unit with my Canon Rebel xTi. The flash does a great job calculating the amount of light it needs to release to expose the photo, making grossly over exposed or underexposed photos a thing of the past. The ability to bounce the flash off of medium height white ceilings gives you great looking photos to the point where I now prefer using my flash instead of relying on high ISOs, fast lenses and low aperature numbers. Although flash photography is a tricky subject, the casual shooter can leave this flash in automatic mode and get wonderfully exposed photos. However, in my opinion, the BEST PART of this external flash is that it enables you to focus MUCH faster than the built in flash and this is reason alone to pick up the Speedlite 430EX II. Previously, when shooting in low light settings, the camera/lens would struggle to focus and the flash would emit several highly annoying test flashes. The Speedlite has no problem finding and focusing on your subject in low lit catering halls and dark rooms and it does so without the annoying test flashes. Great product!

430EX II
The Speedlite 430EX II flash is a solid unit. It contains most of the upgrades that its big brother received. A metal foot finally, with a twist-lock that holds it totally securely to the top of the camera, yet removes in less than a second when you want to take it off, are true values and make a excellent flash unit even better. Canon quality is demonstrated in every aspect.

I actually purchased this unit as a slave to my 580EX II, but don't under estimate this unit. It is somewhat smaller than its bigger brother but is still a powerful flash to have in your bag. It can be used as a standalone flash or a slave to its bigger brother. The guide number for the 430ex is 43 and 58 for the 580EX units. That being said, in most shots, you will not know the difference. The unit can be rotated both vertically and horizontal, and can be operated fully ETTL automatically or manually. It supports High-Speed sync which allows you to shoot using all shutter camera speeds and has built in wide panel.

I also purchased the DVD "Understanding the Canon Speedlite 580EX/430EX" by Blue Crane Digital. This is a great companion that I highly recommend.

This is a great unit that is built for reliability and will be a work horse in anyone's bag. You will not go wrong with it purchase. It's a great investment. Later, if you decide to move up, you can add the 580EX as a master and use your 430EX as a slave.

Nice flash
I like this flash as it is not to big and recycles much faster than my old flash. I like the way the head swivels so I can bounce off the ceiling in portrait. I think it should be easier to be used as a remote flash without paying more for more stuff. A pc sync would also be great too. Overall I am satisfied and recommend this flash

Excellent Flash Accessory
I love my new flash. After losing my Canon Speedlight 430EX I had to buy another one. this time the 430EX II was what I chose. I was at the Cadillac Ranch in Texas yesterday morning at sunrise and too some shots of the cars and of the cloud formations in the sky. This flash lit up a great range of the farm field in front of me and made for some beautiful shots with the fill flash effect. Other than that it is effortless to get good lighting of people and indoors. this is a big improvement over the 430 EX.

What A Difference
Yes, the flash comes with a manual but what a difference. Without it I was getting red eye, just put the flash on and red eye is gone. I was even able to take a picture of something behind glass by bouncing it slightly. I have just begun to discover all that it can do.

Outstanding Product
I have taken several hundred pictures since purchasing the 600. Each picture was exposed perfectly to draw out the desired aspects of the subject. Well worth the cost.

partnered with d40
...so far so good. somehow big for d40 but i guess if you want it more powerfull than sb40 then it has to be larger right? great controls resulting in great pics so far.

Great product
This is a great addition to your DSLR. I have a Nikon D40 and the built-in flash is inadequate for indoor shots.

I tilt this flash straight up and bounce off ceiling. Pictures come out without the ugly glare look and very even.

You may think the price is expensive for just a "flash" but its well worth it. And don't try to go cheap with third party flashes, they don't communicate as well with the camera as first party models

Nikon Flash
Love it. When I first brought it home I had my grandson hide in a dark room and I just pointed and took shots aroung the room as a game of hide and seek to see how good the flash was and when we looked at the photos I won the game. The flash was powerful enough to find my grandson in the dark room. It was great.

absolutly lovely
we have AA and AAA batteries from sony and all works perfect even for toy, we have used for long time this items and never we had a problem with. its higly recommended!!!!!

Do not work with Canon Cameras
I bought these after reading the good reviews, when I received them I charged them and put them in my Canon Powershot S5. They seemed to work. A few days later I took my camera out to take photos and when I turned on the camera, it flashed the message "change the batteries". Recharged them fully at home. Put them in - "Change the batteries".

These were defective and are useless to me.

All night long...
These batteries lasted all day and night long as I was trying to capture a lightning storm at 3AM in the morning in the Dominican Republic. Great product!

A great battery/charger combo
I bought this for my canon sx10 and with just a 5hour charge i was able to take close to 400 pictures and 30minutes of movie with it.

This is a very good battery and the price is reasonable as well. I would surely recommend this.

Good for the price
Pros: Cheap, durable
Cons: Taking almost 7 hours to charge

If charging time is not a problem for you, this is an excellent product to buy.