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.

Slow charge time, doesn't shut off after batteries charge, batteries died in less than 2 years
Takes several hours to charge. It doesn't shut off after batteries charge, so they get very hot. There's no indicator to tell if the batteries are charged or dead. Batteries died in less than 2 years and I only recharged them maybe once a month.

So far so good
My frist set of rechargable batteries. They dont hold a charge as long as I would have expected but it beats buying new batteries constantly. I think with the cost of AA batteries, they will pay for themselves very quickly.

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!

Pure junk
Bought this as combined with a Canon camera.

Simply stated, it doesn't charge the batteries at all.

don't waste your money on this.

Doesn't deserve any stars.

Great battery charger
Works very well and quickly to charge my camera batteries. I have two batteries and when one runs out of juice, I put it in the charger right away so I'll always have a fresh battery ready.

The charger is very compact and fits in my camera bag perfectly.

I've been using the charger for a couple years and it still works great. Recommended item!

Awesome charger
It does what it's supposed to do - charges my battery well. I'm very pleased. I thought I lost my other charger which came with my Canon digital camera, but I found it once I bought this one. But that's alright, I don't mind having one to leave at home and one I can travel with.

replacement charger
I lost my original charger at a chalet in Hawaii. They couldn't seem to find it. This was a replacement for that. It is the same one I lost.

Just a battery...
Nothing much to say about it. I had to purchase this because I lost mine. It does what its supposed to do. Sucks that I had to spend that much for one though but I had no choice.

Same as original
I ordered this product after losing the original charger that came with my camera. As far as I can tell, this is an exact replacement and works great.

Best rechargeable battery yet!
I have had several brands of rechargeable batteries, and these are by far the best, especially for our digital camera. They perform as advertised. Highly recommended!!!

Best made rechargeable batteries I have seen thanks NLee
These eneloop are really made solid not as most I have used which are cheaply made. I really can't say how good they are I just got them but, the package say I can take 500 pictures on one charge.

It pass my test so far took 15-20 pictures and the battery is still fully charge. The RadioShack and the Tenergy ones died after 10-15 pictures. I will be happy with 50-100 pictures but, if I do get over 100 and even 500 per charge I will never buy any other brand.

good battery
Well little to say, they hold their charge longer than normal nimh batteries and they are as useful as them, i have 4 pairs and i usually charge them every 2 days, worked flawless

Work GREAT
I've had a couple sets of these for about 8 months and they work wonderfully. I love having batteries ready for me when they are needed and not having to buy and throw away batteries is a big plus.

I use them in my Wii remotes and they last a long time. I keep the charger with my Wii and when the batteries need changing in the remotes, it's fast and easy to swap them out with the charged ones. I was going to get the Wii charge station, but this way I can use the batteries for other electronics, too.

Works Very Well
I picked up a set of the batteries and charger and so far they have been working well. Out of the package they did have a charge and I shot for awhile with them around the house, but did charge them prior to leaving the house to make sure they were fully charged.

I have not run the batteries down far enough to miss any shot yet - they have lasted whenever I have my camera out.

Good solid purchase and I am happy to no longer add as much to the garbage by using disposable batteries.

Excellent battery!
I bought this as a replacement for the original battery that came with my Sony camera, and found that it performs better than the original, thanks to the indicator showing the number of battery charge minutes left (when fully charged, the indicator shows around 140 minutes).

Nice
Great small battery that seems to hold a charge forever for me. No complaints. Usually carry one for a backup in case I lose one! As always SONY makes superior products in my opinion.

Fantastic deal!
This is a real 'Sony' brand battery. List price is about . For the selling price one normally gets only a generic battery. That makes this a great deal!

Good product
What can I say. This is original battery and it does everything it is supposed to do. The only negative is of course it cost more than third party batteries but I think it is worth it especially for the time remaining feature that comes with this battery. If you are willing to spend a few extra dollar for a quality product. This is it.

Sony Lithium,simply the best!
I have tried several different companys for Lithium batterys,and Sony is hands down,the best! I never have to worry about running out of electrodes
when ever I use my equipment!

Updated!
(Original comment) I ordered two of these Lenmar batteries from "Thebatterycenter". What showed up were NOT "Lenmar" brand. The company sent some no-name brand instead, which had no actual brand name printed on the battery. Lenmar prints their name on the battery. These no-name batteries will not recharge after only a couple uses. If I had actually received "Lenmar" batteries that I ordered then I would not have wasted the time or the money on this junk. I already have two actual "Lenmar" batteries from a different Amazon order, they lasted over two years and used in my Canon camera for over 5,000+ photos. The no-name brand from Thebattercenter was a total rip off, and a misrepresentation of the product I expected to receive, even if they were priced at only a few bucks each. Don't order from this company if you want the REAL Lenmar.

(FOLLOW UP 01/04/08): I contacted thebatterycenter through Amazon, received response back very quickly. Thebattercenter said it was a packing error on their end for sending me the wrong batteries and stated they'll send me the Lenmars right away. Impressed with company's speedy communication. Hopefully I'll receive the Lenmars soon.

Can't believe the price
I bought this along with a digital camera for my wife. I couldn't believe the price. When it cme in, I charged it up and it works great. I would definitely recommend this to anyone ating a spare battery for their digital camera.

Great battery - almost better than the original
For the price and the performance, I couldn't have asked for more! We get the same if not better battery life than the original battery that we have for our Canon SD600.

Highly recommended!

I resent Amazon selling garbage
I am a backup freak and therefore ordered two Lenmar DLC4L. Just like some other negative reviews my Lenmar DLC4L batteries will not charge in my brand new Canon charger that works just fine with my brand new Canon battery.
When I insert the battery, the light goes orange, then immediately goes off and that is it. I left it for an hour and the light just stays off - and the battery is dead when inserted into the camera. This amazing performance was repeated for both batteries. It makes me feel like a double sucker.
The most astounding thing is the incredible number of good reviews this garbage has. It feels as if the employees of the company had been given the assignment of filling out "great reviews" about this battery. I am sorry there is no zero star review. There most be a reason to cut the price by more than 90%. Amazon should not expose its reputation selling junk.
I am sending a return authorization for both batteries, and it will be going back for a refund in the morning.

good replacement value
These batteries don't last quite as long as the original batteries, but are pretty darn close. I bought a couple to take with me on a cruise and got a couple hundred pictures on one battery. All outside without the flash. Haven't ran down the second battery yet.

Best rechargeable battery yet!
I have had several brands of rechargeable batteries, and these are by far the best, especially for our digital camera. They perform as advertised. Highly recommended!!!

Best made rechargeable batteries I have seen thanks NLee
These eneloop are really made solid not as most I have used which are cheaply made. I really can't say how good they are I just got them but, the package say I can take 500 pictures on one charge.

It pass my test so far took 15-20 pictures and the battery is still fully charge. The RadioShack and the Tenergy ones died after 10-15 pictures. I will be happy with 50-100 pictures but, if I do get over 100 and even 500 per charge I will never buy any other brand.

good battery
Well little to say, they hold their charge longer than normal nimh batteries and they are as useful as them, i have 4 pairs and i usually charge them every 2 days, worked flawless

Work GREAT
I've had a couple sets of these for about 8 months and they work wonderfully. I love having batteries ready for me when they are needed and not having to buy and throw away batteries is a big plus.

I use them in my Wii remotes and they last a long time. I keep the charger with my Wii and when the batteries need changing in the remotes, it's fast and easy to swap them out with the charged ones. I was going to get the Wii charge station, but this way I can use the batteries for other electronics, too.

Works Very Well
I picked up a set of the batteries and charger and so far they have been working well. Out of the package they did have a charge and I shot for awhile with them around the house, but did charge them prior to leaving the house to make sure they were fully charged.

I have not run the batteries down far enough to miss any shot yet - they have lasted whenever I have my camera out.

Good solid purchase and I am happy to no longer add as much to the garbage by using disposable batteries.

Exactly what a new camera deserves!
Purchased for our grown son, for his new camera. He loves the bag. Fits perfectly, appears to be made well, nice accessories included. Glad I decided on this product.

Fits snugly in place for the D90
I first saw it the store and I really liked it and not just because of the beautiful yellow lining and nikon logo. This case seats the nikon D90 very well. Much better than the Olympus case that came as an extra with the camera. What a perfect complement to the camera. Of course, some people might complaint about the size but that is a trade off one can't win. When I travel I like to travel light and having a backpack on my back during a vacation is not the greatest thing in the world. The D90 fits snugly in place with the kit lense or the stock lense 18-55mm plus hood. Also you can put a wide lense in and perhaps fit in the telephoto lense too. The outside front pocket I put the extra battery, memory, tripod quick release, cleaning brush, and remote. You also have the side pockets but they only secure with velcro. The inside top portion has a net you can put extra stuff. Just to think I payed half of the store price is more than worth it. This is going to be my travel bag for some time. The D90 has the same dimensions as the D80 but the D60 is slightly smaller but they all fit. PS There is a free DVD included which will show you the basic of shooting by a professional photographer and includes tips. There is a follow up to the DVD which shows you deeper into the camera functions.I really wish I could see that.

Nikon SLR Camera Bag
This is a great product. Fits the D60, and two lenses perfectly. Great price and speedy delivery!

Good for D80 kit
I bought this bag for my D80. It is easy to put my D80 kit and an additional prime lens into this bag. Good looking too. The only drawback is that this bag looks too big sometimes.

Great Product
High quality case for VERY good price. Not too big not too small. Offers great padding and support for cramera and a few additional lenses, etc. I'm very pleased with my purchase.

Camera Bag
The mderchandise was great; HOWEVER, attempts to get the rebate met in total frustration. I had the merchandise, yet I was being told my order weas not processed????? I'd sure have to be in a teriffic bind to order items this way again. I thought AMAZON was great - BUT - It does make you wonder.

300AW fits Nikon D300, grip, and 70-200 VR
History:

I own a LowePro 200AW, but when I purchased a Nikkor 70-200 VR lens I found that the 200AW could not accommodate my Nikon D300 with the lens attached.

The 300AW is considerably larger than the 200AW. It will hold a D300, attached battery grip, and attached 70-200 lens (sunshade reversed) and leave room for a flash and 3 or 4 additional lenses in the main compartment. The top compartment is large enough to hold a Gary Fong Lightsphere and a cleaning kit, leaving room for more.

Pros -

The waist strap is considerably more robust than the strap on the 200AW; it has substantial padding and is wider. This makes the bag (for me) easier to wear; tightening up the waist strap removes some of the stress the single strap places on the shoulder. Although the 300AW is larger than the 200AW it is more comfortable to wear. Wearers who find the shoulder strap an annoyance might try cinching the waist strap tighter.

The built in weather cover works well. Not, perhaps, in a full monsoon, but short of going over the falls without a barrel the bag will keep your gear safe from the elements.

Build quality is excellent, what one would expect from a LowePro bag.

Downsides -

There is no provision for carrying a monopod. I wouldn't necessarily expect a slingbag to have the capability of attaching a heavy tripod, however the 200AW can fit my monopod in a built in side strap. There is no similar strap on the 300AW. While I can cobble together a method for attaching a monopod, LowePro really should have designed in a strap. An added treat would have been a built in pocket for carrying a bottle or canteen of liquid. The waist strap makes it difficult to carry an independent canteen and carrying a bottle of liquid inside the bag with the gear is leaving the path of wisdom. (Although there is certainly room enough in the main compartment to carry a water bottle if one chooses to take the risk).

Caveats -

Capacity - the wearer should be careful when packing gear. This is a fairly large bag and it's possible to put so much gear into the thing that by the end of the day wearing the thing becomes a real trudge. Keep an eye on the total weight when packing. What seems reasonable at 6 a.m. may be torture by 6 p.m.

This design is NOT a backpack, and I wouldn't recommend it for more than a daily carry item. If I were headed into the bush for more than a day trip I would wear a backpack - the single strap design of the slingbags is, for me, not for extended carry.

The extra bulk of the 300AW makes it somewhat difficult to swing to the front, but this is more a function of body shape (mine) than bag design. The 200AW is smaller and thus easier to maneuver to the front.

If you need to carry a D300 with battery grip and 70-200 VR lens (or similar large camera body and lens), this bag will fit the gear. Recommended.

Good, high quality, but not perfect
My comments specifically regard the Slingshot 200, which I purchased after reading online reviews and checking it out fairly thoroughly in person. The 200 seemed like a fairly ideal bag for my needs, but actual use has revealed a few idiosyncrasies that I didn't see mentioned in other reviews that prospective purchasers might benefit from being made aware of.

First, as other reviews have mentioned, the bag appears to be top notch in terms of construction quality. The zippers all work freely with no hang-ups or catches in their travel and can be easily zipped or un-zipped with a casual tug on their pulls. There are plenty of small pockets for memory cards, cables, spare batteries and the like - as many as a semi-serious amateur like myself would hope for. The size of the bag is ideal, too, for an amateur like myself - big enough for several medium-sized lenses, the camera itself and a flash - and possibly more, although as I will point out the bag is not ideally suited to be used in that way.

The greatest benefit of the Slingshot bags, as I see it, is accessibility. I like the fact that the bag is designed to be worn on the back, making it suitable for hiking and carrying over long distances, while its design also permits it to be rotated to the wearer's front for access to its contents. Not having to put the bag down in the mud or snow to change lenses is an important benefit.

The sling design has its limitations for me, however, in that most of the time I need to access the bag it is not to access the main camera compartment, but to access other compartments in order to change lenses or add or remove an external flash unit. Unfortunately, while access to the camera compartment is easy, access to the lens compartments is a bit problematic. The zipper-limiting buckles need to be released, and they are not quite the best design - they take a little more effort than some to release, seemingly more than should be necessary, and in practice I simply leave them un-buckled most of the time. The zippers then need to be further un-zipped, probably on both sides. The lens compartments can then be accessed, but the lenses will be arranged horizontally, pointing towards the wearer's front and therefore away from him or her. That makes the lenses not easily visible and also could make them prone to falling out, requiring extra care with the bag during this part of the operation. You will need to identify the lens or accessory you're looking for, then do the three-handed remove-one-lens-and-put-on-another drill while watching that the bag itself stays in a favorable orientation, possibly requiring a fourth hand. It can be done, of course, and is probably not quite as difficult as I am making it sound, but it is not quite the ideal effortless process I'd hoped for. Sitting down makes the task easier as the bag can be rotated upwards on your lap, but if you have a good place to sit down then you have obviated part of the benefit of the bag's sling-style accessibility.

The other major flaw the bag has for my use has to do with the very large size of the main camera compartment. In order to make the bag usable for pro DSLRs, this area has to accommodate very wide, tall cameras like the Nikon D3. When it is used with a consumer-sized camera like my D90, there is a great deal of space around the camera that can not efficiently be put to use. The bag is designed to accommodate the camera in such an orientation that the camera's bottom points towards the wearer's back. There is then room for a medium sized lens, mounted on the camera, pointing to the wearer's right. A removable divider forward of the lens - further to the wearer's right - can be positioned to accommodate a lens or flash unit in "front" of the camera. (By moving this divider all the way to the right side of the bag, the compartment for the lens mounted to the camera becomes long enough to accommodate a medium sized lens, like my 16-85mm VR, with its shade fully deployed.)

I find that my D90 actually fits better in the case when I rotate it so that the camera's bottom points towards the bottom of the bag - that is, downwards when the bag is being worn. This lets the camera fit more snugly forward in its space for a better, more protective fit in the bag. This actually leaves enough space around the camera that an additional lens/flash compartment could be made to fit above the camera, and another below it. Unfortunately, the bag is not designed to be used this way and has neither the velcro surfaces nor dividers necessary to configure it in this way, causing these spaces to be effectively wasted. If the bag had been fitted with velcro and dividers that could be configured to make this space usable, it would have much more usable capacity and would meet my needs much better. Not only that, but these additional compartments would be exposed when the main camera compartment of the bag was opened, improving accessibility to two lens/flash spaces, which would also be an improvement in the design.

All the bag's lens compartments are the same depth - the depth of the bag - with no ability to configure any of them for "double-decker" lens/flash storage. While two small lenses could fit in one of these compartments, the user will have to find some method of protecting them from one another to do so. On the other hand, there is no good way to fit even one large lens, which will be an important disadvantage for some. The depth of the lens compartments is about 5", maybe stretchable to 6" or so if you're willing to put up with a tight fit. The only way to carry a lens longer than this is to put the lens in the portion of the bag designed for the camera itself and to position the camera, body-only, elsewhere. While possible, again the dividers are not configured to be used this way - they will not velcro in place in this configuration and will leave large undivided portions in other areas of the bag. I see this configuration shown in some of the product photos above. It is not ideal. It might be possible to carry a slightly larger lens - around 7" length - in the bag's top compartment, although this compartment is not well padded. You will also be giving up the bag's only suitable compartment for carrying large-ish non-camera items - a pair of gloves or a windbreaker, etc.

That large top compartment will, however, comfortably hold a D90-sized camera body with cap, which suggests another configuration for the bag. By storing the body in the top compartment, more and larger lenses could be stored in the bag's main compartment, some of which could be accessed very easily in use. You could store the camera until you reach your shooting site, choose a lens, and switch among your most-used lenses very easily while shooting. The only problem with this possibility is that - again - the main compartment is not designed to be subdivided in this way. Those lenses not stored in dedicated compartments would need to be kept in some sort of protective bag or container of their own, which you would need to fiddle with during access, and they would be free to bang around and move around inside the bag while it was being carried. Perhaps one could custom-install some additional dividers, but without velcro to attach them to in this part of the bag it would not be a trivial undertaking.

Finally, there is no good provision for attaching a tripod or monopod to the outside of the bag. It would have been easy enough to provide a couple of loop straps on the right side of the bag for this purpose, but it would probably have increased the cost and maybe would have been a somewhat awkward solution due to the bag's modest size. Nevertheless, I would have found it welcome. As it is, the bag for me is suitable strictly for occasions when additional camera support will not be required. There are three rubber loops provided on the outside of the bag for attaching additional items, and these will accommodate things that are designed to fit on a belt, such as perhaps a GPS case or cell-phone case. They are not stretchable and I don't see any way to use them to attach larger or more varied items.

The bag is a good design for somebody comfortable with these limitations and I can recommend it highly for those people. It is a fairly