I am looking to purchase an off-camera strobist kit. I use the school's kit right now but will be graduating, so that will be not available anymore. The kit consists of SB-800's and pocket wizards and I really like this set-up, but I shoot Canon. I have a 580EX flash right now. My question is can I get a 580EX II and use pocket wizards to fire the 580EX II and then fire my 580EX somehow? Or should I be buying SB-800's, I was also looking into SB-80DX's for a cheaper option. Or is there some other option that will be cheaper? Thanks!
you can pretty much use any flash with pocket wizards, provided you have the cable for that flash, or a hotshoe adapter if that flash does not have a cable plug.
sb24 and sb28 are pretty cheap options - i remember seeing those mentioned on strobist a lot.
You'd of course need a pocket wizard to go on your camera as well, so you can fire the flashes.
If you want cheap but good, get Elinchrom Skyports (1/2 cost of PWs) and a couple Sunpak 383 or 433Ds (~$35 each for used ones on ebay). You can also get a couple Wein Peanut slaves to fire flashes not connected to the Skyports. This is a real good setup.
I've just started to use a setup similar to THIS.
The bracket works great if you're using an umbrella, since it keeps it centered in front of the speedlights.
