Greetings all,
New member here and first post. I just recently purchased an Xsi and shoot local HS sports (football, baseball, softball, basketball, volleyball). I am looking into adding a new Speedlite to my gear, mainly for this fall for football. Not really thinking of the 580 because of size, weight and cost. What would be my next reasonable choice for my shooting needs? Also, use the flash on occassion for indoor basketball and volleyball. Any suggestions or input would be appreciated.
For most sports, you would be much better off with faster lenses rather than a flash unit, and for American football (or even real football for that matter), there is just too much distance most of the time and you are limiting your shutter speed to the max sync speed of 1/200 s.
If the flash were supplying near 100% of the light, then the shutter speed wouldn’t be much of a problem because the flash duration at half power or less is very short. But with ambient light being part of the exposure, you will suffer a lot of motion blur.
I do use my 85 1.8 for most games and just let the action come to me, so the fast lens isn't really an issue. A fast zoom or prime would be ideal but also not affordable at the present time. So, the extra light is needed for sure
If you insist on a flash I would say forget the 430 line. If funds are low get yourself a flash that can accommodate a battery pack for faster recycle times; a used 550EX or off brand flashes that are equivalent to the 500 series and accept low cost battery packs.
