I need to pick up another 580ex. I am reading through the past posts to determine which is the more dependable unit, a mk1 or a mk2. It appears that the mk1 is the better or at least more dependable of the two. It seems to me that I might be better off to just purchase used (unless I can find new ones) mk1 units and just pay to have them repaired by Canon. For me, if I have to worry about mk2 lock ups, or some other strange failure that seems to be very common on the mk2 units, it would be money well spent to just get the old mk1 units repaired by Canon.
Does anyone have any thoughts? Is my logic wrong headed?
Be aware that the mk1 does not have the thermal overload protection that the mk2 has. That will allow you to shoot your speedlight into meltdown without warning or protection.
I believe the warning is 10 full-power shots, then 10 minutes cool-down.
It's a rather niche warning though, only a sports (or similar) photographer would shoot that fast and at that power in machine gun mode.
Got a friend who's a journalist, says his sb-900's thermal cuttoff, even when switched off is driving him crazy, he never had the problem with his sb-800's nor did he ever shoot them to death or repair either.
I'm a wedding shooter, never once his overload protection, to be honest, till I read this, I never knew it had one!
Good friend of mine is sending back his mkII for the 3rd time. Mine were sent back twice, worked almost 100% of the time but the one percent was of course important. They are now relegated to slave duty and my on camera is a mk1. No TTL nonsense, master/slave switch, my camera isn't weatherproof anyway (5D), using battery pack, what's not to like?
Most of the mkII problems are related to hot shoe contacts. Since you have a 580ex to use as Master and use the mkII as Slave you shouldn't have the problems. That said, if you can find a 580ex at a good price there's no compelling advantage in buying mkII model.
Thanks to everyone. Actually, I do shoot mostly sports. I usually shoot at between 1/16 to 1/8 power and seldom exceed a 5 round burst. When I do football I use a Better Beamer device and set my ISO at 800 to 1000. At 1/8 power with this set up I can easily over-expose if I am closer than ten yards.
I sold (3) 580ex II's and bought (3) 580ex I's. All three of the exII's had intermittent firing issues with 2 different bodies, so I would consider the exII one of Canon's rare true lemons. I liked the build of the exII's better...particularly the battery door. I also liked the built-in sync port. I use CP-E3 battery packs, so I can't even notice the faster recycle time on the exII. On the exI's I very much prefer the master/slave switch on the body. I also prefer that you can find exI's for $250 often enough.
The reliability and peace-of-mind trumps everything else.
FWIW - The battery door of the original 580ex is designed to only open part way to a detent when first released, which prevents unexpected loss batteries. Just apply downwards pressure and it pops open the rest of the way.
