Review on Canon 600EX RT Speedlite Flash Black by Anthony Gupta

I love my two Canon Speedlites, which I use sometimes on and sometimes off camera with the ST-E2 infrared controller. All of these devices have an AF assist light, which is good as my EOS 5D3 and 1D4 cameras don't have flashes or AF indicators. Sometimes I use the ST-E2 exclusively for this function. Speedlite 580EX II (purchased January 2010) This is a very reliable and easy to use flash. It replaced the Speedlite 550EX, which was quite difficult to work with. Unlike the old 550EX, you press one button and you can easily tilt and rotate the flash head. The flash recharges quickly, allowing you to take many pictures with one set of batteries (see note). The flash can act as a master or slave to another Speedlite via infrared; I use it with the SE-E2 below. This is a bright flash with a guide number of 190 feet. The magnification of this flash is 24-105mm or 14mm with pop-up panel. I keep this flash in "slave" mode. The 600 below is much easier to use and more versatile. However, if you can buy the 580EX II at a good price, it will make a good slave - provided you control it via infrared, of course. If you want to use radio frequency, it's useless unless you're using Pocket Wizard or something. has the best range. (Although in practice I don't see any difference in brightness compared to the 580EX II.) Both have a one-button tilt and pan trigger. While this flash's specs say it's slightly brighter than the older model, in practice it's the same with a guide number of 197 feet. I like the width of the cover from 20mm to 200mm with the sliding plate extending it to 14mm. The 600EX-RT can operate as either an IR or RF master/slave. I'm championing infrared because I have an ST-E2 main unit (infrared, as opposed to the ST-E3 which is a radio) and because my other flash only works with infrared. If I were starting over I would choose radio because in order to use infrared the slave's "eye" needs to be able to see the master's infrared beam. Maybe one day I'll sell the 580EX II and ST-E2 and upgrade to a full RF system. I switch this flash from standalone to slave mode depending on what I'm doing. Fortunately, this is easy to do. Speedlite ST-E2 (purchased January 2011) I use it mainly to control the 580EX II and 600EX-RT flashes, but also occasionally on its own when I need an AF-assist illuminator. 600 flashes work best with AA lithium batteries. You get a lot more flash than with alkaline batteries. I carry eight of these in my camera bag. The ST-E2 uses a 2CR5 battery and I keep a spare in my camera bag. TIP: Both the 580 and 600 flash have tripod mounts on the side hidden under rubber caps. It's really convenient! They also come with "legs" with tripod sockets, which come in handy when you don't need to use a full tripod.