Can somebody recommend a good flash gun for a Canon 400d.

I was also considering a cheapish (£250) studio kit but can't decide whether a flash gun may be better for me ie. it's portable. I mainly need it for photography of people for magazines.

I have seen a portaflash studi kit at Jessops - any feedback on this is greatly welcome:

http://www.jessops.com/Store/s46758/0/Studio-Kits/Portaflash/Digital-Studio-Kit/details.aspx

Which would be better for my requirements?

Thanks

I can't comment directly on Canon gear as I shoot with Sony.

Have a look at teh lighting section dpreview.com forums, loads of advice there where this question (and variants) gets ask a lot.

eg.
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/readflat.asp?forum=1025&thread=26182493

It depends on where you're doing your magazine shots. If the subjects are coming to you then the studio flash kit might be best but if you're doing any location work forget it and get a Canon 580EX flash gun. It's got a twist/tilt head and bags of power for bouncing and couples perfectly with the ETTL flash control on your 400D. I've used one from time to time as well as a Metz 54MZ4 with Canon adapter and I'd have to say the 580 wins - it just gets things right, consistently. In fact, unless you're shooting all studio stuff, go for the 580 - you can use it in a studio set up too - just bounce of the walls!

There's also a the smaller cheaper Canon 430 too - probably as good if not as powerful, tho I've never used one myself.

Thought I'd posted on this last night, but it seems to have disappeared :confused:

The 430 is very good, I use one on my 400D and I'm very happy with it. As well as being less powerful than the 580, it can't be a master in a wireless multi-flash setup. You could still of course buy the 430 first and the 580 later if you go down that route.

The other thing to bear in mind is that flash guns and studio kits are not direct alternatives. Apart from the portability issue, a flash gun only gives you correct exposure at one point - everything in front is overexposed and everything behind is underexposed. Even a basic studio setup like the one you've linked to will give you a bigger working space and more options in terms of backlighting etc.

As always it's worth reading a good book on the subject before you part with your cash.

Apart from the portability issue, a flash gun only gives you correct exposure at one point - everything in front is overexposed and everything behind is underexposed.

That assumes you have the flashgun on the camera and pointed straight forwards. Real photographers do it off the wall - as they used to say on the back of XR3is. Seriously - a camera mounted flash gun swivelled to bounce the light off walls or windows, or ceilings at a pinch, can be almost as flexible and subtle as a studio setup. Granted back-lighting is a tad tricky unless you can mount the flash off camera but a cheap additional flashgun with an optical slave trigger (~£5 off ebay) will do the trick easily.

As Scotty used to say - "you canna change the laws of physics". The intensity of light reduces in proportion to the square of the distance.

A bounced flash will give a more diffused light and softer shadows (and it certainly takes 10 years off my double chin :thumbsup:) but it will still only give you correct exposure in one place. Therefore much less useful for group shots than a studio setup.

Good point about the optical slave though.

As Scotty used to say - "you canna change the laws of physics". The intensity of light reduces in proportion to the square of the distance.

A bounced flash will give a more diffused light and softer shadows (and it certainly takes 10 years off my double chin :thumbsup:) but it will still only give you correct exposure in one place. Therefore much less useful for group shots than a studio setup.

Good point about the optical slave though.
Have you tried one of these?
http://www.stofen.com/
Has anyone got one and would like to give some feedback?

Have you tried one of these?
http://www.stofen.com/
Has anyone got one and would like to give some feedback?

If it helps, from comments/reviews I've read I've added it to my list of things to get :)

Hmm - the inverse square law applies to everything that emits light energy over a spherical wave front - which includes studio lights as well as flash guns.

And on the subject of flash diffusers, the lightsphere (http://www.systeminsight.co.uk/Event_Photography_Lightsphere_Details_1.htm) is the ultimate for camera mounted flash. I tried one at PTO a couple of years ago with great results. You do lose a lot of power tho since the light is diffused all around you. (That pesky inverse square law strikes again!)