580EXII Rant

FlyTVR

FlyTVR

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Ok - maybe not as strong as a rant and maybe I am being stupid :), but why does the device give any feedback with regards to battery power? Am I missing something?

With my old Jessops flash I could at least hear it charging, with the 580 it doesn't seem to give any obvious clues.

Secondly, what batteries do you chaps use in the 580?

Thanks.

FlyTVR
 
It has silent charging, it's in the manual.

You didn't do a search on here for this 'what batteries do you chaps use in the 580' did you.

I use Uniross rechargables and Enelopes.
 
The silent recycling is one of the changes between the 580 and 580 mk2.

I'd happily swap my mark 1 with you. :lol:
 
I think one of the selling points of the 580 was that you cant hear it recharging!
I have 4 Duracell AAs nothing fancy, but they hold up pretty well and i've only changed them twice (althought i dont use my flash ALOT)

edit: wow, that took me forever to type! :(
 
Thanks for the responses. However, surely it would be a good idea for the camera to provide a battery level indicator for the flash? Or is it much more complicated than that?
 
it annoys me that it doent have a battery indicator or a battery low.
Must admit i do love the fact i cant hear it charge. I think it will drive any one potty to hear that whine of it charging over and over on a long shoot!
 
I'm not sure there is a need for one.....when the batteries run out, put some fresh ones in! Only takes a few seconds....:thumbs:
 
USe eneloops OR... the best I have found, Ansmann Max E+, 2500mAh, they are brilliant. Low discharge and they last for ages.
580EXII is silent when charging ;)
 
I'm not saying I want to have an annoying recharge noise, but I would love something other than a green / red LED on the flash itself. Would be so much better if flash integrated with the camera. Maybe I'm just being picky!

Right, off to Amazon to find some batteries :)

As always, thanks for the input chaps.
 
You'll notice the recycle times will get longer as the batteries begin to run out. I tend to change mine before this starts to become to annoying (which varies depending upon what I'm shooting - still life or people).

If you're not doing lots of continuous shooting (i.e. a hobby, not a full time pro) I can heartily recommend Hybrio batteries. They are Ni-MH batts that dont drain over time. You sacrifice a little capacity, but not a lot.

By the way the way Ni-MH store power means that you get more bangs and less recycle time than if you use alkalines. Plus they recharge in 1.5hrs. That means with 2 x sets you've got unlimited power (i.e. you can recharge quicker that you can shoot).
 
Right, I think I am about to fall in love with my 580.

As an experiment, I've just robbed my phones of 4 recharchable (2000mAh NI-MH) batteries.

WOW. Flash after flash after flash. Excellent recycle times (even when set to full power)! I'm impressed.

I think I'll be buying some more!
 
Have a look in your local asda, they have an enelope charger with 4 AA's and 2 AAA's for £7, they sell 4 of the AA's for £9.99 Yes you can buy them cheaper elsewhere but you get quite a bit of kit for not that much money. the charger kit used to be somthing like £25 then reduced to £12.49 and now £7.

If you want regular rechargables, I thought I would try some cheapies from Lidl, £2.50 for 4, watch out as they may try to charge you £2.79 for them but they were priced at £2.50 in their mail out showing the special offers and on their website so ask them to correct the price. 2500mAh aparently for £2.50 even if they are pants its not that much to loose out on.
 
Little John said:
Have a look in your local asda, they have an enelope charger with 4 AA's and 2 AAA's for £7, they sell 4 of the AA's for £9.99 Yes you can buy them cheaper elsewhere but you get quite a bit of kit for not that much money. the charger kit used to be somthing like £25 then reduced to £12.49 and now £7.

If you want regular rechargables, I thought I would try some cheapies from Lidl, £2.50 for 4, watch out as they may try to charge you £2.79 for them but they were priced at £2.50 in their mail out showing the special offers and on their website so ask them to correct the price. 2500mAh aparently for £2.50 even if they are pants its not that much to loose out on.
Click to expand...

Right, I'll take a look in Asda. Thanks!
 
I had a play with the 3 types of batteries before bed last night.

Stuck them in a canon 430EZ flash, cranked it up to full power.
Duracell plus took 14-15 seconds to change from a discharge
The eneloops fresh out of the box 7-8 seconds
The Lidl cheapies 6-7 seconds

So the Lidl ones seem pretty decent and at the price worth a go for use in the flash.
 
User Name said:
USe eneloops OR... the best I have found, Ansmann Max E+, 2500mAh, they are brilliant. Low discharge and they last for ages.
580EXII is silent when charging ;)
Click to expand...

Annsmann Maxe's get my vote as well. 2 hour recharge time with the Annsmann charger and they hold a charge for ages.
 
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