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Camera Flash Buying Guide

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 What is a Flash?
 Features of a Flash
 Utilities of Flash
 Top 5 Manufacturers
 Terminology

Introduction
Flash is one of the most important parts of a camera as it helps in enhancing the quality of a
picture while shooting. A flash made of three parts; head, body and foot. The foot of the flash
has electrical contact points that help to trigger the flash into firing when it is mounted on the
camera's hotshoe.

Camera Hotshoe

The flash of a camera is one of its essential parts because it enables photographers to get clear
and bright pictures even in poor or low light. This proves to be advantageous for photographers
who do night photography and need to deal with factors like distribution of light and treatment
for certain photo shoots before shooting a particular picture. On-camera flashes are usually the
ones that are preferred most by photographers as it provides additional light when the area is too
dark. A flash is a creative tool that can enable photographers to enhance their imagery skills
when they cannot depend on the natural lighting conditions to provide the required effect. An
external on-camera flash typically has far better features when compared to the built-in camera
flash.
Purpose of the Guide
In order to make it easier for photographers to purchase a suitable flash for their camera, we
present this comprehensive buying guide. This guide will help you to understand the importance
of a flash, and help you to choose the right kind of flash for your usage.

What is a Flash?
A camera flash is a device used for producing a flash of artificial light. This artificial light is
generally used to illuminate a dark scene, though it can also help in capturing moving objects
quickly. There are three basic types of camera flashes; on-camera flash, off-camera flash and in-
camera flash.

On-camera flash is a type of strobe light that connects directly with the camera, though they can
also be used as off-camera flashes. The on-camera flash uses a self-contained power supply.
Additional power sources can be used to improve its performance if needed. The on-camera
external flashes are considered to be better than the built-in flash integrated into the camera. The
built-in flashes are usually located near the camera lens which may lead to the red-eye effect
while shooting pictures, especially in dimly lit areas. When the built-in flash is aligned with the
optical axis of the lens, the pupils dilate causing light to enter the eye and reflect back at the
camera. This reflected beam of light is red in color which causes the red-eye effect in the picture.
The use of on-camera flash taken off-camera from a different angle can help in eliminating the
effect of red-eye when capturing pictures.

Red-eye effect from camera flash

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Features of a Flash
A camera flash is an optional part of the camera and is useful when modifying the lighting
conditions in which the picture is being captured. We will go over the features of camera flashes
to help you choose the best one for your needs.

Guide Number

The Guide number is used to evaluate the power and ability of the flash to illuminate a scene at a
particular film speed or sensor. To be precise, the exposure constant for a flash unit is depicted
by the guide number. A Guide Number (GN) signifies that the flash is more powerful. The
bigger guide number indicates that subjects far away from the photographer can also be
illuminated easily. The guide number is calculated by using the following formula:
(Guide Number = Aperture x Subject to Flash Distance)

The metric for guide number can vary and can be reported in feet or meters depending on the
flash manufacturer. This feature is sometimes even dependent on the ISO 100 film speed or
sensor sensitivity.

X-Sync Speed

The X-Sync speed indicates the fastest shutter speed that can be selected on a camera when firing
a flash simultaneously. When the limit of x-sync speed is reached, it shows actual shutters on the
the photo which is because of the light burst being too quick for the camera. These days most
cameras have x-sync speed at 1/200 or 1/250. Photographers can get faster speeds by selecting
the Hi-Speed option on the flash/camera and use it at faster shutter speeds.

Masters and Slaves

There are two major types of flash groups namely, slaves and masters. The photographers who
need more than one flash need to opt for master flash that triggers other flashes when it is fired
on command. The slave flash cannot control other devices but can be fired on command.

Example of Master and Slave setup and funtionality

Tilt and Swivel

External flash enables photographers to bounce the light from various objects such as studio
umbrellas or even a wall simply by rotating the flash head. This allows lighting to be softened or
directed to light the shot perfectly and eliminates the hash shadows of direct flashes.

Flash Power

The flash power can be controlled easily based on the flash's intensity and direction. Flash power
is measured in half increments and are depicted as full power, half power, quarter power, etc.
When buying a new camera flash, it is necessary to check its power, that will signify the amount
of light the flash can emit at full power.

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Utilities of Flash
Flashes can be used in night time, daylight, or low light shots, indoors or outdoors. They can also
be used to manage shadows or create lighting effects for your shots.
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Top 5 Manufacturers
Even though camera flashes are optional, they prove to be extremely beneficial when shooting
pictures in low light conditions. There are many leading manufacturers that produce high quality
camera flashes based upon the cameras on which it is going to be used. Listed here are the top
five manufacturers of camera flashes that provide the best quality flashes to photographers.

Canon is a well-known Japanese company that specializes in imaging and optical products. Some
of the popular products offered by Canon are cameras, camcorders, computer printers, camera
flashes and much more. They produce popular, well built flashes for their cameras.

Nikon is another well-known Japanese organization that provides a wide range of optical and
imaging products such as cameras, camera lenses, binoculars, camera flashes and many more
optical products. The flashes available for Nikon cameras are known to be of best quality making
it one of the top manufacturers in the world.

Sigma is the largest independent lens manufacturer in the world and provides a huge range of
imaging products like cameras, lenses, flashes and many other photographic accessories. Sigma
flashes and lenses are compatible with many cameras from Canon, Nikon, Pentax, Sony,
Olympus and Panasonic.

A world famous manufacturer of optics and photography products is Olympus. It is a well-

recognized corporation that provides a variety of optical and imaging products including
cameras, flashes, lenses and more.

A leading brand in electronic flash units, Nissin provides high quality flashes to photographers.
Nissin is a preferred brand for professional photographers to buy high-end camera flashes at
great deals. Sunpak flashes are famous for their innovative technology that ensures a
photographers accuracy when shooting photos.

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