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Photography is all about light. Canon Speedlites give you the next best thing to cumbersome studio lighting - wireless flash units that you can actually pack in your camera bag and take along. Tuck this full-color book in there, too. It will help you maximize the effectiveness of your Speedlites and help you create professional lighting effects in more than a dozen unique settings. With this Digital Field Guide you'll: - Learn all your Speedlite's settings and how to use E-TTL metering.
- Experiment with bounce flash, fill flash, and using multiple flash units.
- Set up a portable wireless studio with backgrounds, umbrellas, and soft boxes.
- Use Speedlites to light professional-quality shots ranging from studio portraits to concerts to product photography.
- Explore exposure, lens choices, and lighting for outdoor portraits, still lifes, and much more.
Order your copy today!
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Superficial with useful information
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Knowing very little about Canon flash, I did visit several fine web pages on Canon flash and Speedlites. I studied the manual. I then bought this book, and was very disappointed. I read (scanned it) in much than an hour, learning nothing, as there is really very little depth beyond the manual, and the info that I found on a few good websites. Even the manual has more info, and is more precise in similar areas. Where it ventures into topics not covered in the manual, it's completely vague, and lacking in depth.
I could give many examples; but previous reviewers have already done so.
Rating: 
(1
out of 5) @ 2008-12-28
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Canon Speedlite System Digital Field Guide
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Canon Speedlite System Digital Field Guide is a good reference book to the new comer to the Canon Speedlite® system and associated areas. I was looking for a book that would help me understand Canon's Speedlite® system and E-TTL II. This book is okay but could be better. Still, it provides a better understanding than the manual and I enjoyed reading it. This is a field guide and as such provides concise material so it can be used later for reference. There are chapter on the setup of the 580EX and 430EX flash modes and multi-flash, wireless.
The use of controlled lighting in photography can be overwhelming at first. When you graduate from the pop-up flash on your camera and invest in a Speedlite® system, Simple, well illustrated material is what you need. This book provides detailed information about the functions/operations of the 430/580 and more! There is information on lighting theory and tips on where to place reflectors, umbrellas and strobes. Another excellent source on the Speedlite system is a DVD entitled: Understanding the Canon Speedlite 580EX/430EX by Blue Crane Digital.
Rating: 
(4
out of 5) @ 2008-12-10
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Book designed to make money without providing value
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The only advantage this book provides a purchaser over just downloading the user manuals for the products are better photos of the products. In my opinion, the lack of information, combined with the poor writing style make the book a waste of money.
The author sprinkles his own photographs throughout the book. The snapshot quality of these photos is a good indicator that the truism "Those who can do, those who can't teach (or write about it)" is still true.
Rating:
(1
out of 5) @ 2008-12-06
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Less informative than the manuals
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The Speedlight system has a wealth of features. This book covers two of the models, a rather outdated 430EX and the newer 580EX. There is a still newer model, the 580EXII that is not specifically covered, but is only a minor upgrade to its predecessor.
The first two chapters are on settings for both Speedlights covered. They're overview level. The reader is told that there are automatic and manual modes and how to switch between the two, but not how to make manual settings changes or why. This takes 30 pages.
Then there are two chapters that deal with using these flashes in a master=slave arrangement. (Owners of two or more Speedlights can set up one to fire when the shutter is pressed and have that one --the master-- cause the others --the slaves-- to fire at the same time.). This takes 12 pages. (Remember, it covers settings for two different models.)
The remaining 150 pages apply to any flash. There are chapters on posing people, using bounce flash, pet photography, etc. None of them are particularly informative or insightful. Interspersed on these pages are a few Speedlight-specific settings, but they're so generic that the author could use them for a book on Nikon flashes and just change a few paragraphs without anyone noticing.
Skip this book. Mine went into the trash. It would have been unfair to someone to sell it as a used book.
Rating:
(1
out of 5) @ 2008-11-28
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Canon Speedlight System Fieldguide Comments
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I was surprised when I started reading this book. It is packed with good info for the amateur photographer. Not only is how to set up a speed light system there, but how to place lights, reflectors and pose subjects. The inner workings of the speed light itself are completely uncovered. Nice value.
dalemackeown@bellsouth.net
Rating: 
(5
out of 5) @ 2008-11-13
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