Congratulations Alex Vincent, March 2024 PFRE Photographer of the Month! The theme this month was "Kitchen". Alex Vincent - #906 Yvonne Raaijmakers - #909 Peter Wingfield - #902 Here's what Alex has to say: Thank you for the award of Photographer of th ...
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
As a real estate photographer, you should consider equipping your Canon camera with an on-camera flash to enhance lighting possibilities. Although many photographers are skeptical of third-party flashes for Canon, they feature the latest technology. Below, I detail all you may need to choose the best third-party flash for Canon.
Quick Navigation
Considering that not all third-party flashes for Canon are created equal, it's challenging to choose one that will meet your real estate
The Godox V1C comes with a round fresnel head, which gives more even and softer light falloff than the traditional flash heads with a guide number of 92 at ISO 100, the highest in my list. It is also excellent for use with a narrow aperture.
It features magnets in the flash head, allowing quick attaching and detaching of the magnetic light modifiers. Although the recycle time is indicated as 1.5 seconds at full power, sometimes it offers a faster recycle time.
Although 0.01 pounds lighter than Godox V860II-C, it weighs 2.19 pounds, making it less convenient to carry around. It uses AA batteries, giving around 480 flashes at full power, much better than the Godox TT600.
If you want a third-party flash for Canon that's worth the price, then consider the Neewer NW-670. It comes with an option of an external power pack or using AA batteries. Although it comes with a guide number of 58, which is less than that of the Godox V1C, it's still impressive when using a narrow aperture.
Unlike the Neewer TT560, it weighs 1.72 pounds, which is hard to carry around all time if you add the weight of the camera. Featuring a horizontal tilt of 270 degrees and a vertical tilt of 90 degrees, it meets most portrait and real estate photographer's needs.
The Neewer TT560 comes with a Standard Hot Shoe mount, making it compatible with all Canon cameras. It features up to 8 levels of flash mode manual adjustment, offering better control and flashing experience.
Featuring a guide number of 38 at ISO 100, it performs better with wide apertures such as f/1.4, unlike the Yongnuo YN-E3-RT II.
Unlike the Godox V1C, Neewer TT560 weighs 0.7 pounds and is compact, and lightweight enough to carry around. With a flash time of 1/300s-1/20000s, the Neewer TT560 is fast, although it lacks a few important features like High-Speed Sync.
The Yongnuo YN 560 IV features 24-205mm zoom support, making it very appealing to portrait and real estate photographers. It comes with a photosensitive trigger sensor and a wireless receiver module to enhance the control experience.
However, it lacks the high-speed sync feature, making it impossible to shoot at shutter speeds over 1/250s. The Yongnuo YN 560 IV comes with a 3 second recycle time, which is less impressive than the Godox V1C recycle time.
The Yongnuo YN 560 IV also features a high-quality design with solid vertical and horizontal angle adjustments. It weighs 1.17 pounds, only 0.13 pounds lighter than the Godox TT600, which makes it easier to carry around as you take real estate photographs.
The Godox TT600 has a powerful guide number of 60 at ISO 100, which allows you to shoot at a narrow aperture. It features the High-Speed Sync, which means you can increase the shutter speed beyond the standard flash sync, eliminating the black bands across your images.
Using the AA batteries, you can achieve up to 230 full-power flashes, which is appealing for the average
Although it's heavier than the Yongnuo YN-E3-RT II, it weighs 1.3 pounds, making it lightweight enough to carry around from one property to the next.
The Yongnuo YN-E3-RT II excels in the transmitter for wireless flash
Besides, it features a built-in autofocus assist beam emitter, a select dial, and a display interface for easy operation. Like the Godox TT600, it comes with a guide number of 60 at ISO 100, which works well even when shooting at a narrow aperture. It weighs 0.51 pounds, the lightest on my list, and most lightweight to carry around.
The Godox V860II-C provides off-camera and TTL metering via a 2.4GHz wireless system and optical control system. Like the Godox TT600, it has an average guide number of 60 at ISO 100, decent enough for portraits and real estate
It has a flash duration of 1/300s at the more powerful settings and can achieve up to 1/20000s for the lighter bursts. Besides, it provides rear curtain sync and high-speed sync, allowing you to use off-camera shutter speeds of about 1/8000s.
The wide-angle diffuser allows focal lengths that are as short as 14mm. The battery can achieve an impressive 350 full-power bursts without recharging. However, it is the heaviest on my list, weighing 2.2 pounds.
Keeping in mind the varying features of third-party flashes for Canon, it's vital knowing the attributes to consider. Below are the qualities you should consider when choosing third-party flashes for Canon.
| Product | Guide Number (ISO 100) | Recycle Time (Seconds) | Weight (Pounds) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Godox V1C | 92 | 1.5 | 2.19 |
| Neewer NW-670 | 58 | 3 | 1.72 |
| Neewer TT560 | 38 | 0.1-5 | 0.7 |
| Yongnuo YN 560 IV | 58 | 3 | 1.17 |
| Godox TT600 | 60 | 0.1-2.6 | 1.3 |
| Yongnuo YN-E3-RT | 60 | 3 | 0.51 |
| Godox V860II-C | 60 | 0.1-1.5 | 2.2 |
The guide number is the megapixel of the camera flash, how the light will optimally reach the camera. A flash with a bigger guide number is more powerful than one with a smaller guide number.
The powerful flash will light subjects even when they are far away from the flash and light closer subjects using a narrower aperture. The narrow aperture gives you control over the field depth when using the flash.
Typically, this explains why a flash with a bigger guide number such as Godox V1C is impressive to portrait and real estate photographers. In most cases, it's impossible to light a faraway subject effectively, and therefore photographers use guide numbers to compare the power of flashes.
Some hot shoe flashes are controlled manually, while others feature both automatic and manual control, known as Through The Lens (TTL). The flash sends an initial burst of light flash, which helps the flash to calculate the right exposure adjustments for the flash automatically.
The flash then uses the resulting settings for the second full power flash to light up the subject. Typically, manual flash allows you to balance ambient lighting and better control the shot.
However, when there is not enough time to adjust the settings, like in sports, the automatic flash mode comes in handy. It's, therefore, better to choose a flash that features both manual and TTL, such as Godox TTL600.
Although it's much easier to bounce off hot shoe flashes, they come in varying tilting capabilities. You will have more bouncing options if the flash head tilts more, like bouncing it off the ceiling. For instance, Neewer NW-670 has excellent tilting angles that will offer you many bouncing options.
Recycling speed refers to the duration a flash takes between consecutive shots. It indicates how fast a flash can get ready for the next shot. If you are planning to shoot with little time on your hands, recycling speed becomes an essential feature to consider.
For instance, Godox V1C is excellent for shooting action as it has a low recycling speed of 1.5 seconds.
Flashes come with different sync modes, some using slow sync and others rear curtain. However, not all flashes feature the High-Speed sync. High-Speed sync refers to continuous bursts of light to allow you to use a shutter speed bigger than 1/250, which is the camera's flash sync.
Without this feature, the shutter speeds above the sync speed of the flash cause a shutter effect, which leaves a part of the image black. Choosing a flash that features High-Speed sync such as Godox TT600 will help eliminate this effect.
A modern full-power camera flash lasts around 1ms, and the minimum exposure time is about 2.4ms, which is equivalent to a shutter speed of around 1/1290s.
Out of sync occurs when using the flash, and you choose a shutter speed faster than the sync speed. The second curtain then blocks a part of the photo when the flash is on. As a result, the image is covered with a black bar, the position of the shutter when the flash fired.
Combining your Canon camera with a good flash may make all the difference in your image quality. Mostly, the third-party flashes come with superb features than their Canon counterparts of the same price range. Although these flashes come with varying, you can't go wrong with any of the above.
