Sigma EF-610 DG SUPER Electronic Flash for Canon Digital SLR Cameras

First things first, I am a professional photographer (ALL of my income comes from my photography). I rely on my tools to function when I call on them to. I bought this as a supplement to my 430 EXII's, and intended on using this as an on-camera master to trigger the 430's as remote slaves. For this, the flash has worked perfectly. If you know how these systems function (i.e. This is line-of-sight, not a radio-trigger), and set up your lighting accordingly, the flash functions flawlessly. I've used this on 2 shoots in the first 3 days of having it and it's made my life easier and my lighting set-ups more versatile. I'm looking to get a speed ring to test this mounted onto a light stand and shoot with a soft box or beauty dish, just to compare it to set-ups more similar to Alien Bees. This has a portability advantage vs. AB's though, seeing as it's lightweight, easy to store and more importantly, battery powered. As to the battery aspect, this recharges far quicker than I expected it to. In fact, i swapped out the expensive Lithium Extreme batteries (that I bought for $2 a battery) and started using cheap Costco AA's on the second day because this recharged so quickly. I'm not an electrical engineer, but I didn't notice much difference in performance between the two and I was shooting for an hour and a half at 1/4-1/2 power the entire time. In conclusion, if I had to make a complaint, it would be that the + and - buttons feel reversed to me (the '+' is on the left, '-' on the right; it's counter-intuitive) and the zoom button is a progressive step (24-28-35-50-70-85-105) and not a single 'push and select' that then takes + & - inputs. So my two complaints are based on the fact that the Canon menu system is superior, but the flash head itself has taken every task I've asked it to and run with it. I'm considering selling my 430's and picking up a few more of these, simply because of the power, portability, versatility and price of these units. If you're looking for a less-expensive (I won't say "cheap", it's still $250) alternative to the like-branded flashes, I'd highly recommend this unit in a heartbeat.

I got this flash because it seemed to be a bargain that achieves similar performance to the SB900. At this point I don't see it as a bargain anymore and it actually is frustrating to use as I bought two SB600s from a local Best Buy who still had them for MSRP which is less than this. Cons: Power output is no way the one that it states as the SB600 is brighter for me at faster sync rates. TTL which should be iTTL for the Nikon version does not work right. Most of the time it just throws out what seems to be a blast of Gamma radiation overexposing everything in close proximity. Takes very long to recharge. A big reason is probably that it throws more light than it needs to so it has to go through a whole cycle. Loud Looks cheap and it's abnormally bulky. You have to put it in the hot-shoe to choose the slave wireless TTL function. Doesn't remember your settings after turning it off so you have to put it back int he hot shoe to use as a slave. It doesn't fire off in wireless slave mode half the time. The AF-assist illuminator is really weak and camera can't focus. Pros: none Long story short, I'm returning it.

I was expecting more. The build seemed questionable. I've bought a long line of non-Canon flashes, and they never seem to last. When I first held this, I felt as if history was about to repeat itself. It has great functions, but I just wasn't happy with the build. The 430ex II dipped in price, and for not much more, I was able to get one of those instead. Talk about solid. That feels like it can pull off a lifetime of duty. I guess I'm tired of paying for a new flash every few years.

This is the 2nd Sigma DG Super I bought. My last one is EF-600 I bought almost 10 years ago, I broke the hot shoe part once when I drop my camera on rock. But it is very easy for me to buy a kit from Sigma and replace it myself (cost me some $30 only). It still works perfectly but unfortunately not works on my new 6D. The new model is similar to my old one. At least, for the features that I used. The new one is even a bit more powerful. It comes with many features. But I have to say that many of them are not that convenient to use. It takes time to choose the right features. And some features, like high speed synch, you have to choose every shot. So go to Canon one if you are a serious flash photographer. The bottom line, well worth the money, good enough for basic use.

DPメリル用に純正のフラッシュを探していて偶々、アマゾンに格安の中古が出ていたので、即購入しました。性能・機能とも文句なし。

商品の表示は「良い」ですが、電池を入れてもエラーメッセージが出って、動きません。

Questo è il mio primo e unico, per ora, flash; pur non avendone mai usati, dopo circa mezz'ora ero in grado di settare la maggior parte dei controlli. Ha un'alta potenza che permette di illuminare anche in circostanze di luce terribili: funziona con 4 pile stilo, io di norma uso batterie ricaricabili e consuma relativamente poco. Viene fornito con un elegante astuccio nero di tessuto, assieme ad un mini piedistallo per usarlo separatamente dal corpo macchina. Molto conveniente il prezzo, soprattutto se paragonato all'analogo modello di marca Canon.

Comme vu dans de nombreux test de site spécialisé, c'est un produit de qualité et qui fonctionne parfaitement avec le P-TTL (Pentax)

I've used this gun for nearly a year now and used it on several major shoots, where I was the principle photographer and it's always inspired confidence and produced clean, well-lit pictures. Being semi-pro, a long-term SB600 (Nikon) speedlight user on full-frame Nikon D700, I've been needing a supplement to/replacement for the 600 as it is ageing and comparatively underpowered. Fine for interiors; outdoors it is lacking, its GN of 32 being about one-third less than this Sigma. I needed a decent gun for night-time Carnivals, especially when shooting with wideangle lenses. I did try Nikon's flagship SB900 but it was faulty and was both unwieldy and complicated to access the many modes, with its programs and menus. I even considered a S/H SB800 but they still command prices quite a bit more than I paid for this gun (similar to its RRP, in fact). The SB700 wasn't widely available enough to be a contender, at the time. FEATURES - A couple of features from the 900 that I liked do feature on this Sigma - a flip down white card that adds a catchlight to the subject's eyes and flexible bouncing capabilities - 180 degrees (behind) for instance. All the 'normal' features considered standard on a quality gun (LCD backlit screen, i-TTL, Rear curtain sync, manual overriding of exposure in 1/3 stops, wideangle diffuser to 17mm, stand, carry case - with separate pouch inside for set of batteries) are all included (plus possibly a few that aren't so important to me). In basic modes, it's as easy to use as the SB600 though a downside is that screen goes entirely blank when the gun is resting whereas I'd expect at least something to show it was still "on". Engaging extra functions and features, such as overriding output takes some button pressing, but no menus to navigate and all that. THE GUN - The gun itself is Japanese made and is barely heavier than the 600, with batteries and has that soft-touch feel that Sigma use quite a lot. It is longer and a little bigger but not ungainly so. The battery flap opens very differently to that of the Nikon - I'm not looking forward to opening it in the pitch dark - and the poor display of the orientation of the batteries is a real annoyance, meaning you have to use another light source just to see (the Nikon uses white painted symbols that help, the Sigma uses barely raised black ones on the flap and are recessed to being almost in the chamber itself. I haven't yet got used to this nuisance. IN PRACTICAL USE - One area where there is real advantage is that there are more infrared sensors for AF in the Sigma than in the SB600 and so AF in darkness is possible, (& correctly exposed photos) whereas this hardly ever worked with the 600. When photographing a choir at night in the grounds of a ruined abbey recently, with the wideangle diffuser in place and a 24mm lens, I got perfect intensity to not burn out their white robes but enough spread to fill in on the ruins. I used the backlit mode, minus 2/3rds of a stop and employed 'shadows' in Photoshop CS to get a very nice and impressive shot, that belied its (mostly, some ambient) sole light source. The Nikon would have struggled with this scenario, by being underpowered and probably would have swamped the foreground, burning it out and also underexposing the background. Another plus was that after some 40 shots outside and another 60 inside straight after, the set of Uniross rechargeables still had quite a bit of juice left in them, so the gun seems efficient. BUILD - Build quality and quality control could be of an issue, though no worries so far. I already feel at home with and it has become my main gun, though I'm keeping the SB 600 as spare and for when I need a second one for studio use etc. I'm happy to give this Sigma 4 and 3/4 stars, the minus bit being for the slightly small buttons and the lack of a 'ready' light and the poor battery orientation display. I really only use flash where I need to, for bands and musicians it's only ever as a fill-in, hence my need for ease of overriding the output. Flash and flashguns leave me cold - I only pick one up when it's about to be used and I buy a new one about every decade. Sigma make some quality products - half of my best lenses are from them and so whilst they might not be leading lights in this field, it's rational to believe that a Sigma flashgun would do a competent job, with the same value-for-money attraction over marque products that their lenses are renowned for. For me, I can certainly say that this flagship gun continues this tradition.