If you’ve been reading this blog a while, you might know I am pretty frugal when it comes to equipment purchases.

I usually don’t compromise when I need a piece of gear but I know from years of experience how to get around a lack of gear.

Things are a lot easier these days thanks to places like Borrow Camera, Samys Camera or even Calument in our area which rent out equipment.

In a pinch, I can usually borrow from my extensive circle of photographer friends and they know I will return the favor.

I picked up a refurbished Canon 580EX Speedlite recently.

It arrived today in a nondescript brown box.

Inside was an owner’s manual, the Speedlite itself and a  pouch with a little stand that the Speedlite slips into if you want it to sit on a table.

In other words, it’s like a brand new Speedlite but I got at big savings.

From Canon’s Refurbished products website, I signed up for their “Notify Me” when one was in stock.

It took me a while but I eventually got the flash.

Canon,  unlike its competitor Nikon, has been selling refurbished cameras, lenses and Speedlites on their own and I’ve been the lucky enough to buy 2 of them:

The first was the Canon 5D Mark2  and now this 580EX II Speedlite.

I also own a 3 other Canon Speedlites, the 550EX, 430EX and 580EX.

Why get another Speedlite? I guess I can never have enough?

Actually the 580EX doesn’t have rear curtain sync and version II does.

That wasn’t exactly the reason I bought this flash.

It’s certainly a bonus that this newer model has this capability.

By the way, there is a new Speedlite, the 600EX-RT, but sadly that hasn’t caused the price of these 580EX II to come down in price.

So how much did I save?

New from BHPhoto in NY, the 580EXII is $500, I paid a whopping $345 shipped.

 

Peter Phun Photography

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