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Im tryimg to decide on a flashgun to supplement my kit. I dont do a lot of flash photography but want something that will give me more flexibility than the built in flash on my canon 350d.
Have been looking at cheaper models like nissin, metz, sunpak and even jessops own (really cheap at the moment), rather than shelling out a couple of hundred on a canon speedlite, my main question is what are the benefits of a swivel head. Budget it is around the £100 mark.
Will be doing a little bit of portrait photography, also looking at the good old nifty fifty lens 
Hope you can help
Chris
There's bounce (sometimes called swivel) and swivel.
Bounce lets you angle the head upwards so the flash bounces off the ceiling. Swivel lets you rotate sideways so you bounce off a wall. Both have their benefits. If you turn the camera through 90 degrees to do portrait format and keep the flash on the camera's hot shoe, then the roles of the bounce and swivel are reversed. So you then need swivel if you want to bounce off the ceiling. A way around this is to take the flash off the camera using a bracket or stand or hand held.
I still use an old Vivitar 283 it's as accurate as I need and more robust than many modern guns. You don't get TTL but the automatic control is accurate, and you can still find accessories to reduce power, bounce, and filter the flash. The extension cord is well worth having. You'll pick one up on eBay for anything up to £50.
No doubt someone will be along soon to suggest a suitable TTL option. This will be better if you want a more automated system and to take advantage of more modern flash features.
A must have for flexibility is swivel/bounce, Or you might just as well use the on-board.
You can use a sidemount, That has a hotshoe bracket, Some have adjustable hotshoe fittings, That can in some cases give you the same flexibility as a swivel, Whilst using a basic bounce head flash.
Some of the older side mounts are better ( and cheaper via ebay ) than some of the modern offerings.
That said sidemounts don't suit everyone......!
You can pick up a used Canon 430EX on ebay for about £120-£140. Its a great started flash gun. It can bounce/swivel and have manual control. This would be my first choice for Canon digital shooter.
I don't do a lot of flash/ lighting work so please shoot me down if you wish, but recently I bought a radio trigger and 3 receivers on ebay from the far east they came with brolly brackets which will attach to either light stands or tripods, the radio device will trigger any flash light with a centre pin all for £54.
I also purchased an additional old Jessops speedlite on ebay for £7 that will trigger with this set to go with my EX580 and Ex430.
For the limited amount of studio work I do, I could have this had set up ie 3 old manual flashes, triggers and holders for about £75, but would would have been restricetd to shooting flash manually.
But hang on a minute, thats what I usually end up doing any way even when using ETTL controlled flashes on tripods, move them about , shoot, check images, move about again.
My point is why bother when you are learning, just get any old flashes compatible with the radio triggers and experiment
Quote: Any thoughts on the nissin d622
Looking at the spec, The fact that it can swivel/bounce etc.
I'd say it would do the job very well, Its more powerfull than a similar priced Sigma unit, And its half the average retail of the Canon 430EX......
Can't go wrong really.....
Quote: I dont do a lot of flash photography but want something that will give me more flexibility than the built in flash on my canon 350d.
The Nissin was probably made for you.....
PhotoPlus ran a test on flashguns for the entry level canons in August 2009, and the Nissen Di622 was included there. The main disadvantages against the winner (Canon's own 430EXII) were noisy zoom and recyling, no LCD so you'd have to use the camera's LCD to change settings and the fact it wouldn't operate as a slave unit. The overall conclusion was that it offered the best performance at the £100 mark even with limited controls on the unit itself.
Thats another vote for the 622. I use one on my 400D, and it does all i ask of it - and at half the cost of the Canon own flash. It swivels, twists and has built in reflector and diffuser, and can also act as a slave unit - got mine from 7 day shop as well - go for it!!
That does it, just ordered the 622, just got to wait for the postman. Thanks everyone for your advice
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