The Canon 580-EX is about twice as powerful as the SB-600, so 20m does sound like a reasonable limit without the extender (point taken about difficulty of alignment). I had a little go at night photography last week and found that the AF works very well if one has a torch shining on the subfect - then the flash illuminates the rest of the scene.

Like John and Pred - we didn't want to miss a moment! Night drives delivered us some of our most exciting sightings. lion, hippo out of water, leopard. But they can be tiring and cold! It is then nice to get back to a late well cooked meal.

We did not take any photgraphs, nor did any of our group. i always assumed that flash would be a risk for the animals. I know whan spotlighting one has to be careful not to "dazzle" ungulates as they can then be compromised (not get a fair chance) if under surveillance by a predator.

what do others think regarding the "risk" of using a flash?

Jude

Jude,

I've never bothered to try to photograph prey species at night with flash...only predators and nocturnal critters. Guides have always said the momentary flash does no harm, and it certainly does not seem to disturb them. The guides themselves are always careful not to shine their spotlight directly on to an animal's face, at least not for more than a fraction of a second. The spotlight directed just to one side of an animal is usually enough to enable auto focus. Sometimes in daylight, I've seen some birds look a little startled by fill flash both at home and in Africa.

John

fbirder,

Yes, I think 20 metres is very reasonable for the 580 EX (which I now have). In fact, I originally guestimated about 20 metres for the lion kill image I linked to in my earlier post, but decided to err on the conservative side.

John