Having been knocked over a few more times during the Winter Ball, my LumoPro LP120 flash is now definitively dead.
I very much need two flashes to do the kind of event photography I have been doing in recent years. I therefore need to decide how to replace it.
One option is to get a new LP160. It isn’t as powerful as my Canon 430EX flash, but it’s a lot cheaper (US$180 compared with about C$350 for a Canon Speedlite 430EX II). The LP flash also has the benefit of a built-in optical slave. The big downside is that the LP flashes are not especially tough.
Another option is to shell out $600 for a Canon 600EX. It would be significantly more powerful than my 430EX, and it would actually be able to drive the other Canon flash in a TTL mode, while sitting on my hotshoe.
If I got another flash without an optical slave, it would probably be a good idea to shell out another $300 for three PocketWizard Plus X transceivers. Then I will be able to reliably drive both flashes off-camera at considerable range.
