The benefits of a flashgun

A flashgun gives you greater power and more control than the small built-in units commonly found in digital cameras. It also makes it possible to take the light source off camera, enabling you to choose the optimum angle to light your subject from. You’ll need a trigger on the camera to fire the flash remotely, which can be either another flash unit, a wireless trigger or even the pop-up flash of a compatible camera. Alternatively, you can maintain a physical contact between the flashgun’s foot and the camera hotshoe using an off-camera cable.