Flash recommendations

Hello,

My wife and I do most of our photography outdoors (landscape/wildlife) as such the flash that is built into my Canon Rebel XT has been sufficient for family 'snapshots'. However, more and more we've been asked to take pictures at professional conferences, seminars and other mid sized gatherings. Since most of these occur indoors (classrooms, conference rooms, lobbies, etc.) the flash is not strong enough nor adjustable enough to create good looking images. What should I look for in getting a hot-shoe flash and are there any decent ones out there that won't break the bank (<100 dollars). Also what should I look for when purchasing a used unit. Any help would be great. Thank you.

I'm not a Canon guy but you might try posting this in the Canon Forum on this site and see if they can help.

I think their current top-of-the-line is the 580EX but it's probably closer to $400. For less than $100, there won't be a lot of options. With Nikon, some of the older high-end flashes sell for close to that (SB-28, etc) but they're not very compatible with Nikon's digital SLR's.