So I have come into a bit of money, and it is about time to get some flashes. I'm wanting to have 2 flash-guns and a radio (ir) trigger for them, so that I van have them stand else where, not on the camera (canon 400D)

So if anyone has any suggestions, I'd like to hear them.

You looking for TTL operation, or Manual?
It'll make a BIG difference in price - just checking first before I throw answers at you.
Or would you like a listing for both?
-Lew ;-)

 Both would be awesome. 

I'm leaning more towards the manual side of things, just to have that much more control. but I'm not made of money either. 

Keep in mind, the learning curves are different with manual and TTL.  Not a bad idea to have the options of both...that is what I do and mostly go TTL with tweeks to flash power.

With strobes( studio sorts, not camera based flash gun) I use a hand held meter to read the flash and then set and test.

I cannot recommend a particular camera flashgun since what I know on that is Nikon.   Best wishes! A good camera flash gun is well worth having.

I think it would be an idea to tell uas the intended use for the flashes.if your thinking on studio work I would try to go for proper flash heads and brollies.

check out strobist.com for ideas...

Other than that i suppose a good setup which isnt too expensive is to get one flash that has TTL so you can use it on-camera then get some of the ebay triggers (just type in wireless flash trigger and they will come up) and an extra manual flash so you can have your desired two flashes off camera.  Manual isnt too difficult to do, as long as you dont mind taking the time to set a shot up... 

Oh - forgot to ask - what's your budget (around - doesn't have to be exact). It also greatly varies what I would respond with.
Sorry - I know - more questions than answers so far.
-Lew ;-)

 Well, the intended use is general. Shooting some action sports (skateboarding), portraits, still life's, ect. 

Studio flashes would be a little bulky for my use, and storage. 

But a budget of around $900 u.s. 

Well I dont reccomend using ir to trigger your flashes the main reasons are 1 Line of sight limitations, 2 distance limitations, faulty in bright sun light. I would go with these if you are looking for ETTL use. http://www.radiopopper.com/

 Anyone have experience with one of these?  http://www.microsyncdigital.com/transmitter.cfm

The main thing to notice is the "bracket" (lower right). This is your connecting device for ANY hand-held flash to a light stand. It has a hole to shove the umbrella bar through, so you can have diffusion.

There are several types of umbrellas from standard silver, to satin, to shoot-through, to Apollos, to Softlighters - which is an umbrella with a giant "sock" in front to diffuse it even more - it's the poor-man's softbox. I've owned a few of them, and loved them, but what eventually impresses clients more is a soft box, so I have replaced them all. Umbrellas cost anywhere from $15 to over $100.

So a basic kit laid out here (combo of new and ebay purchased) would be around $350 per light - and that's a flash, on a stand, with a radio slave trigger, with the bracket and an umbrella. The Vivitar 285 (top left) is a trusty thing that never freakin dies! Runs off of batteries, so buy a lot, or as you can afford it, you can buy Quantum brick batteries and the appropriate adapting cable and you can fire this thing for hours without getting low.

you can get lower cost stands, lower cost (or find better deals on ebay) flashes, and there are MANY radio slaves that you could find cheaper on ebay as well - Quantum Radio Slave 4i comes to mind - great systems, but be aware they are frequency specific - when you find a Freq. B sender, you need a Freq. B receiver. Bound to find these for cheap as well, and just like the Pocket Wizard, the sender has a local connection, as well as a radio sender - so with a cable, you can set off one nearest the camera without having to buy a 2nd receiver - get it?

I've started with something like this (2 285s with umbrellas, and a Metz 45 for the Softlighter as a main), and there are plenty of wedding shooters using this system as well. As you can find another $350-ish, you can set up another light kit.

I've never used the microsync products, but they look like they'd work just fine.

I'd stay away from infra-red triggers and optical slaves in general - regular and bright daylight may (and WILL for optical) render them useless, and they can't fire around corners, or see from a flash that's behind them (useless in large buildings where you're in FRONT of the flash shooting a group, get it?).

With $900, you could actually start with 3 lights - 1 of which uses a local connection cable to the sending unit (saving you from buying a 3rd sender/receiver) - did that make sense?

Hope this helps - lemme know if you want some more ideas.
-Lew ;-)

 Alright, so the Vivitar 285 looks good. Any ideas what they are talking by battery pack? I cant seem to find one. 

I'm still a little confused with the radio transmitter and receiver. Any more information on how the receiver would hook-up to the flash? And with regards the flash sync times, do you have any recommendations that can sync faster than 1/400? 

MicroSync has their receiver plugs, but by the looks of it, they are for studio flashes, featuring only a house and mono plug. Do you know of a way to link wither of those receivers to one of the flashes? 

And any more produce specifics you have would be great.

And thanks for the help so far. 

The Vivitar 285:
Runs on batteries - AA, which are housed in a replaceable "pack" that you insert into the body of the flash.  you can buy these pack seperately so you can haver them all loaded - when it runs through the battery you just slip out the old on, and slip in the new on - think of it as a speed-loader method. Or it can run on external batteries (Quantum Batter 1+) with an adapting cable to hook them up - the end that goers into the 285 is shaped exactly like the battery pack.
The radio slaves connect to the camera on the hot-shoe, and have connections for you to plug in cables - which is what will go out to the light.

There are a HUGE multitude of cables you can buy - just go into any pro camera shop and tell them you need to connect "this" to "that" and they'll either pull out the correct cable for you, or can order it very easily.
Flash sync is mostly camera-specific. Most camera shutters sync at 60th of a second - most new DSLRs can sync above 125th second. Some can sync higher - any LEAF SHUTTER LENS can sync to it's highest speed labeled.

I've fired the Vivitar and my Metz or shots with my Mamiya RZ at 400th sec and they came out perfectly - because most flashes' burst rates are faster than 800th sec. What you usually read in the flash specs is "duration" (THIS one has a "duration" of 90th sec - that means it must be too slow, right?) which is the complete power up and down - not the hottest (most important part of the duration) moment of the fire. Don't worry - they'll work just fine.

The longer duration also allows for the complete shutter opening an closing - even at a high rate of speed you'll need all section to be even.

I know I'm missing something - lemme know if something still isn't clear. Good luck!
-Lew ;-)

Just re-reading the above - man I was typing fast (people were waiting on me in the other room)!
Full of typos - sorry folks!
-Lew ;-)