Reddit mentions of Neewer 4 Channels Wireless/ Radio Flash Trigger Set With 2 Receivers

I had the same problem taking pics of my son. My advice would be to start with an inexpensive flash. First, I bought a Yongnuo 560 flash super cheap on Amazon (sixty bucks). I pointed it up at the ceiling, and it helped both freeze the action and illuminate the whole scene, while avoiding the harsh directional shadows that pointing your flash directly at your subject gets you. (Thankfully, we have white walls...if your walls are painted strong colors like red or purple etc, bouncing off them might not work so well, color-wise). So that's one setup, and it's fun, but the light can be a little hard to control when you're trying to follow a busy toddler. This is what ceiling-bounce flash looks like. This photo was shot on my Canon t2i, which has a crop sensor. You will notice, however, that he's in his crib, which meant he was a little easier to track instead of him scooting around on the floor, which I found pretty frustrating. I used a 40mm lens, which made it easier to get in close.

Then I also ended up getting an inexpensive off-camera radio trigger (twenty bucks). This allowed me to set up my flash in one place to fill the room, and to use inexpensive modifiers like a shoot through umbrella and light stand. This is what that setup looks like. All of these lighting tools will cost less than a new lens, and will open up lots of possibilities.

Of the lenses you mentioned, the only reason I would recommend a 35 over a 50 is that it's wider. I was often frustrated by my crop sensor because we have a small apartment, so I wasn't really able to get close enough. I ended up graduating to a full sensor because of that. The second photo you see here was shot on a full-frame sensor...but a crop sensor works just as well.

Check out the tutorials on Strobist.com to get started with flash techniques (which are not at all complicated). Youtube also has a ton of strobist tutorials. But if you don't want to do that, here's how you get started: set your aperture to 5.6, your ISO to 100, and your shutter speed to 100. Set the flash to half power (so that half the lights on the back are lit up). Then, if it's too dark, use the arrow buttons to up the flash power one stop at a time. It's super easy, and really fun.

If you have extra questions, PM me and good luck!

Tl;dr: if you want to freeze motion and add some decent light, get a cheap flash and point it at the ceiling.

If you aren't going to go TTL, pick up 2 or 3 of these

https://www.amazon.co.uk/d/ibn/AmazonBasics-DF500-Electronic-Flash-for-DSLR-Cameras/B01I09WHLW

You can get two of them for the price of one Yongnou. You lose out on zoom, but honestly that is something I never have needed with modifiers.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Neewer-Channels-Wireless-Trigger-Receivers/dp/B008MTN9MM

Would be your wireless triggers. You can pick up 2 flashes and a set of triggers for dirt cheap, and then pick up a modifier

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Andoer-Portable-Umbrella-Reflector-Speedlight/dp/B00VJFHRE2 - My favorite as a key light with a

https://www.amazon.co.uk/DynaSun-UR02-43-Professional-Diffusion/dp/B005O8ZXZ0/

for fill light. That gives you a great starting setup minus light stands for portraits. And its cheap enough you can even get a grid for the octobox and color gels to expand your kit for cheaper than just getting the flashes from Yongnuo

I don't know the model, I just look it up by name, it's a funny little pin with a plastic insulator visible. You can also spend about the same $$ for a cheap Chinese radio slave with a hot shoe, in my experience those work on most of my shutters, 4x5, 35mm, etc., but not on my RB lenses or my spotmeter.

My budget Macro setup:

Lens : Sigma 70-300 Also a pretty fair daily use lens at a cheap price point.
Adapter: Raynox 250 I love this litte guy. Takes some getting used to and you have to use an f-stop of 16 or higher to get any depth of field. That leads to needing a steady hand and lots of light.

A pair of flashes by Neewer. Recycle time is a bit slow, but I haven't broken it yet and you can pair it with a couple of wireless triggers to have tons of fun. Normally I just use one attached to the camera, but that's because I am lazy and always out of the weird battery the receiver uses.

I think you would be able to get pretty decent results with the 55-200 you currently have when you pair it with the Raynox. There's always other things like reversing lenses or adding extension tubes. I have no technical knowhow, so I stuck to the simplest plan possible and love chasing bugs and spiders.

Good info. I've been using the shoestring budget transmitters but they aren't particularly consistent and I can only get them to reliably sync at 1/160 or less. If I shoot 5 shots at 1/200 I get the black bar at 5 different locations across the frame.

Would these continue to allow TTL to work?

I always think that a tripod is a good thing to have. When I didn't have one I never thought I needed one, but once I finally got one I found that I wanted to use it all the time. You do not need to get an expensive one, I have 3 and I have gotten them all from thrift stores and yard sales.

If you want something which will help you take different kinds of photos I would recommend an off camera flash. These are a little more on the expensive side, but there are great options out there that do not include the $500+ Canon version. I have two Yognuo's and they are fantastic. These wireless flash triggers are an awesome addition to the flash.

Artificial lighting is the best and easiest way to make great, professional-looking portraits.

Are you sure you can't afford a speedlite ? You don't need an expensive name-brand one. A basic speedlite is $35. Get two of those, a basic radio control, some flash brackets, one more basic umbrella and you have yourself a portrait lighting kit for $100.

The only limitations will be that this kit won't take heavy use, and the flash won't do TTL (you have to set the power manually, which you want to do for off-camera flash anyway).

Finally, read strobist tutorial and you are now good to go and make great portraits.