What is a cheep and affective camera flash ?

I need to keep with in a budget of 200 dollars. What i need is an affective camera flash that is not smarter then my camera. I need to buy a camera flash and an off camera flash cord for the hot shoe. Im working with an XTI





Any brands some one can suggest or where to start looking?What is a cheep and affective camera flash ?
If you are using the flash for indirect light (not point the flash directly at the subject, or using a diffuser for softer light), you can use a non-Canon flash.





You might not be able to plug it directly into the camera though, and have to use off-camera triggers.





You can find inexpensive flashes ($30-50) and inexpensive triggers ($8-15) here:





http://www.dealextreme.com/search.dx/sea鈥?/a>What is a cheep and affective camera flash ?
Yeah I'd go with a more basic manual flash to start with...then graduate to something more expensive later. Make sure that the flash is ';canon-safe';, as some flash units will fry your camera.
Bower has a nice hotshoe flash for around $50, I use it and it works ok if your just doing it as a hobby. If you were doing it as a source of income though I would recommend you take a look at BHphotovideo.com
You may be able to find the older 430ex used for under 200. Its a fantastic flash and the head swivels like a pro flash unit.