Balancing power with size, the Speedlite 430EX II from Canon offers a very useful guide number of 141' at ISO 100 and 105mm as well as complete compatibility with Canon's E-TTL / E-TTL II flash metering system. The flash head also offers an excellent zoom range of 24-105mm, which is expanded to 14mm with the use of the wide-angle diffusion panel. There is even the option to tilt the flash upwards 90° as well as rotate it right 90° or left 180° for bounce capabilities.

Rental comes with soft case and 4 rechargeable batteries with charger (I recommend having your own AA batteries as a backup - it takes 4).