Canon 580EX II

[Noel_Carboni]

This is probably obvious and well known to you, Kevin, but I don't see it mentioned above so I'll go ahead and say it just in case...

You know that the Canon EX flashes have wireless (near IR) control built in, right? They communicate via pre-flash light signals. You can control off-camera flash(es) with a master flash on the camera or a device called an ST-E2 that fires only a deep red pre-flash to communicate with the remotes.

-Noel

[KevinStecyk]

Hi Noel,

Yes, I am aware of that. From my perusing on the net, it appears that the rest of the flashes have to be in a line of sight so that might cause some problems.

I'd like to get the flashes off camera and not have to worry about the line of sight, so I am headed down the Pocket Wizards path.

All that said, I thank you for your note. I'd rather be told something I am vaguely familiarity with rather than miss something important.

Best regards,
Kevin

[curtd]

Here is another wrinkle on using multiple 580EXII's. Someone has come up with a radio trigger that works with the IR

RadioPopper - Radio Slave TTL Flash Triggering System

[KevinStecyk]

Thanks Curt!

[Jerry Skrocki]

I just did some research on radio control triggers and found this old discussion. I wanted to add this relatively new item as a means of firing several 580EX II units outdoors or when line of sight is blocked.

Paul C Buff, the inventor of the White Lightning, Alien Bees and Zeus Pack Lighting is offering an affordable radio trigger solution called the CyberSync™ Trigger Transmitter.

White Lightning: The CyberSync 2.4GHz Radio Remote Control system

The transmitter is just $59.95 and the receiver units are $69.95 (available in both battery and AC varieties).

I have not tried this new trigger but it looks like many others have. The battery powered receiver is a very popular item and the online store can't seem to keep up with demand. It apparently works with any flash unit that has a PC sync.

[DougAxford]

Jerry, Check out the Cyber Commander at the bottom of Buff's pdf. This looks REALLY fascinating, but no info that I can find yet.

http://www.paulcbuff.com/manuals/cybersyncmanual.pdf

go to bottom of page 2.

[Doug_Kerr]

Hi, Kevin,

Originally Posted by KevinStecyk

I presently own one 580EX flash unit. . . .Can someone provide a more indepth discussion or description of using Canon's new 580EX II flash unit?

I don't know how this fits into the modus operandi in which you are interested, but of course the 580EX II will participate completely in the Canon wireless flash system.

If you're not familiar with that, in summary:

A 580EX II on the camera (or a 550EX, or a 580EX, or the dual flash or ring flash units, or the ST-E2 wireless flash transmitter) will control any of these flash units (as well as 420EX and 430EX units) off camera, by optical signaling.

If the master unit is an actual flash unit (not an ST-E2) it can be made to participate as a flash unit, or merely serve as a master unit and not contribute (except in a tiny incidental way) in the exposure.

The flash units can be gathered into as many as three groups, each group being independently controlled.

The entire network can fully operate under E-TTL II metering, with the contribution of each group being separately measured and controlled. We can control the relative overall effect on exposure of the entire group A vs. the entire group B.

Units in group C are not part of that "relative effect on exposure" scheme (being basically intended for use on the background) but their contribution to exposure can nevertheless be controlled (just not on a basis of relative to the A or B group). Flash exposure compensation is also available on the overall exposure provided by groups A and B together.

If the "slave" units are anything other than a 420EX, they can also be operated in a "manual" mode (settable fixed output), set from the master unit at the camera. The outputs of the units assigned to groups A, B, and C can be separately set.

There must be an optical path from the flash head of the master unit to the receptors on the front of the slave units. It need not be line-of-sight - operation by reflection off wall or ceiling surfaces is often practical.

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