Canon 580 and 430 slave combination

StarrToDowler

Hello, all...

I'm finally starting to get more creative with artificial light, and I've got a question about the Canon flashes.

I set the 580 as the master and the 430 as the slave, and the combination seems to work, but when I pop the flash on the 580 there is a perceptible delay before the 430 slave fires. It's not long, but the slave doesn't fire until the shutter has closed.

I understand that they are supposed to fire almost simultaneously. Is that not correct? And if it is correct, what am I doing wrong? :scratch

Thanks!

pathfinder

Are you saying that the flash from the 430ex is not being captured in the image, that it is firing after the shutter has closed? Seems unlikely.

What is your shutter speed? Are you shooting less than 1/250th? DO you understand High SPeed synch?

Put your 580 ex in Master with the strobe turned off, and shoot a frame with the slave in ETTL and see if the image is exposed properly.

In the sticky at the top of this forum is an extensive set of links about the EOS flash system

ziggy53

In master/slave configuration some people can notice the slight delay between the master pre-flash and the subsequent synchronized flash of the 580EX and the 430EX. Is it possible that is what you are seeing?

StarrToDowler

Thanks for the responses, guys. The high speed synch was the thing.

I appreciate the quick help!

pathfinder

I am not sure I understand.

If the camera is in manual mode, and the flash is mounted in the hot shoe with High Speed Synch turned off, it will limit the shutter speed of the camera to 1/250th no matter what shutter speed has been set. This does cause unexpected over exposures out of doors when the shutter speed you had set was say 1/1000th and at the moment the shutter is pressed the flash resets the shutter speed to 1/250th. I have been tripped by this before, when I had High Speed Synch turned off. I generally leave High SPeed SYnch, and second curtain synch turned on in my EOS flashes. I know that I loose just a bit of power that way and I can always remember to turn off High Speed Synch if my flash needs just a bit more punch. Not everyone recommends working this way, but it seems to work for me.

But I still don't see how your 430 fired after the shutter was completely closed.

With High Speed SYnch, the flash should synch fine at a shutter speed of 1/1000th at least - it always has for me with my EOS system flashes. I do not own a 430ex, but doubt that it is different in these capabilities than the 550ex,580exII etc.

StarrToDowler

Pathfinder, I screwed up by trying to shortcut. I think I had the slave out of direct line, and it responded (slowly) to the flash that bounced. I guess. As fast as light travels, it seems that it wouldn't matter, but when I put the slave in direct line with the master with no obstruction, everything goes without a hitch.

I DO have another question for you, however. When you say "put your 580 ex in Master with the strobe turned off, and shoot a frame with the slave in ETTL and see if the image is exposed properly" how do I turn off the strobe but still have the slave respond? I'm trying some totally side-lighted setups which would seem to be well-served with that kind of a setup, but don't know how the slave responds without the master actually flashing...

Thanks!

pathfinder

The 550ex, the 580ex, and the 580exII can all be used in Master mode without the strobe firing. A preflash is emitted to comunicate with the slaves, but there is no real flash from the hot shoe mounted master unit during the exposure.

The way to do this is on page 36 of the 580ex manual.

Place the strobe in Master mode.

In brief, press the ZOOM button on the 580ex until the display blinks, then turn the selector dial until it says OFF and press the center button of the selector wheel to activate it. The Z icon ( picture of a small flash ) will blink

The procedure to turn off the flash on the 550ex is on p. 57 of its manual. It is harder to describe, the 550ex was never that intuitive to use to me. I keep mine in slave mode on a tripod in a soft box most of the time.

StarrToDowler

That's it...MANY thanks!