2nd curtain synch STE2 and 580EX

jeffreaux2

I shot a wedding Friday night in a low light venue. I had gotten there early and thought maybe I would set myself up to do some second curtain style longish exposures and started playing with settings to do this.

I use a Canon XTi, and was using a 580EXII that was being fired via a STE2 transmitter.

When in slave mode, I could not get the 580 to let me access the @nd curtain feature. There is no function...that I could find for this on the STE2. This led me to believe that I needed to only access the custom function for 2nd curtain in the camera menu...set it...and shoot it. After setting the custom funtion in camera, I did a few test shots. It still seemed that the flash was firing normally instead of at the tail end of the long exposure i set to test with. The manuals for the flash and transmitter were of no help.

My question:

Is it possible to do this when using the STE2, and if so.....how?

cmason

Can't find anything in the manual, and my experiments don't seem to show it working either. When I have the flash set to second curtain, putting it in slave removes the feature. On the other hand, it also removes high speed sync, but I know that works when I select it from the ST-E2. I do not see a second curtain sync on the ST-E2 panel.

jeffreaux2

cmason wrote:

Can't find anything in the manual, and my experiments don't seem to show it working either. When I have the flash set to second curtain, putting it in slave removes the feature. On the other hand, it also removes high speed sync, but I know that works when I select it from the ST-E2. I do not see a second curtain sync on the ST-E2 panel.

RIGHT!!!

I was thinking that accessing the feature via the camera menu....and setting it in camera would work....just as FEC works with the STE2 via the camera menu. However....it seemed not to make a difference as to how the flash synched. I set some fairly long exposures.....1 second....just to see if I could figure it out and the flash fired with the shutter press each time....not anywhere near the end of the exposure.

mmtoruno

I thought it was this option

cmason

mmtoruno wrote:

I thought it was this option

That is high speed sync, not second curtain

jeffreaux2

cmason wrote:

That is high speed sync, not second curtain

Yup...HSS....a great tool, but not what I was looking for.

rwells

Jeff,

I know this info doesn't help you since you already have the ST-E2, but it might help someone else.


There are several reasons that I'm going with a third 580EXII instead of the ST-E2.

• ST-E2 can only handle groups A & B
• 580EX(II) can handle groups A, B, & C (C being the background group)
• Another speedlight just adds that much more depth, backup wise (spare flash)
• 580EX(II) can set Second Curtain X-sync (I'm pretty sure)
• The speedlight on camera as master also allows its use for fill, with the remote light as key. ST-E2 cannot do this

Yes, another speedlight will cost about $200.00 more than the ST-E2, but as listed above, I feel for my needs that cost is justified.


Hope that wasn't off-topic, just wanted to give a heads-up to others.

RogersDA

jeffreaux2 wrote:

I shot a wedding Friday night in a low light venue. I had gotten there early and thought maybe I would set myself up to do some second curtain style longish exposures and started playing with settings to do this.
.
.
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Is it possible to do this when using the STE2, and if so.....how?

The ST-E2 does not support second curtain sync.

jeffreaux2

rwells wrote:

Jeff,

I know this info doesn't help you since you already have the ST-E2, but it might help someone else.


There are several reasons that I'm going with a third 580EXII instead of the ST-E2.

• ST-E2 can only handle groups A & B
• 580EX(II) can handle groups A, B, & C (C being the background group)
• Another speedlight just adds that much more depth, backup wise (spare flash)
• 580EX(II) can set Second Curtain X-sync (I'm pretty sure)
• The speedlight on camera as master also allows its use for fill, with the remote light as key. ST-E2 cannot do this

Yes, another speedlight will cost about $200.00 more than the ST-E2, but as listed above, I feel for my needs that cost is justified.


Hope that wasn't off-topic, just wanted to give a heads-up to others.

I agree with you on all counts. My primary focus is on outdoor portraits. I made the decision to begin working with off camera light with one light first. I'll add another later. I am also trying to frame my purchases so that I can do the radio popper thing if that pans out as it has been hyped.

If you have a pair of 580's, I'd be interested in knowing if you can indeed drive 2nd synch to the slave....especially if the master is set to not fire.

Thanks for the good info!

jeffreaux2

RogersDA wrote:

The ST-E2 does not support second curtain sync.

I had kinda come to that conclusion, but had a hope within a hope that maybe I had just overlooked something.

Thanks!

scottV

the st-e2 drives me nuts... being forced to use ttl and controlling output with fec is madening for still lifes.

urbanaries

When using 2nd curtain I've used the off camera shoe cord, as I've had the same luck as you Jeff! :cry