Off camera flash?

mbg0333

So off camera flash is something I am not familiar with minus using the two strobes I have the wireless transmitters.

I have a Canon 40D and and Canon 430EX flash.

Can someone explain to me exactly what it is and how I would set it up?

Oh and another thing, the people on this site rock!

ziggy53

mbg0333 wrote:

So off camera flash is something I am not familiar with minus using the two strobes I have the wireless transmitters.

I have a Canon 40D and and Canon 430EX flash.

Can someone explain to me exactly what it is and how I would set it up?

Oh and another thing, the people on this site rock!

"Off camera flash" is simply the technique of moving the flash further away from the axis of the camera/lens in order to accomplish some lighting goal, either light and shadow placement to show depth or positioning the flash for a better fill position relative to the subject and primary light source, for instance.

You can accomplish this with an "off-camera cord", a simple PC extension cord (as appropriate) or a slave unit as your needs and preferences require or desire. The method you use will determine whether the camera's flash TTL functions will be retained or require some other method of exposure.

James S

A good place to start is at www.stobist.com lots of great stuff there:

http://strobist.blogspot.com/2006/03/lighting-101.html

I will post more tomorrow. Because of the weekend camping I am out of energy. Can and will post more tomorrow.

mbg0333

Ok....so withouth the pc connection on my 430ex am I out of luck?

ziggy53

mbg0333 wrote:

Ok....so withouth the pc connection on my 430ex am I out of luck?

You can use:

1) An "off-camera cord"
2) ... or a simple PC extension cord (as appropriate)
3) ... or a slave unit, either radio or optical slave will do.

1) An "off-camera cord" should preserve your TTL flash capabilities but you are limited in the length of the cord.

For a Canon camera you might use:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/498744-REG/Canon_1950B001_OC_E3_Off_Camera_Shoe.html

2) A PC extension cord can be used as a simple trigger of the flash with no exposure automation from the camera. This is best used with a flash in manual operation. If you have a PC connector on your camera you can use it or, if you don't have a PC connector on your camera, use a hotshoe-to-PC adapter.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/89979-REG/Hama_HA_6951_Hot_Shoe_Adapter_1.html

If your flash doesn't have a PC connector you can use a PC-to-hotshoe adapter.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/95414-REG/General_Brand_SF941_PC_to_Hot_Shoe.html

For this particular arrangement you would use a PC-male to PC-female extension cord.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/40255-REG/Paramount_PM815S_PC_Male_to_PC.html

3) A slave unit gives you freedom from cords. Optical slaves work great in a studio environment where you have reflective surfaces to carry the trigger flash pulse. Radio slaves work well in a less controlled environment and where the flashes from other shooters might trigger your optical slave units.

All of these methods are appropriate to "off-camera" flash usage. Setting and positioning the flashes will depend upon the situation and needs of the scene you are shooting and the particular goals of the project.

mbg0333

So what would be the best recommendation for the longest cord that will maintian E-TTL? 2 feet does not seem like much!

cmason

mbg0333 wrote:

So what would be the best recommendation for the longest cord that will maintian E-TTL? 2 feet does not seem like much!

Don't forget the ST-E2. This is a wireless device that attaches to your hotshoe and will fire multiple Canon flashes with full E-TTL support. Works perfect if you have a Rebel and a 430EX, neither of which have a PC port. I have one and love it.

ziggy53

cmason wrote:

Don't forget the ST-E2. This is a wireless device that attaches to your hotshoe and will fire multiple Canon flashes with full E-TTL support. Works perfect if you have a Rebel and a 430EX, neither of which have a PC port. I have one and love it.

Good point and then there's that new radio slave unit with E-TTL II relay support, the "Radio Popper", for when you want to extend the range of an ST-E2 or 580 or 550 flash as master.

http://shop.radiopopper.com/

The Canon 580EX (and 580EX II) can act as a "master" for another 580 flash or a 430EX flash. The Sigma 500 DG Super flash (and DG 530 Super flash) can do similar with another copy of the flash.

Of course, some of these systems get a little complicated and expensive.

BTW, here is an example using 2 Sigma flashes in a master/slave configuration at a ratio of 1:1 with one bounced and one direct:

http://www.dgrin.com/showpost.php?p=557106&postcount=1

ziggy53

mbg0333 wrote:

So what would be the best recommendation for the longest cord that will maintian E-TTL? 2 feet does not seem like much!

Paramount Cords will build you a custom length cable:

http://www.paramountcords.com/products.asp?cat=93

Art Scott

mbg0333 wrote:

So what would be the best recommendation for the longest cord that will maintian E-TTL? 2 feet does not seem like much!

Here is my recommendation....either an STE2 (ir remote) or a cable in the 2' length and a flash bracket to mount main flash on and then your auxiliary flashes will communicate via the main flash.......or the radio poppers if you want radio slaves and not IR............
For my system I have opted for the cable system for now until I can afford the radio poppers..........

Photoskipper

cheap off camera flash
Just playing with off-camera flash and multi-flash gun at home. I use the optical trigger hot-shoes for the slave flash. It is much cheaper than the cord or radio trigger. It costs me 20 dollars in the pro-photo shops or 5 dollars for the non-branded version. Mount the old manual flash gun (Ricoh speedlite, 25 years old antique) on the hotshoes and put it on the tripod, I can position the slave to anywhere around the object.

The only draw back is that it needs the on camera flash as the main source and the slave flash has to be visible to the on camera flash.

There are also some cheap slave flash gun comes with the build-in optical trigger cost about 60 dollars only from ebay.