Wireless Flash Set Up

tjstrider

Okay...

I have some questions about how to do the whole wireless thingy

In the fall i will likely have a 580EX II and a 430EX (i or ii)

for wireless with the 580 mounted you can control both??? does it have to be pointed at the other flash?

How well does it work?? What is the range? How likely is it to work... is there a lag if you are doing it at 1/250

In Manual mode does the 580 meter for both flashes?? for the FEC??

Thanks

Any Websites would be helpful too... i read most of the photo.net flash thing that The-Digital-picture suggests.

Art Scott

I am curious as to why if you do not currently own the 430 you'd buy 2 different models of flash.......It seems, to me, to be more logical, and that is only because I was taught so, to have all flash units the same for simplicity of set up and control.......meaning....if you own a 580 abd a 430 you constantly have to be concerned with witch light is the main and witch is the fill or secondary light......but if all strobes are the same then it doesn't matter AND, this is the bif one, if that 580 sitting atop that 1Ds Mark lll dies all of a sudden then you can just grab the secondary fill and keep shooting ....BUT....the second half of the BIG ONE.....if that secondary fill is the 430 which is not as powerful you have to start thinking about the critical stuff with less power.....
I know a lot of photogs shoot with mixed bags of strobes...but personally I like the KIS method (keep it simple or the big KISS method.....keep it stupid simple......) to everyting I have, so that I can concentrate on posing and things like that when shooting weddings and portraits especially away from a studio.......

tjstrider

well.
I am getting the 580 for myself... but will also have almost full time access to the one from the newspaper i work for ... b/c there is a set of equipment that the editor (me) gets to use for their time. Kind of extended compensation.


And I am wondering for two possible uses. Some sweet Feature shots in dark areas with cool lighting effects...

And to do some portrait work that I know I am doing in the spring.

gryphonslair99

Art Scott wrote:

I am curious as to why if you do not currently own the 430 you'd buy 2 different models of flash.......It seems, to me, to be more logical, and that is only because I was taught so, to have all flash units the same for simplicity of set up and control.......meaning....if you own a 580 abd a 430 you constantly have to be concerned with witch light is the main and witch is the fill or secondary light......but if all strobes are the same then it doesn't matter AND, this is the bif one, if that 580 sitting atop that 1Ds Mark lll dies all of a sudden then you can just grab the secondary fill and keep shooting ....BUT....the second half of the BIG ONE.....if that secondary fill is the 430 which is not as powerful you have to start thinking about the critical stuff with less power.....
I know a lot of photogs shoot with mixed bags of strobes...but personally I like the KIS method (keep it simple or the big KISS method.....keep it stupid simple......) to everyting I have, so that I can concentrate on posing and things like that when shooting weddings and portraits especially away from a studio.......

While I understand what you are saying, I too shoot two different strobes. I have two 580's that are usually my Key and Fill strobes. They are also my ETTL strobes for macro etc as I found a great used Macro bracket at Molers. My other three shoe mounted strobes are 383's. All five have the same guide number. The 383's get used for hair lights etc and of course when I am shooting indoor sports doing the strobist thing. I would love to have 5 -580's but the cost is quite high and I find that since the 580's and the 383's all have the same guide number I don't worry as much as I would like you pointed out, using a 580 & a 430.

ian408

I think the primary reason for two different flashes is the cost as gryphonslair99 points out.

For most things, a 580 and 430 would be fine. But if you can swing it, two 580's.

tjstrider

still...
Still the most important of all my questions has not been answered. Do you need the wireless transmitter or does the 580 hit the other one automatically? And do they communicate their position to each other or do you set the secondary to manual always and control it that way??? Is there auto metering for both or just the master and the slave is a smaller other amount?

Scott_Quier

tjstrider wrote:

And I am wondering for two possible uses. Some sweet Feature shots in dark areas with cool lighting effects....

How about reading the strobist as that seems to be right up your alley. Dave is/was a staff photographer for an East-Coast paper, doing everything from features, to sports, to ....

It would seem to me that if it needed to be done for a paper photo, he's probably done it and, more importantly for us, written about it in his series of blogs.

But to answer your question - First, I don't do ETT-L using the Canon IR wireless. I do it manually, via PocketWizards. But, ... the two flashes communicate via IR and they need to see each other. Indoors, this is not quite so critical as IR will bounce and the receiver/slave will act on the bounced signal just as well as the direct line-of-sight signal (assuming a sufficient S/N ratio). Outdoors, or so I've read, line-of-sight is more critical as there is little (if anything) off of which to bounce the IR signal.

tjstrider wrote:

for wireless with the 580 mounted you can control both??? does it have to be pointed at the other flash?

See above.

tjstrider wrote:

How well does it work?? What is the range? How likely is it to work... is there a lag if you are doing it at 1/250

I don't believe there's any lag-time as you have full ETT-L, including High-Speed Shutter Synch. That, last, all by itself, would indicate to me that there is no lag time worth mentioning.

Another thought - check out Radio Poppers which claim to transmit full ETT-L information via RF - thus reducing/eliminating the need for line-of-sight. I don't have any of these and I haven't read much about them so YMMV on this one.

gryphonslair99

quote=tjstrider]Still the most important of all my questions has not been answered. Do you need the wireless transmitter or does the 580 hit the other one automatically?

Depends. If one is on camera then no you do not need a wireless tranmitter. If both are of camera you need something like the ST-E2 or Radio Poppers if you want ETTL. If you want to shoot manually then no you just need a shoe then Pocket Wizards or some other wireless is nice. One strobe is set as master and one as slave. In ETTL configuration with the ST-E2 or radio poppers the flashs will communicate between the body and both flashes.

If you are in Manual mode then the master will trigger the slave.

And do they communicate their position to each other or do you set the secondary to manual always and control it that way???

Depends on the setup mentioned above. ETTL will function different than manual.

Is there auto metering for both or just the master and the slave is a smaller other amount?

Again see above. Like someone else posted, go to the Strobist site. It is a fountain of knowledge on off camera shoe flash.

joshhuntnm

I hve one 580 and two 430s. Also, a couple of umbrellas. They work great.

it makes sense to me to by 580 and 430 as a function of cost. You only need on master, and it can control all the slaves within range.