Canon 580 EXII Speedlite

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Cheesy

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Hi all,

I have the above Speedlite that I use in conjunction with an EOS 40D. Should I be able to remotely fire the Speedlite using the 40D on board flash. I've been through the Speedlite user manual but can only find reference to SLAVE/MASTER Speedlites. Any help with this matter would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks in anticipation,

Cheesy
 
Nope, afraid not. They don't have inbuilt optical slave thingies, but you can pick them up for a few pounds (they attach onto the hotshoe). You lose the ETTL though, so it's all manual unless you instead get the ST-E something (just looked up, it's the ST-E2)!
 
chris321 said:
Nope, afraid not. They don't have inbuilt optical slave thingies, but you can pick them up for a few pounds (they attach onto the hotshoe). You lose the ETTL though, so it's all manual unless you instead get the ST-E something (just looked up, it's the ST-E2)!
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, that won't work because you can't disable the pre-flash on the 40D so the remote optical slave fires on that and the camera misses the main flash.

You need a master unit, such as the 580EXII or ST-E2 (7D also has one built-in) or another brand of flash with master facility. This will retain full E-TTL auto operation.

If you go manual, which is by far the cheapest option, then something like a Yongnuo RF-602 radio trigger will do the job nicely. Flash In The Pan sells them for £28 a set, here post #2 http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=157807
 
Good advice, will look into the RF-602.

Cheers guys,

Cheesy
 
HoppyUK said:
Unfortunately, that won't work because you can't disable the pre-flash on the 40D so the remote optical slave fires on that and the camera misses the main flash.
Click to expand...

... unless you muck around with the FEL button.
 
Cheesy said:
Could you elaborate on this cryptic statement.

Thanks,

Cheesy
Click to expand...

He means that because an optical slave will be fooled by the pre-flash, there is a workaround way of disabling it. If you press the FEL button, it fires the pre-flash. This will also trigger the slave and fire the remote gun, but if you give it time to recycle, when you next press the shutter release only the main flash will fire and you'll get a properly synched exposure this time.

Unfortunately, you have to perform this malarkey every time.
 
HoppyUK said:
He means that because an optical slave will be fooled by the pre-flash, there is a workaround way of disabling it. If you press the FEL button, it fires the pre-flash. This will also trigger the slave and fire the remote gun, but if you give it time to recycle, when you next press the shutter release only the main flash will fire and you'll get a properly synched exposure this time.

Unfortunately, you have to perform this malarkey every time.
Click to expand...

That's it.
 
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