Canon - Flash Trigger and Multi-flash units

RaphaelSamad

RaphaelSamad

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I have a Canon 40d and a 580EXII flash. This is an incredible combination and the flash works well. However, I now need to take some indoor shots of office interiors etc. and I am concerned about the lack of light generation placement control when simply using the camera-mounted flash - reflections back to the camera and light not getting to certain areas. I will also be doing these shots in normal working offices so any disruption has to be kept to a minimum.
My thoughts are therefore to buy the Canon wireless flash trigger and a second 580EXII flash.
Any thoughts or experience would be greatly appreciated.
 
Doesn't the 580 offer the ability to control additional Canon flash units in a wireless environment ? (And ETTL still works I think....)

Steve
 
You have a couple of options here, the Canon Speedlite ST-E2 infra red transmitter which controls off camera flashes out to about 12 metres indoors. You need line of sight between the flash and the camera.

Second use your existing 580 EX II as the master to control slave flashes. The 430 EX II can be used as a slave.

Your cheapest option would probably to buy the ST E2 and a 430 EX II, this combo will set you back about £300 to £350.

That way you can use the 580 as a slave and the 430 as a slave.
 
my query would be, do you need flash? if the office is in use, it is most probably quite bright , so why not use the existing lighting:thinking:
 
Hmm. Thank you for your comments. Fletch - good point "do I need a flash at all" However, some of the photos which I have already taken came out a little bit dark. Subseasniper - thank you for your suggestions a 430 might well be a good way to reduce the cost a bit - I think that I will wait to see if they confirm the jobs and I thus find out how much it is worth - this will then determine how much I can spend on the new bits and bobs. I really do not want to use one of the flashes on the camera as this can cause problems with reflection back into the lens and I want to have the flexibility to avoid this.
However, has anyone actually done this and found it useful to have the 2 flashes remotely fired.
Many thanks for all your help so far.
 
Not meaning to go off on a tangent here but are you aware of the issue with eTTL. If you stick with Canon products such as using the 580 to control a slave 430 or using the ST-E2 to control the flashes you retain the eTTL function where the flash level is calculated automatically.

If you use a radio trigger (such as cheap ebay cactus triggers or pocket wizards) you will lose eTTL. It all depends on how confident you are at going manual with the flash. The radio triggers are the cheapest option.
 
Good point subseasniper. I was actually thinking of sticking with Canon specifically because of this reason. I know that you can save money by buying the Cactus ones which work well on manual but these are paying jobs and I simply cannot risk things not working out as required and, additionally, do not want to waste time taking too many pictures on client sites. I currently would have too many other things to think about on a shoot without adding more to my tasks.
Thanks again for your help.
 
A silly question for you: would you not be able to use a tripod and take a series of exposure-bracketed shots for combination later?
 
Quite riight, that is exactly what I did last time round (to get some pictures which they did like) but, one thing that I noticed when I did this was the fact that there were some dark areas ( in the odd corner) which I would have wanted to llight up but could not.
In truth I am not sure exactly what I need on each job but I really want to turn up with a selection of options so that I can cope with whatever is required.
 
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