Beginner Flash on or Off

Craig1969

Craig1969

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Craig
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Hi I am new to the forum thanks for allowing me to join allow me to introduce myself I am a 47 year old Male from the UK I have suffered some major health issues over the last 2/3 years I am doing ok now but my mobility is severely restricted which resulted in me being retired on ill health after 29 years working for British Steel Corus Tata ect so I looked for a new hobby i got myself a second hand camera a Canon 550D and a few bits and bobs My question involves a flash I purchased a secondhand Canon Ex420 which works great when on the hotshoe Can this flash be taken off and used as a flash from a different position I also purchased a Neewer 560 to do that very thing and i have myself a little muddled up I wanted the Canon to be a Master and the Neewer to work as a slave would this be possible
Regards
Craig
 
Craig1969 said:
Hi I am new to the forum thanks for allowing me to join allow me to introduce myself I am a 47 year old Male from the UK I have suffered some major health issues over the last 2/3 years I am doing ok now but my mobility is severely restricted which resulted in me being retired on ill health after 29 years working for British Steel Corus Tata ect so I looked for a new hobby i got myself a second hand camera a Canon 550D and a few bits and bobs My question involves a flash I purchased a secondhand Canon Ex420 which works great when on the hotshoe Can this flash be taken off and used as a flash from a different position I also purchased a Neewer 560 to do that very thing and i have myself a little muddled up I wanted the Canon to be a Master and the Neewer to work as a slave would this be possible
Regards
Craig
Click to expand...

Welcome to TP :)

The Canon 420EX is a very old gun and not best suited to your needs. It's not a master unit (E-TTL slave only) and it doesn't have manual power setting options for remote use. AFAIK it can only be used off-camera as a remote slave, controlled by a Canon E-TTL compatible master unit. The Neewer 560 is a basic manual only gun, with S1 and S2 optical slave modes. You should be able to fire that remotely in sync with the 420 on-camera by setting S2, but your control options will be limited.

You can make most things work if you have the knowledge and are prepared to faff around, but this isn't an ideal starting position and you could spend as much making it happen as starting again with something more up to date. What kind of flash photography are you wanting to do, subjects etc?

Canon 420EX handbook http://gdlp01.c-wss.com/gds/6/0300013296/01/Speedlite_420EX_Instructions_EN.pdf
 
Some great points above.

The answer to this though...
Craig1969 said:
My question involves a flash I purchased a secondhand Canon Ex420 which works great when on the hotshoe Can this flash be taken off and used as a flash from a different position I also purchased a Neewer 560 to do that very thing
Click to expand...

Is a simple Yes.

This lot allows you to control both flashes in either ETTL or Manual.

I'd recommend this softbox, you'll also need a couple of stands.

But start with one light, learn how to use it on camera first, there's amazing tricks you can do (not by buying plastic attachments).
 
Yongnuo 622 is the best solution. I didn't suggest it straight off as I wasn't 100% sure of functionality with those guns, but if Phil says it'll work no probs, then it will :thumbs:

When funds allow, maybe upgrade the guns to YN 685 (with 622 receivers built-in).
 
HoppyUK said:
Yongnuo 622 is the best solution. I didn't suggest it straight off as I wasn't 100% sure of functionality with those guns, but if Phil says it'll work no probs, then it will (y)

When funds allow, maybe upgrade the guns to YN 685 (with 622 receivers built-in).
Click to expand...
I have used them with a 420ex (will even do manual adjustments despite the fact the flashgun gives no feedback, it just works) and I'm sure they list Neewer as compatible.

But at some point there's a simple upgrade path as you say.
 
Thanks for the replies I will look into what has been said I will be mainly shooting macro so I wanted to position the flash off camera I looked at the macro ring light but funds are not yet available thanks for all replies
 
HoppyUK said:
Welcome to TP :)

The Canon 420EX is a very old gun and not best suited to your needs. It's not a master unit (E-TTL slave only) and it doesn't have manual power setting options for remote use. AFAIK it can only be used off-camera as a remote slave, controlled by a Canon E-TTL compatible master unit. The Neewer 560 is a basic manual only gun, with S1 and S2 optical slave modes. You should be able to fire that remotely in sync with the 420 on-camera by setting S2, but your control options will be limited.

You can make most things work if you have the knowledge and are prepared to faff around, but this isn't an ideal starting position and you could spend as much making it happen as starting again with something more up to date. What kind of flash photography are you wanting to do, subjects etc?

Canon 420EX handbook http://gdlp01.c-wss.com/gds/6/0300013296/01/Speedlite_420EX_Instructions_EN.pdf
Click to expand...


Fantastic I'm really pleased as you said using the 560 on s2 with the Canon 420 ex as a master works perfectly for what I need for now would it be possible to use another 560 with the set-up so having 2 Nw560 flashes as slaves
 
Craig1969 said:
Fantastic I'm really pleased as you said using the 560 on s2 with the Canon 420 ex as a master works perfectly for what I need for now would it be possible to use another 560 with the set-up so having 2 Nw560 flashes as slaves
Click to expand...
You could have 20 like that, they're just reacting to the flash there's no communication happening.
 
Craig1969 said:
Fantastic I'm really pleased as you said using the 560 on s2 with the Canon 420 ex as a master works perfectly for what I need for now would it be possible to use another 560 with the set-up so having 2 Nw560 flashes as slaves
Click to expand...

Yes, you can use as many guns as you like working off their optical slave sensors, so long as they can get a decent look at the on-camera flash signal. Not a problem at macro distances (y)

Just on semantics, I know what you mean by the master flash in this instance, but the term 'master' or 'commander' is usually reserved for auto-TTL control units. If you use those terms in other threads, it'll get confusing ;)

ps Crossed post with Phil (again!).
 
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