Speed light & Lencarta smartflash combo

Richmate

Richmate

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Richard
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Hi

looking for some advice as to my current set up. I have 2 lencarta smartflashes which I use with no problems with my 5d mkii and waveSync AC remote flash trigger. I also have a speedlight 430EXii which I also use fairy successfully on its own.

I would like to use the flash gun along with my smart flash lights (3 light combo) but cant figure out how to do it. Is it possible with my current kit or do I need to buy something additional to allow me to do it.

Thanks in advance

Rich
 
You'll need triggers for the speed light. If you use it on manual it'll then trigger the Smartflashes, or if you're hiding it or snooting it you might need to trigger the Smartflashes separately (which would require one of the triggers to have a pass through mount)
 
You should be able to trigger the 430 wirelessly with the 7D, and the 430 could then trigger the strobes optically.
I don't know if the strobes have the ability to ignore pre-flashes. If not, the 430/camera would have to be set to manual.
 
There are a few ways you could do it, but these would be my choices:

Scrap you present triggers and replace with new trigger and receivers for each flash unit. Might be best in the long run, eg Yongnuos or similar. Or pop the speedlite on to one of these Sonia optical slaves that will fire off your Smartflashes http://www.colinsfoto.com/Sonia_Opt...including_Canon_EZ_and__EX/p43950_466761.aspx Canon guns require a special type of optical slave, and that one works well.
 
I have used similar, used my 430EX with my Bowens heads, used Yongnuo RF-602's to trigger the lights, and worked very well for me.
 
sk66 said:
You should be able to trigger the 430 wirelessly with the 7D, and the 430 could then trigger the strobes optically.
I don't know if the strobes have the ability to ignore pre-flashes. If not, the 430/camera would have to be set to manual.
Click to expand...
The pre flash from the 7d would possibly still trigger the Lencarta's. Even with the 430 in manual, it's still an 'ETTL' setup, the camera needs to sniff out the 430 and tell it what power setting to use.
 
I've mixed 580s with Lencarta stuff before. 580 set to manual (not ETTL) and triggered the Lencarta lights optically.
 
The problem with using either the 7D's pop-up or 430EXii for any kind of triggering the Smartflashes, is they must be in full manual to eliminate the pre-flash,. That's only possible either on-camera or on a dedicated cord.

Best ways are as mentioned above - either new triggers (most versatile) or that Sonia slave (cheapest).
 
Thanks for all the sound advice guys really appreciated.

Unfortunately for me this has highlighted that I know pretty much nothing about lighting set ups. So apologies for any silly questions in advance.

One thing I forgot to mention was that I have a lastolite off camera flash cord. I attached this to the camera and had the 430exii attached to a brolly. I then also attached the wireless trigger to the camera (on top of the flash cord attachment) expecting that this would fireboth the flash and smart flash lights. After composing the image I pressed the shutter and the smart flashes went crazy, firing off several flashes in quick succession. Without wanting to damage my equipment I promptly stopped snd didnt try this again. Did I miss a simple setting or should I avoid this combo in the future incase I start a fire or something :eek:

Silly question no.1: what is a pass through mount ?
Silly question no.2: What equipment is needed to set off the smartflashes optically.

If I was to invest in some new triggers, would the following be all I need.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/RF-602-Wire...id=1390395473&sr=8-11&keywords=Yongnuo+RF-602

Thanks All

Rich
 
"Pass thru" is what you had w/ the trigger on top of the cord mount.
I suspect you may have been in TTL w/ the strobes' optical triggers active and the TTL preflashes were setting them off.
 
Richmate said:
Thanks for all the sound advice guys really appreciated.

Unfortunately for me this has highlighted that I know pretty much nothing about lighting set ups. So apologies for any silly questions in advance.

One thing I forgot to mention was that I have a lastolite off camera flash cord. I attached this to the camera and had the 430exii attached to a brolly. I then also attached the wireless trigger to the camera (on top of the flash cord attachment) expecting that this would fireboth the flash and smart flash lights. After composing the image I pressed the shutter and the smart flashes went crazy, firing off several flashes in quick succession. Without wanting to damage my equipment I promptly stopped snd didnt try this again. Did I miss a simple setting or should I avoid this combo in the future incase I start a fire or something :eek:

Silly question no.1: what is a pass through mount ?
Click to expand...

As Steven said.

Silly question no.2: What equipment is needed to set off the smartflashes optically.
Click to expand...

Nothing, Smartflashes have a built-in optical slave. With your cord on-camera and connected to the 430 (without the radio trigger - not needed) put the 430 in manual and the Smatflashes will fire off that.

If I was to invest in some new triggers, would the following be all I need.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/RF-602-Wireless-control-Trigger-Receivers/dp/B002SFRP7Q/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&qid=1390395473&sr=8-11&keywords=Yongnuo RF-602

Thanks All

Rich
Click to expand...

Yes.
 
Thanks all, really appreciated. Feel like im starting to undersatnd how al this stuff works:).

Is there any limits to how close the speedlight would need to be to the smartflash heads to trigger them, for example would i be able to use the speedlight as a background light?

Cheers

Rich
 
It's trial and error, but the slave cell on the SmartFlash is in the right place, and it's also pretty sensitive, so I'm pretty sure that there will be enough reflected light from the background to trigger them. And of course you have redundancy anyway - it needs just one SmartFlash head to react to the flash from your hotshoe flash, the other one will then be set off by the much more powerful SmartFlash.

But, as Richard said, a radio receiver connected to each head would be the best solution.
 
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