Success! (I think - does this sound right?) 50d+580ex+off camera sigma 500dg super

dubcat

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Amir
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Hi

I started out with a 300d + sigma 500 dg super flash (the ettl version, not the ettl-ii one). Last year I moved to a 50d. I had to resort to using the sigma flash in manual mode all the time because the 500 dg super can not talk to the 50d (the ettl-ii version can if you have it rechipped but mine was the older ettl version). Trying to take pictures of my kids while manually setting flash was totally impractical and i ended up not using my camera very much :(

Today i received my 580ex ii! It's brill - really love it. I hit the shoot button and pictures just WORK.. really happy.

I have been reading the strobist blog and have been playing around with using my 580ex ii on the camera (will get off camera cord in future) in bounce mode with a stofen on it and with the sigma 500 dg super sitting off the side of the subject as the main flash.

From the various tests i have done it seems my 580ex ii is successfuly triggering the sigma flash and is even using it's ettl-ii metering to adjust the sigma flash power properly! I'm over the moon. How can this possibly work when my old flash is not even ettl-ii? After further fiddling i think I even have the ratio's working right! It seems the sigma flash uses numbers for groups while the canon uses letters. Effectively Canon group a is sigma group 1, etc. I have tried a number of configurations including experimenting with the ratios and even turning off the light in the 580 and relying solely on the sigma flash. It seems the 580 still meters the scene and sets up the sigma flash properly!

Love to hear your thoughts on this.. would you have expected this to work?

sorry for the rambling but im really excited because a) i can start using my camera again b) i can start learning about multi strobe setups!

Dub.

p.s in case you hadn't worked it out im a total photography noob :)
 
I'm a bit surprised but if it works, it works. E-TTL and E-TTL2 are basically similar. You may still find that it doesn't do certain things and I would get it rechipped anyway, then you have two really good guns that you know will work 100%. It will increase the resale value, too.

I guess the reason it didn't work on camera is because there are known issues with the 50D and Sigma, but in remote mode it's operating as a slave effectively off the 580 as opposed to the camera.
 
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