Problem with Speedlites and Strobe

[zeeman]

Hi all,

Well, this is my problem:

I have a Canon Speedlite 580EX II on camera as Master, and a 430EX as Slave. They work perfectly together, so I use the 580EX to trigger the 430EX.

The problem comes when I try to add the Falcon Eyes Strobe flash into the equation. The Falcon Eyes Strobe is triggered by optical signal (it has a photo cell) so when I fire the 580EX on camera, it fires too, BUT then the 430EX does not fire anymore. If I turn the Falcon Eyes Strobe off, the 430EX starts working again.

So the short explanation is that the strobe with optical sensor will fire at the same time as the master's command flash, that would confuse the the Canon slave (430EX)

I work fully wireless, or at least that's my intention. Would the Pocket Wizards be the only solution? The Strobe came with a sync flash, but my camera (Canon 400D) does not accept it, and anyway I don't want to work with a cable attached to the camera. Maybe an add-on optical trigger for the Canon slave would be a better and reliable solution?

Any ideas ?????

[PPPhoto]

I don't quite have the setup you do, but I recently bought an optical slave. I'm using the 430EX on camera and putting an older flash on the slave box. To do this, I had to put the 430EX on M so that my slave would trigger at the right time. Unless you are on M, any optical slave will fire too soon, and the light will have no effect on your image.

I don't know for sure if the Canon wireless will work if both flashes or on M, but you might give it a try. It'll add a little bit more work getting your ratios correct. Because of that preflash, unless you have a slave sensor that is designed to recognize it, you won't get your flash timing correct.

Someone made a small slave flash a few years ago that could be set about 4 or 5 different ways to adjust for preflashes. It really wasn't a great product, and barely worked, but the concept was a good one.

[brucep]

For outdoor work, I've resurrected two of my old Norman 200B battery powered flash units. I'm just experimenting with this, hoping to use ambient light to light the distant outdoor background and my 580EX (with a ringlight modifier) as on-camera fill with one of the Normans in a Photoflex 24x30" softbox as my main light.

I did some experimenting tonight and found that as long as I have both my camera on Manual and the 580EX on Manual I have complete control of how much light the 580EX puts out, regardless of the power setting of the Norman main light or the amount of ambient light. I'm firing the main light with a small radio unit which is plugged into the PC socket of my camera.

I stand at the subject's position and fire the main (set at 100 WattSeconds... the middle setting of 50, 100, 200 so I can go up or down if need be) and take a flashmeter reading. Let's say it says to use f/4 at that subject to mainlight distance. I turn off the main light and fire the on-camera fill (remember, all settings are on Manual). Let's say at that camera (fill light) to subject distance my flashmeter says to use f/5.6.

Comparing the readings above, we can see that my fill light is twice as powerful as my main light (just for this example)... not what we want. I can double my main light output by setting it to 200 WS and that would make them equal... still not what we want. I can dial the 580EX down to half power and now we have a fill half the power of the main... a 3:1 lighting ratio! The perfect starting point for a good portrait.

Having set the main light at 200 WS (remember, we doubled the output of the main light) puts me at f/5.6. Let's say I want a much more shallow dof. If I change the setting to 50WS I can shoot at f/2.8! Just don't forget to reduce the output of the 580EX two more stops.

A flashmeter is a very valuable, easy to use tool and they're not terribly expensive. Mine's a Sekonic L-308S and I love it.

Turns out that the only thing my Norman units needed were new flashtubes and new batteries. All of the electronics are just as good as they were when I used them 20 years ago! They're very cumbersome, but I think I'll still get some (specialized situation) use out of them.