help firing flash remotley

[andywatson00]

for christmas i got a metz mecablitz 36 af-4 flash to go on my eos400d and wanted any tips on how i could set up the flash to fire it wireless with a remote flash trigger

[ktreffin]

Hi Andy,

I have just begun playing with off camera flash. I stumbled upon this site which I thought was very informative:

http://strobist.blogspot.com/

As far as flash triggers, I got a pair of Cactus V2s. They are el cheapo, however they meet my needs for now:

http://www.gadgetinfinity.com/produc...roductid=16766

Strobist provides a lot of information, and as I said has helped me learn a lot so far. Check it out, and hopefully it will help you as well.

Good luck,
Ken

[Photo-John]

Ken is right about Strobist. It's got to be the best resource of off-camera, low-budget lighting techniques and equipment. The simplest way to do off-camera flash is to by an off-camera shoe cord. I have one for my Canon cameras and I use it all the time. I just hold it in my hand and move it around to get the shadow I want. Of course, your limited by the length of the cord - about 4 or 5 feet is the maximum reach you can get.

The other method is to use a slave trigger. There are two kinds of slaves - radio and optical. If you buy a high-end Canon flash it comes with a built-in infrared optical slave. I've got two 550 EX flashes that can trigger each other. There's also an accessory you can use to trigger compatible Canon flashes. Nikon and Olympus have similar systems. Actually, with the Nikon and Olympus cameras, you can trigger flashes with the camera's pop-up flash. That's nice because you don't have to buy more than one flash, as you do with the Canon system. Also, when you use the camera manufacturer's system you get the benefit of TTL flash metering. If you don't understand or don't want to mess with manual flash metering, TTL flash metering is a huge benefit. As soon as you go to a radio slave, you have to set up your flash exposure manually.

Radio slaves are the kings of off-camera flash gear. PocketWizards were the standard for years. But recent radio slaves from Elinchrom, Calumet, MicroSynch, and Quantum have started to give PocketWizard some competition. I've got a set of PocketWizards and I love them. There's a bit of a learning curve to setting them up - mostly because flash exposure becomes completely manual. But they're super flexible and have tons of range. They're also not as temperamental as optical slaves.

You can also buy relatively inexpensive optical slaves from companies like Wein. That's the most inexpensive way to fire off-camera flashes.

[andywatson00]

im going to take the metz back to the store tomorow and exchange it for a canon 430ex II, as from what i hear the metz cant be fired remotley.. what would be the best way to fire the 430ex II wireless? as i belive its only a slave and cant be used as a master ( or am i wrong with that)

thanks for the link and advice
andy

[SmartWombat]

You can remotely fire any flash with the right equipment.

If you want ETTL flash control, then you need Canon.
If you're using only one flash, then you need a ST-E2 controller on the camera.
Assuming your position is too far away to use the canon flash extender cord.

There are several Canon flash guns, plus one transmitter, that can be used as the master unit in the Canon wireless flash system. These are the Speedlites 550 EX, 580EX and 580EX II, Macro Ring Lite MR-14EX, Macro Twin Lite MT-24EX and Speedlite Transmitter ST-E2.

The Speedlites 550EX, 580EX and 580EX II can be used as a master unit or a slave unit by setting a switch on the back. In addition, the Speedlite 420EX and 430EX can be used as slave units (but not as a master). None of the other Speedlites from the EX or EZ series are compatible with the wireless system.

http://cpn.canon-europe.com/content/...eless_flash.do

http://cpn.canon-europe.com/content/...dlite_range.do