50D and Canon flash question

[FirstName.LastName]

Hello guys

Just a quick questions about using a canon 430 flash with a 50D.

I would like to mount the flash on a tripod away from the camera and be able to fire it wirelessly. So how can I do this?

Any help is much appreciated!

[inkista]

• Get an optical slave and some way to hook it to the 430EX. Use another manual flash on the hotshoe to trigger it. (There may be some triggers that you can set off with the pop-up flash, but I haven't found one--the damn Canon pop-up cannot be put into manual mode, so the preflash for eTTL will typically trip most dumb optical triggers).
  
  
• Get radio triggers (either cheap, like the Cactus V4s & Yong-nuo RF-602s, midrange like Cybersyncs or RadioPopper JrXs, or high end like PocketWizards), and put the transmitter on the camera, and the receiver on the flash. Depending on the triggers you purchase you may also need PC sync port adapters. You will not have eTTL or high-speed sync or anything but a way to sync the flash.
  
  
• Get a 580EXII, 580EX, 550EX, or ST-E2 and put it on the flash hotshoe of the 50D. Use that in Master mode, and the 430EX in Slave mode. You will have all the features, except possibly rear-curtain sync and stroboscopic mode. You'll be limited by line-of-sight and range.
  
  
• Alternatively upgrade to a 7D or 60D, and use the pop-up flash as a master unit to trigger the 430EX.
  
  
• Get either of the above and add RadioPopper PXs. Have all the of those systems, AND radio reliability/range.

Mounting the flash on a tripod, though, is pretty easy. Just get an umbrella swivel with a stud that can screw onto the tripod screw.

This is the main reason I still see the 60D as being an upgrade to the 50D, despite the plastic body.

[GadgetRick]

Originally Posted by inkista

This is the main reason I still see the 60D as being an upgrade to the 50D, despite the plastic body.

What reason?

[inkista]

Originally Posted by GadgetRick

What reason?

Bullet point 4: The pop-up flash can be used as a master unit in a Canon wireless flash system (note there's a "wireless func." menu), like the 7D and 1DMkIV's. You don't need to buy an additional 580EXII or ST-E2 to pop a 430EX off-camera. First time any XXD has had that feature (or the ability to put the pop-up into Manual mode--finally! cheap optical slaves can reliably be used with the pop-up flash).

The problem is the reviewers aren't dedicated Strobists, so I'm seeing a lot of conflicting information. Dpreview says no multiflash support, but the Canon press release itself says "multiple flashes", while Rob Galbraith is saying two groups. But whether that's A:B (vs. the 7D's A:B:C), or the pop-up in one group and an A group for the other (which can support multiple flashes), I can't tell for sure. I'm waiting until someone on the Strobist Flickr group gets their hands on a 60D to find out.

[GadgetRick]

I guess that's a good thing but, personally, I'd prefer just to use a good old radio transmitter/receiver setup to control external flashes. You can get them quite inexpensively and they're easy to use.

I don't even look at whether it has the Commander function or not.