Canon 430ex wireless

[stflood]

I recently purchased a canon 430ex II for my canon t1i. i know nothing about flash photography really, but i would like to be able to use my 430 wirlessly. how can i do that? Also, what is a pocket wizard for? Do i need one of them to use the 430 wirelessly? thanks for the help!

[natek313]

I have the 430EX II as well, and I use it off-camera.

If you want to use the flash off-camera without being tethered to your camera, your best bet will be radio triggers. There are a number of options for radio triggers that covers everything from budget to professional.

For budget radio triggers, you'll want to look into YongNuo or Cactus V4 triggers. When you use these triggers, you're giving up all the fancy stuff (second curtain sync, TTL, etc.), so you'll be shooting full manual. There are some differences between the two brands, so make sure you do your homework.

For a middle-of-the-road option, there are CyberSync radio triggers made by Paul C. Buff (same company that produces AlienBees lighting equipment). Again, you will have to shoot full manual with these triggers. Also, these triggers will not "wake up" your 430EX II if it goes into standby - just something to note. I use CyberSyncs and love them. I haven't had one misfire so far.

For the professional budget, there are the triggers you mentioned - PocketWizards. These allow you to shoot as if your 430EX II was attached to your camera's hotshoe. You have the ability to shoot TTL with these triggers, and they are very reliable. But, be prepared to drop some serious cash on them.

So, to answer your questions: The PocketWizard is a radio trigger that will fire your 430EX II off-camera. You can use PocketWizards to fire your 430EX II, but it's an expensive option and not your only option.

I hope this helps somewhat.

[inkista]

Originally Posted by stflood

I recently purchased a canon 430ex II for my canon t1i. i know nothing about flash photography really, but i would like to be able to use my 430 wirlessly. how can i do that? Also, what is a pocket wizard for? Do i need one of them to use the 430 wirelessly? thanks for the help!

There are actually three methods to using your flash wirelessly off-camera. As natek313 mentions, radio triggers such as the Cactus V4s or the Yongnuo RF-602s are probably your best bet. But for the sake of completeness, here are the other two methods:

1. Optical slave

Optical slaves are problematic with the 430EX, first of all because it has no PC port, and secondly because a lot of optical slaves don't work with the Canon speedlights. But this could be your lowest-cost option, if you have another manual speedlight to use on the hotshoe as your master. An optical slave will cost about $15, a hotshoe-to-PC adapter so you can connect the optical slave will cost maybe $10. The only problem is that an e-TTL preflash can trigger these things early, so you have to use a manual flash to master them, or have the power set low enough on the flash that it can recycle in time between the preflash and the main flash burst. Problem with the pop-up flash on the digital rebels is that you can't turn the preflash off. But this would be how you'd use an off-camera flash with a point-and-shoot camera.

2. Canon proprietary signalling

Canon builds wireless functionality into its flashes. But unlike Nikon, Canon has only put this wireless capability into one pop-up flash on a camera body--the 7D's. So if you're not shooting with a 7D, you'll need another speedlight unit to use this built-in wireless function, and it'll have to be a master-capable unit. That means you'd also have to buy a 580EXII, 580EX, 550EX, or ST-E2 to use on the camera's hotshoe to pop your 430EX off-camera.

Furthermore, it's infrared-based, like a TV remote, so you need line-of-sight (i.e., the sensor on the flash has to "see" the master signal), and your range is relatively limited. This is why radio triggers (which don't have either of these limitations) are often preferred.

However, this proprietary signalling system lets you use a lot more of your flash's features because the camera can talk to the flash more than just ordering it to fire. Radio triggers (except for the Radiopopper PX and TTL-capable PocketWizard units) can only tell the flash when to fire. They do not let you control the power level from the camera back, allow you to use high-speed sync, or use eTTL II--i.e., you have to set the power level on the flash manually with radio triggers--the camera can't set it for you automatically based on metering.

This is why the PocketWizard FlexTT5/MiniTT1 and RadioPopper PXs are so desirable and so expensive--they give you the proprietary signalling function, but over radio so you have better distance and reliability.

I do also want to mention that PocketWizard also makes non-TTL capable units, that are also "fire-signal-only": the MultiMax and PlusII. The main difference between these PocketWizards and other radio triggering devices is that they are transceiver units. They can be at either end of the radio connection as transmitter or receiver, and the range is much larger than other units. Most of the other radio units come in Tx/Rx (transmitter/receiver) sets, where each unit can only be used either on the camera or on the flash. If your transmitter fails, your receivers become useless.

With the TTL PocketWizards, the FlexTT5 is a transceiver. The MiniTT1 is a transmitter-only. Also, unlike the MultiMax and Plus IIs, they are hotshoe-specific and currently only come in Canon and Nikon flavors.

[FormElement]

Everything Nate and Inkista said is correct. It depends on both your budget, and your needs. You can buy a normal sync cord to plug your flash into your camera for a little extra reach, or you can go cheap chinese wireless for a few dollars more and get real off-camera ability, or you can "go-pro" and spend hundreds or thousands of dollars more. There is a reason pros use the equipement that they do and spend many thousands of dollars on that equipment.

The whole point of getting the flash off camera is to get your light where it actually creates curves and contours, instead of red eyes and blindness. The farther your light source, typically the better.

My recommendation is to pick up cheap chinese (Cactus) wireless flash triggers, and a couple of decent silver/white reflectors. Play with them for a couple thousand shots, and then decide what you really need...also spend the next few dozen hours studying Strobist before you buy anything at all.

[stflood]

thank you for your in depth responses. all of the info is much appreciated. i was asking about the pocket wizards because they were suggested by a fellow photographer to be used for mountain bike photography where there may be an interupted line of sight over a distance. if i was going to use the pocket wizards, which model should i get? i am new to flash photography and have been looking into it, but i do not fully understand all of the specifics and terminology. thanks again for your help.

[inkista]

Just taking prices from B&H:

Plus II: $169
MultiMax: $295
FlexTT5: $219
MiniTT1: $$199

Now, remember, you need at least two of these to get one light off camera. If you want two lights off camera, you'll need three of them. So, the lowest price you're looking at for a one-light setup it $338, if you're looking at a two-light set up, it's $507. And that's with the Plus IIs, which can only do the "fire" signal with the flashes in Manual mode.

You can get one Yongnuo RF-602 transmitter and two receivers for $60 on eBay; a Tx/Rx set for $40. Mine don't require line of sight and I've range-tested them to 700 feet without a misfire, and the receivers fit directly on the flash hotshoe. With Pocketwizards (if you're not getting the TT models), they only fit on the camera hotshoe, you need some sort of PC connector to hook them up to the flash . The 430EX does not have a PC port, so you'd also have to get a hotshoe to PC adapter.

How far away do you plan to be from your lights? Do you need eTTL II? If you answer >1000 feet to the first or yes the the second, then you need PocketWizards. But you can save about $300 on a one light set up, or $450 with a two-light setup by going with eBay triggers. $450 is enough to buy you a new 580EX II, or two LP120s with stands and umbrellas. You sure you need the industry gold standard?

[stflood]

thanks again. i do not absoultely need the best. i just want to get my flash off the camera, at a distance, without direct line of sight and have it not fail. also ettl would be preferable. i looked on ebay for those triggers you suggested and could not find anything. if you have a second, could you possibly copy a link to them? i would appreciate it.

[inkista]

Do a search on (RF-602,RF602), and you'll see tons of listings--you may want to go with the seller hkyongnuophotoequipment, as that's the manufacturer. You do want to get the set for your specific camera, because the cord you use for the remote shutter release capability has to fit your camera, and the flash triggers are hotshoe-specific for the wakeup function. The only real drawback is that these cannot be used with flashes that have sync voltages over 12V. Canon EXes and Nikon SBs are fine for this, but watch it with older manual flashes.

If you prefer the Cactus V4s, there's an actual storefront for them at gadgetinifity.com. Either one of them will be coming from Hong Kong.

These triggers DO NOT DO e-TTL.

If you have to have e-TTL, you've only got two choices at present: RadioPopper PXs ($500 for a set, and you will still have to have a master unit on the hotshoe, as the PXs merely bridge the IR signals over radio), or the PocketWizard TTL units ($400 for a set, no on-hotshoe master required, but ratios/levels settings not possible without one).

There's a rumor that yongnuo is working on e-TTL capable triggers, but the chances are very good that they will only work as a sort of radio-based eTTL sync cable. So, high-speed sync, and automatic power-setting to the flash, but no remote commanding capabilities, as there will be no master unit to sent the "orders". And right now, it's just vaporware. The only other "cheap" eBay eTTL triggers that were seen were being auctioned on eBay at around $140 per set, and apparently only had about a 40% successful fire rate, so nobody's taking them seriously. But same kind of faking-a-cable function.

[stflood]

ok thanks,

what exactly are the benefits and drawbacks of having and not having the ettl? i kind of understand but i have no experience using flash so could you put it in your own words?

Thanks
Steve

[inkista]

Shooting with the flash in Manual mode vs. eTTL is analogous to shooting in Manual vs. Av mode on the camera. There's no real functional difference: everything you can do in the automatic mode you can do in the manual mode. The basic trade-off is one of precise control and consistency over speed.

eTTL, as a term, is used to mean three different things that can be loosely lumped under the heading of "extra fancy flash features" . In order of what's most commonly meant to least commonly:

1) Automatically setting the flash power based on through-the-lens (TTL) metering. The flash sends out a flash burst of a predetermined brightness, the camera meters the "preflash" burst and then sets the flash power to what it deems the appropriate level for exposure, and then takes the picture with the automatically set power burst. You typically don't see the flash bursts individually, it happens so fast.

The basic drawbacks of using eTTL to set the power are that it's based on metering, so it can shift between frames, it can be thrown off the way all metering can be thrown off, and you have less control. You do have FEC (flash exposure compensation), that's similar to regular exposure compensation, but it's not the same as explicitly setting the flash to be at 1/8 or 1/32 power.

2) The infrared/light-based proprietary signaling system that Canon uses to wirelessly communicate between flashes. This is the one that requires the master unit on the hotshoe, but will give you the auto-power-based-on-metering.

I think I already covered the drawbacks to this, but essentially range, reliability, and line-of-sight are the main weaknesses of any infrared-light-based signaling system. For use outdoors, blocked visibility, or larger range, you want radio triggers.

3) The additional features that you can get with the flash on the hotshoe or using the Canon light-based system: high-speed sync, stroboscopic mode, remote power-level setting.

Of all these extra features, the two most off-camera lighting geeks lust for are the high-speed sync (i.e., being able to use a shutter speed higher than your max. sync speed. This is a physical limitation of the camera body--you can look it up in the specs. For most camera bodies, it's around 1/200s or 1/250s), and remote commanding. Because when your flash is 100' away and hung up over a basketball court, it's kind of a pain to get to it to adjust the power level.

So, yeah, eTTL has some good features, but the main drawback is that it's very expensive to do wirelessly (and wasn't even possible wirelessly until a couple of years ago when Radiopopper hit the scene) and most eTTL-capable sync cords just aren't long enough for proper off-camera work--they're usually designed for attaching the flash to a bracket, so you may have to hack your own cable.