lighting kit help

[k9mom]

The Canon 550EX and 580EX flashes can also be used as masters for your 430EX II, though they are still pricey, even used ones. A used 550EX on ebay will cost you upwards of $200.

A super cheap alternative: You could use the Wein Peanut Optical Slave (approx. $20) either on your 430EX II (using the on-camera flash to trigger the optical slave), or buy a second, less expensive flash on ebay to serve as an optical slave to your 430EX II, via either using the Wein Peanut or with a flash that has optical slave built in, like the Nikon SB-26 (available on ebay for around $100, depending on the bidding). The Wein optical Peanut is rated at 100'. However, if you are shooting primarily outdoors, the range could vary significantly and you might do better going with a radio remote system instead of an optically-triggered system.

But you really want to get your flash OFF your camera for best results, so it'd be advised not to use the 430EX II on camera or the camera's onboard flash to optically trigger a second flash. A relatively inexpensive solution would be to get a radio remote trigger system, as others have already suggested. Again, to keep costs down, you could just go with a one transmitter, one receiver system--use the radio receiver on your 430EX II...then use the optical trigger (the Wein Peanut) on a manually controlled, inexpensive second flash unit, assuming you are shooting primarily indoors. RadioPopper offers a basic JrX package (1 tx, 1 rcvr) for as low as $119.95 and Alien Bees has the Cybersync combo (1tx, 1 rcvr) starting at $130.00 (for one tx and one AC-powered receiver; tack on $20 extra for a battery-powered receiver). Both the Cybersyncs and the RadioPoppers, based on my research, are highly reliable and sturdy inexpensive alternatives to the the hella pricey Pocket Wizards. You can go even cheaper with the made-in-China ebay triggers, but I've seen very mixed reviews on their performance and reliability. And customer service seems to be a bit of a nightmare since you're dealing with a Hong Kong-based vendor. But if you're just looking to explore without much investment, they might be a good starting point. As you're already aware, the 430EX II has no PC sync port (shame on you, Canon!). So you will need to get ta PC-to-hot shoe adapter -- one expressly compatible with Canon Speedlites, such as THIS ONE.

Disclaimer: I am new to this strobist stuff and am still in the research phase of my journey -- trying, like yourself, to parse out the least expensive yet most reliable system for my indoor/portable studio needs. Those with more experience and first-hand knowledge, feel free to correct me if necessary.

[jcph]

thank you so much for all the advice. I bought the set that you guys gave me. Ill let you know how it goes. thanks!

[bhursey]

Originally Posted by jcph

thank you so much for all the advice. I bought the set that you guys gave me. Ill let you know how it goes. thanks!

What kit did you buy?

[jcph]

the one u suggested =)

[bhursey]

Originally Posted by jcph

the one u suggested =)

Cool... have fun. I want to get that 45 inch umbrella from impact. Take a pic of the set up when you get it. Then go out start messing around and post your projects and results on.

Strobist: Show us how you took it?

[natek313]

Originally Posted by bhursey

Well with canon to be able to slave your 430ex II from my understanding you would need to have a 580 EX II to act as its master to trigger it remotely that is 450+$ just to do that. Canon does not have the nice setup nikon has in regards to being able to trigger your flash from the on camera flash.

I'd like to chime in here with a question if you don't mind.

This is exactly what I'd eventually like to do - get a 580EX II in addition to my 430EX II and use the 580 as the master. When I do get the 580, does that mean I can just use my CyberSync transmitter on the camera and the receiver on the 580 without having a receiver on the 430, since the 580 will trigger the the 430?

Am I understanding that properly?

[bhursey]

Originally Posted by natek313

I'd like to chime in here with a question if you don't mind.

This is exactly what I'd eventually like to do - get a 580EX II in addition to my 430EX II and use the 580 as the master. When I do get the 580, does that mean I can just use my CyberSync transmitter on the camera and the receiver on the 580 without having a receiver on the 430, since the 580 will trigger the the 430?

Am I understanding that properly?

For the 580 to act as a master I thought it had to be on camera or use canons transmitter that is insanely expensive. Maybe some one who does master slave with the 580 ex can chime in. I think TTL communication is a must.

[inkista]

Originally Posted by k9mom

A super cheap alternative: You could use the Wein Peanut Optical Slave (approx. $20) either on your 430EX II (using the on-camera flash to trigger the optical slave)...

This won't work. The Wein peanut (digital or non-digital) is problematic, even without throwing the "notoriously unfriendly to optical slaves" EXes into the mix. (I'd actually recommend going to flashzebra and going with their Sonia optical triggers which are known to work with Canon EX units). And you will need a hotshoe to PC adapter to use most optical slaves on the 430EXII. But the bigger problem is that aside from the Canon 7D, none of the pop-up flashes in Canon's dSLRs can turn off the eTTL preflash. (sigh). The preflash can prematurely trigger most optical slaves. And we don't have the option Nikon users do of putting their pop-ups into Manual mode. If you had another speedlight on the hotshoe you can put into manual mode, then you can use optical triggers. But with Canon, you're kind of screwed in this regard. (I mean, with dSLRs. My G9 doesn't do eTTL, and its built-in flash works fine with optical triggers).

I can, however, use an SB-26's optical slave with my camera's pop-up flash, because it can recycle fast enough to recover and fire again between the pre-flash and the actual flash, if I keep the power on it to 1/2 or lower.

Originally Posted by natek313

This is exactly what I'd eventually like to do - get a 580EX II in addition to my 430EX II and use the 580 as the master. When I do get the 580, does that mean I can just use my CyberSync transmitter on the camera and the receiver on the 580 without having a receiver on the 430, since the 580 will trigger the the 430?

There are problems with this as well. Apparently, you can choose Master mode or triggering via the PC port, you can't have both. I'd recommend doing some searching on the Flickr Strobist group discussions to see if someone's found a workaround. Iirc, as long as the receiver on the 580EX is connected to the hotshoe, you can do this. But I'm not sure that Cybersync receivers attach to the flash hotshoe. Mixing radio and eTTL/CLS signalling can be very tricky.

Originally Posted by bhursey

For the 580 to act as a master I thought it had to be on camera or use canons transmitter that is insanely expensive.

Actually, the ST-E2 is cheaper than a 430EXII. (~$200) But yes, it's much more expensive on the Canon side to use the Canon equivalent of Nikon's CLS because we have to have a speedlight on the the hotshoe--hopefully the 7D's popup flash signals a change to this. However, you don't have to get a 580EXII. The ST-E2, 550EX, and 580EX are also master units. The drawbacks to the ST-E2 are that you only have groups/ratios power control (i.e., you can tell the flashes in group A to be twice as bright as those in group B, but you can't specifically tell the A flashes to be at 1/4 power and those in B to be at 1/8 power), and you can only control two groups, not three, and it uses a 2CR5 battery, which means rechargeables aren't a likely option. Essentially, the ST-E2 has the same master capabilities as the 550EX. The 580EX can do A:B:C groups, but only ratios. The 580EXII was the first one to do power level settings remotely.

But this is why going full manual with radio triggers is cheaper: you don't need the on-camera master, since the transmitter on the hotshoe will act as master. You'll lose e-TTL and have to shoot in full manual, but you won't have the problems with line-of-sight or range that are inherent in a light-based signalling system.

You typically only need eTTL function for run'n'gun situations with event shooting when you get a single chance at the shot (no chimp & reshoot), or high-speed sync. If you have to have that function but with the range/reliability of radio, you can use the eTTL-capable PocketWizard units (where the transmitter can be used as your on-shoe master, but you won't have remote power control), or PocketWizard PXs, which will require the on-shoe master since those units simply bridge the light signals over radio.

jcph--you may want to watch it with the RF602s. Yong Nuo isn't exactly known for build quality and copy consistency on their flash, the YN460. I'm getting a set, because I primarily want them as a remote for my shutter, more than as a flash trigger, and it seems nice to have the dual usage. But I'm not counting on them being a better buy than the Cactus V4s. People have been pounding away at the RF602s for less than a year. The Cactus triggers are more of a known quantity because of all the experience folks have had with the V2 as well as the V4s.

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addendum: And then there are these.

[natek313]

Inkista, you're the best!

[jcph]

Okey I need help! I just got my gears last week and when I hooked up my Flash into the transmitter and started testing it the flash wont fire. I started fixing it by checking if everything was correct etc. then the flash started to fire then after one or two its stopped again. What I am doing wrong? Is this normal tho?

thanks!