Canon 580EX II flash on my 60D - how easy is it to do this...

[cyber3d]

With my 60D, is it easy to simply (in the middle of a shoot) just pop the 580EX II off the camera and hand hold it (wireless) as a fill, shoot and pop it back in and continue with it as the main flash?

If it can, I'll buy the flash. I need the versatility and speed of a quick fill light.

[inkista]

Not sure it'll be as easy as you're envisioning. Remember, that when used off-camera, the flash has to be in Slave mode, and you have to turn on the pop-up flash on the 60D to act as master. Switching back and forth between that, and having the speedlight on-camera as your main illumination source is going to require a bit of modal switching back and forth (i.e., to go back to the flash on-camera, you'd have to 1) close the pop-up flash, 2) switch the flash out of Slave mode [which is not a dedicated switch, but requires going into menus, 3) fasten the flash onto the hotshoe, 4) adjust the tilt/swivel the way you want it (as opposed to getting the sensor to face the master/pop-up), and THEN you can shoot.

If you really need speed, you're more likely to simply leave the flash on-camera all the time.

[oldwolf]

You can also get a flash bracket for your camera then attach the flash to it via some type of cord. You can then just pop the flash off the bracket and hold it in one hand while still retaining ETTL.

You wouldn't have to use the pop up as a master in this case but you would need to purchase a flash bracket and flash cord for it.

[cyber3d]

Thanks for the replies. I just came across a youtube video that answers some of my issue. The 60D (and 7D I believe) has wireless flash operations that allow the choice of remote only, remote and built-in (with matched flash exposure), or remote and built-in (with both remote and built-in different flash exposure settings.

Apparently, I can save my settings as a custom preset. So, with 2 button presses I can switch between hand held fill + built-in and shoe mounted flash. I think - boy I got a headache comin'

Anyone know if this is correct?

[inkista]

Remote/built-in is pretty much controlling whether or not you're going to count the pop-up flash as a light in the set-up. You can set the pop-up to contribute light to the scene, or just the signalling needed to pop off the remote light. This is not what you were describing as your scenario in the original post. If you're going to be putting a flash on the hotshoe, the pop-up flash has to be closed.

And that's just the camera and the pop-up. The steps I was talking about are on the flash.

[cyber3d]

Ohhh, OK, I see what you're talking about.
Thanks.