topic Re: Canon 70D remote flash trigger in Speedlite Flashes

Canon 70D remote flash trigger

tamernagy — Thu, 07 Nov 2013 16:27:47 GMT

Which Canon speed light will work off camera and be triggered by the in camera remote flash trigger feature ??

Re: Canon 70D remote flash trigger

Skirball — Thu, 07 Nov 2013 17:31:18 GMT

270II, 320, 430II, 580II, and 600. I'd think the 430 and 580 mark I would too, but I'm not sure.

Re: Canon 70D remote flash trigger

tamernagy — Thu, 07 Nov 2013 17:39:22 GMT

I mean without using the native flash as a trigger. The Canon 70D has a built in wireless remote trigger. Are you sure all these models will work wirelessly with the 70D ??

Re: Canon 70D remote flash trigger

Skirball — Thu, 07 Nov 2013 18:00:14 GMT

No, no camera on the market does that yet (but there's no reason why not, ahem Canon). You need a unit in the hotshoe, like the ST-E3, a Canon flash, or a third party trigger to do that.

Re: Canon 70D remote flash trigger

TCampbell — Sat, 09 Nov 2013 02:37:10 GMT

The native (built-in) flash IS the trigger. This is an optical trigger and requires line-of-sight to the off-camera flash.

The 430EX II can be a "slave" (remotely triggered flash) but cannot be a master. The 580EX II can be a master or a slave. The 600EX-RT can also be a master or a slave (and can do optical or radio but radio requires a radio trigger -- Canon sells a dedicated ST-E3-RT radio trigger or another 600EX-RT flash can be used as a master/trigger.

The built-in flash uses pulses of light (visible light) to communicate with the slaves and send instructions. It's not infra-red nor radio. But receiver in the slave flashes is on the lower body (not up in the flash head). The front of the lower body has a red-tinted panel which resemlbes what you'd see on an IR remote control -- leading people to presume that it's IR. It is actually visible light -- not IR.

If the remote light doesn't fire when the on-camera flash fires then the lower unit may not have a good light of sight. Keep in mind the 430EX II, 580EX II, and 600EX-RT all have a flash head which can tilt AND rotate left-right. This means you can rotate the lower body of the flash so that it points at your camera but still rotate the head so that it points at your subject.

Re: Canon 70D remote flash trigger

Digimik — Mon, 06 Jan 2014 19:50:25 GMT

Ahh...I think I understand now. I have a Yongnuo Speedlite YN560-III which I believe is similar and I've gotten it to work being connected to the shoe and also being triggered by the 70D's builtin flash but I've trying to figure out (and reading a lot online) about getting the Speedlite to fire remotely WITHOUT the 70D's builtin flash being fired. I don't understand what the point of an external flash being fired by the camera's builtin flash because for me, the whole point of an external flash is so the builtin flash DOES NOT fire as that sort of lighting doesn't look good. I like the bounced flash from the external. But maybe I'm missing a benefit of having the builti flash fire AND the external flash fire? I just don't like the internal flash look at all.

In trying to make the the external flash fire remotely without the internal flash being fired is an assumption on my part that since the 70D is sending wifi data (if enabled) and also IR signal, it would fire the Speedlite. But apparently, it seems I STILL need some sort of trigger to be placed on the shoe or at least, a cable??

Lastly, the 70D has quite a flash menu in C mode. But that didn't seem to do anything.

Thanks for all your help people. The 70D is quite a tool. But it's quite deep too! 🙂

Re: Canon 70D remote flash trigger

MikeSowsun — Sun, 12 Jan 2014 14:35:45 GMT

The Yongnuo YN-560-III is a manual flash and it is not compatible with the Canon's own wireless flash system, but it can still be used for wireless flash in a more basic form.

The yn-560 is also not compatible with the built-in flash menu in your camera when it is in the camera hotshoe.

The yn-560 III CAN do radio wireless flash (RX mode), but only with the Yongnuo RF-602 or RF-603 wireless triggers.

The YN560 can do slave flash with your camera, but it is a very basic form of slave flash where it will respond when it sees a bright flash of light from your camera's flash or any other flash it sees.

In order to use the YN-560 with your Canon camera you must set the camera's on-board flash to normal ETTL flash or normal Manual flash. (Make sure your camera flash is not set to wireless because the addition optical wireless "Flash Commands" will just confuse the YN-560 and it will not sync properly)

The YN-560 does have two settings for optical slave flash:

"S 1" is used when you have your camera's flash set to manual mode. The YN-560 will then sync at the speed of light to match the flash from your camera.

"S2" is used if you have your camera's flash set to ETTL. The YN-560 will ignore the first ETTL preflash and then fire when it sees the main flash from your camera.

To avoid seeing the flash from your camera in your photos, adjust your camera's flash to a low power setting or use a piece of white cardboard to deflect to camera flash away from your subject.

Re: Canon 70D remote flash trigger

arlin411 — Wed, 15 Jan 2014 00:27:04 GMT

Years ago I had a similar need. I put a red filter (don't remember the number) over the camera's flash. It would still trigger the remote but would not affect the image.

The problem was that this was at a dance recital where all the moms came with their little point & shoot cameras. Every time they took a (flash) picture, it triggered my remotes. 😞 Radio would have been nice.

-Arlin

Re: Canon 70D remote flash trigger

Digimik — Wed, 15 Jan 2014 00:35:01 GMT

MikeSowsun: What an amazingly generous reply. So helpful. Thanks for the time you took to give me this insight. I appreciate your experiences and how they've now taught me. Many Blessings...Michael

Re: Canon 70D remote flash trigger

Digimik — Wed, 15 Jan 2014 00:36:51 GMT

Ha! Yeah...funny story in how the point-n-shoots triggered your camera. I just got the RF-603C. And I'm sure all will be well now that I understand how all this flash stuff works...or rather...is triggered.

Re: Canon 70D remote flash trigger

diverhank — Fri, 17 Jan 2014 18:27:15 GMT

@Digimik wrote:
I don't understand what the point of an external flash being fired by the camera's builtin flash because for me, the whole point of an external flash is so the builtin flash DOES NOT fire as that sort of lighting doesn't look good.

In trying to make the the external flash fire remotely without the internal flash being fired is an assumption on my part that since the 70D is sending wifi data (if enabled) and also IR signal, it would fire the Speedlite. But apparently, it seems I STILL need some sort of trigger to be placed on the shoe or at least, a cable??

Digimik, I'm pretty sure that the built-in flash output when used as a trigger is not used in the exposure - the camera shutter opens after the initial burst. I read that somewhere but don't remember to reference it here.

If you dislike the built-in flash, you can buy a Canon ST-E2 controller which is mounted on the camera flash shoe. I use one because my 5DMkiii doesn't have the flash trigger :), well it doesn't even have a built-in flash :).

Re: Canon 70D remote flash trigger

TCampbell — Fri, 17 Jan 2014 19:00:35 GMT

Correct, you can disable the use of the on-board flash for purposes of "exposure".

You WILL STILL NOTICE that the flash fires. But keep in mind how E-TTL works.... the flash actually does a lot of pulsing in a very brief moment in time such that it "seems" like it just flashed once, but in reality it flashed several times.

The E-TTL system does some pre-flashing to test flash power for the exposure and also an onboard flash used as a commander will flash signals to remote flashes in order to tell them when to fire and how much power to use.

A fraction of a second later, when the camera shutter opens, only the remote flashes will fire and the onboard flash will remain off.

To a human observer, it will seem as though all flashes fired pretty much at the same time. But when you check the image captured by the camera, you'll see that only the remote flashes fired when the shutter was open.

I hope this clears up the confusion about seeing the on-board flash.

Keep in mind that this is an "optical" system, requires line of sight, and that the remote flashes all tend to have their receiving unit in the lower half of the flash body (not up in the head.) That means if you are outside using flash during daytime, you may need to turn the lower body to face your 70D (and since the flash head can tilt and swivel, just point the head in the direction where you need it.)

As Diverhawk points out, the ST-E2 uses a red emitter to do the optical communication and not the white-light flash.

The ST-E3-RT commander uses radio, but requires a radio capable flash (currently only the 600EX-RT has radio capability... btw, the 600EX-RT also has optical capability as well... so it covers both the optical and radio world (but can only operate in one mode at a time.)

Re: Canon 70D remote flash trigger

MikeSowsun — Fri, 17 Jan 2014 19:38:46 GMT

When using the 70D's built-in flash to trigger a Slave Flash, part of the "Command" flash WILL be visible when the shutter is open. This happens even if you disable the flash from firing in the Wireless menu. Normally you won't see it but it can be a problem in certain circumstances.

I first noticed this when using my 7D for Macro photography. I could see some flash highlights from the built-in flash even with it set to disable. This is easily confirmed by taking a photo in a mirror.

The easy fix for this is to use some kind of a diffuser or bounce card to direct the flash away from your subject and towards the Slave flash.

I found I could just hold my hand up in front of the pop-up flash to block the light, and it would still trigger the Slave flash.

Canon 70D manual

Re: Canon 70D remote flash trigger

StephenM — Wed, 02 Jul 2014 18:24:15 GMT

My sincere THANK YOU to all who contributed to this thread. This one thread answered questions that I could not find anywhere else. I can now proceed with getting a flash unit and not feel like I'm going in completely ignorant. You folks are GREAT!

Re: Canon 70D remote flash trigger

Rockwell18 — Mon, 22 Sep 2014 16:17:26 GMT

Hello folks, I just found this forum and find it pretty interesting.

I do have another question reguarding the 70D and flash (go figure), anyway, with the purchase of this new camera, I received a pamphlet called Canon Flash Classroom and in there (pg 😎 it talks about using a flash to remotely trigger the camera. They specifically show the Speedlite 270EX II firing the camera, diagram and everything.

Anyone know about this or has ever done it? Can other Speedlites do this?

Thanks,

Rockwell18

Re: Canon 70D remote flash trigger

Skirball — Tue, 23 Sep 2014 14:41:18 GMT

It makes sense that it's possible, and it's always nice to have options for when you're in a pinch. But that said, I've never tried it, there are too many other options these days with WiFi control from your phone/tablet, IR blasters from your phone, RF triggers, and good old IR remotes.

I'm assuming that it just looks for the first pulse of a flash, no complicated patterns or anythign. So any flash should work if you just push the "test" button.

Re: Canon 70D remote flash trigger

Phoposterous — Mon, 22 Dec 2014 03:52:45 GMT

Strangely, the 280exII does have a remote trigger built in.

As far as I know, none of the other Canon flash units have this feature. It is located approximately where the rotate-release button is located on the 400-500-600 series flashes, which can be confusing at first.

It only works in delay drive mode - probably only in two second delay drive mode, but it might vary on different models.

This is the weird thing - you have to point it at the camera was you would the RC6 remote, THEN point it back at the subject to use as a flash two seconds later.

Who dreamed that up? A flash unit you can take off the camera and use as a remote.

Operationally, it makes sense. It's a line-of-sight remote. But from a user perspective, how often do you need a hand-held flash while you are working from the front of the camera, and then only need a remote trigger that fires the camera two seconds later?

Re: Canon 70D remote flash trigger

Skirball — Mon, 22 Dec 2014 22:23:42 GMT

@Phoposterous wrote:

Operationally, it makes sense. It's a line-of-sight remote. But from a user perspective, how often do you need a hand-held flash while you are working from the front of the camera, and then only need a remote trigger that fires the camera two seconds later?

No idea. I do frequently walk around holding a flash and shooting remotely (light painting), but I don't maintain line of sight. Nor do I want to deal with flashing the camera then the scene. I use a RF trigger in one hand, and hold my flash (built in RF receiver on separate channel) in another.

Re: Canon 70D remote flash trigger

uekral — Sat, 21 Feb 2015 12:06:01 GMT

Very helpful. Thank you.

Re: Canon 70D remote flash trigger

TGR10 — Sat, 15 Apr 2017 06:01:46 GMT

Hey Mike,

I did everything to said on your post. I have the YN-560-III and the ANd the Yongnuo RF-603 wireless triggers. I disable the flash wireless in my camara and still I have not be able to use the flash.

What else I can do?

Thank you.