Transmitter/receiver needed for Speedlite EL-100 and EOS 250D

[bbenbbird4217]

I have an eos 250d and a EL 100 Speedlite and I need to buy a transmitter/receiver for it. I have no clue what to buy so any help would be appreciated
to do off camera flash and triggering the camera remotely

[deebatman316]

Look into the Canon ST-E2 optical transmitter. 3rd Party transmitters WILL NOT WORK because this camera lacks the center pin on the hot shoe. Canon has 2 different off camera flash systems. Those are the older Optical Transmission (released in 1998). This needs line of sight to work so the off camera speedlites can fire off. The sender/ master speedlite or wireless transmitter sends out a modulated pre-flash to fire off camera speedlites. The newer Radio Transmission system (released in 2012). This system does not need line of sight to work. The newer system uses RF frequency to fire off the off camera speedlites. The EL-100 ONLY supports the older optical transmission system. Newer speedlites such as the EL-1 & 430EX III-RT support BOTH systems but ONLY 1 system can be used at a time NOT both.

[bbenbbird4217]

So just to make it clear, I would only need the el 100 and an ST E2, nothing else?

[deebatman316]

Yes but Canon has discontinued it. It can only be found used today. All settings must be changed on the transmitter itself. It was released before the in camera flash menu. So it's not compatible with it. The camera will say when trying to access the speedlite control menu. It will say "This menu Can Not be displayed, Device Power is Turned Off. This is normal it's not malfunctioning.

[bbenbbird4217]

• And what if I buy a Canon Speedlite 600EX-RT. Would I be able to use it with a Godox XR1 Receiver and X2T-C or Xpro transmitter?

[deebatman316 · Accepted solution]

The Godox transmitter is a 3rd Party item it WILL NOT WORK because your camera lacks the center pin on the hot shoe. The Canon 600EX-RT can be used as an Optical Sender or Receiver just like the EL-100 can. Canon's speedlites and transmitters don't require the center pin. ONLY 3rd Party gear requires. If you try to use a 3rd Party speedlite ONLY the E-TTL metering pre-flash will fire. The main flash WILL NOT FIRE at all. E-TTL consists of 2 flashes but it looks like 1. The flash will fire a weak flash before the exposure is made. The camera then takes that reading and compares it to no flash. That combo is what causes the camera to adjust the output of the flash. So you can ONLY use Canon gear there is NO way around this limitation. Other than replacing your camera with higher-end model that has the center contact. 

[kvbarkley]

If you are close enough, you can also get an off-camera extension cord.

[p4pictures]

You could get another EL-100. The EL-100 can function as an optical wireless sender or an optical wireless receiver. The unit on the camera would need to be setup as a sender and the remote as a receiver. You can choose if the sender unit on the camera also contributes to the exposure or not with the flash firing enable / disable setting. Even if you choose not to have the sender unit fire, it will still flash as optical wireless control is sent by a series of coded flashes of the sender flash tube. These control signal flashes occur just before the shutter curtains open.

Secondly, I have seen two variants of the EOS 250D, one with no central pin and one with a central pin. I believe that the central pin was not on the early models, but was added back in to later models due to customer feedback.

[deebatman316]

If flash firing is set to disable. None of the speedlites will fire off. What you want is to disable the sender speedlite from firing.

[p4pictures]

From the flash settings screen you can disable the sender unit from firing - this is the one I meant.

The sender unit will can be set to fire or just trigger receiver units

Agree though that if you disable the flash from firing it won't fire any remote units.

Any flash, sender or trigger on the hotshoe won't fire