Controlling off camera speedlite

[paddle_jim]

I shoot with a 7D and use the pop-up flash to control my speedlites.  Can anyone tell me what other Canon cameras also have this capability?

Thanks.

[TCampbell]

I saw a tutorial video by Syl Arena (author of The Speedliter's Handbook) who was doing a product video for Canon. He explained that people commonly have the misconception that it uses IR because the sensor is behind that red plastic commonly seen on IR remote controls. But he says it's actually using visible light. Up until that point, I also thought it was IR.

I have a number of Canon speedlites... not all participate in multi-flash setups, and some can only be slave or only master, and some can be both.

The 430EX II can only be an optical slave. The 580EX II (which was the flagship until it got replaced with the 600EX-RT) as well as the 600EX-RT itself can both be either optical master or optical slave. These are reliable even outdoors IF you remember that the receiver is in the lower part of the flash. e.g take advantage of the fact that the flash head swivels and it's possible to rotate the base so it faces the master flash or camera and rotate the head so it faces your subject (or reflecting surface).

The radio technology in the new 600EX-RT (and the ST-E3-RT master) is basically "the bees knees". I bought a pair of 600EX-RTs and I'm really impressed with that technology. It's not just that it's able to remotely trigger via radio... it offers fairly complete remote control of the off-camera lights without actually having to walk over to the off-camera lights to change their settings. You can even use the radio link to remotely fire another camera (using your primary camera) -- that was never possible before.

If the camera model was released in 2012 or later then the in-camera menu system can basically do full control of the radio system. If it's a model released in prior years then it will have the same control available in the optical system via the on-camera menus (you can still do everything... just not via the in-camera menu -- you have to operate the buttons on the master flash unit.)

[amfoto1]

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@TCampbell wrote:
I saw a tutorial video by Syl Arena (author of The Speedliter's Handbook) who was doing a product video for Canon. He explained that people commonly have the misconception that it uses IR because the sensor is behind that red plastic commonly seen on IR remote controls. But he says it's actually using visible light. Up until that point, I also thought it was IR.

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This is true... and it's why I try to refer to it as "near IR".

Still, it is much, much less intrusive and visible than the white light strobe communication used by the pop-up flash on cameras that have "built-in wireless flash control". I prefer to use an ST-E2 or flash master/slave combo instead, largely for that reason.

I'm still drooling over the RT flashes and module! Haven't made that upgrade yet. But I probably will.

***********
Alan Myers

San Jose, Calif., USA
"Walk softly and carry a big lens."
GEAR: 5DII, 7D(x2), 50D(x3), some other cameras, various lenses & accessories
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