Firing a Flash on Canon 6D without using the cold shoe

[cculpepper07]

Hi All,

I am a 6D using and was wondering if the mini HDMI, Mini USB, mic or remote trigger ports can trigger off a flash. The cold shoe on the 6d would have a cold shoe extender on it whereby I am looking for another way to fire the flash.

Look forward to any help.

[Tim]

Hello cculpepper07, 

The HDMI, USB, Mic., and Remote terminals are not able to be used to fire an off camera flash.  The hot shoe is the method that one would use to fire the flash on the EOS 6D. 

[MikeSowsun]

You can add a PC hot shoe adapter to your camera and then you can fire the flash unit using the PC connection and still have a cold shoe mounted on top.

[link removed per forum guidelines]

[cculpepper07]

HI Mike,

Appreciate your advise.

As it turns out, the 6D does not have a PC Sync outlet and this is my issue at the moment. The 6D only have:

- Mini HDMI (Out)

- Mini USB (Out)

- Remote Trigger (In)

- Mic (In)

I believe I am out of any options.

[RobertTheFat]

---

@cculpepper07 wrote:

HI Mike,

Appreciate your advise.

As it turns out, the 6D does not have a PC Sync outlet and this is my issue at the moment. The 6D only have:

- Mini HDMI (Out)

- Mini USB (Out)

- Remote Trigger (In)

- Mic (In)

I believe I am out of any options.

---

What you want is the reverse of the device Mike showed you, i.e. an adapter that adds a PC port while preserving the functionality of the hot shoe. As it happens, such a device is shown a bit lower on the B&H page to which Mike's link points.

EDIT:  Ahh, that's what I get for responding to a post without reading the rest of the thread. It looks as though Mike has already pointed you to some such devices.

[cculpepper07]

Hi Tim,

Thanks much for this advise.

Do you know of any product that is flat that will slip into the camera's hot shot and will transmit the fire signal to, maybe a PC Sync or a hot shoe, allowing the camera hot shoe to still mount an extention bar?

Below is a cold shoe Extension bar with two cold shoe mounts on it's top but I will have to put a wire or wireless trigger on the camera then mount the extension bar on top of it. Most Triggers are made of plastic and is not strong enough to hold a 16' extension bar and 2 Canon 600ex-rt flashes (at least I will not risk my 600's like that).

Do you have any suggestions other than mounting the flash on a separate tripod mount?

Look forward to your suggestions/ guidance/ advise.

[MikeSowsun]

You are not out of options.  Photographers are a resourceful bunch and I am sure there is a solution available for you.

This may be exactly what you need. [link removed per forum guidelines]

There are other PC adapters designed to ADD a PC connection to your 6D. 

You could also also use an ETTL cord with a built-in shoot through hot shoe.

Another option is a bracket system attached to the bottom of the camera which can free up the hot shoe. 

[cculpepper07]

Hi Mike,

Amazing!

Thanks you so much.

I think the bottom bracket with the flashes on either side of the camera looks like a great option right now. 

Am looking for a tripod mounting screw long enough to run through the bracket and lock in the camera. If you know of a link, please search, until then, I am searching now.

Thanks a million again.

[TCampbell]

The flash-shoe on the 6D is a “hot shoe” ... not a “cold shoe”.  A “cold shoe” has no electronics.  A “hot shoe” has electronics to fire the flash through the shoe.

You can use the “hot shoe” to trigger off-camera flashes.  You can cluster flashes (the Canon E-TTL system can fire up to 15 remote flashes simultaneously).  This has to be done either through the “hot shoe” socket or via the E-TTL optical or radio system (meaning one flash acts as a “master” to trigger the rest or you use a dedicated “master” device that isn’t a flash such as the ST-E2 or ST-E3-RT (the “-RT” system is radio and only works with radio-capable flashes.)