Help - Canon EOS utility and remote shooting with studio flash

[lucpla]

Hi, I have a Canon 5D MarkIII, and some White Lightning studio flashes. I want to operate the camera in manual mode (to be able to set a given shutter speed and aperture). I am trying to use the Canon EOS utility to remotely control the camera using Live View. Flash is connected to the PC terminal on the camera. Problem is that the flash doesn't get triggered. I also tried a hot shoe adapter with PC terminal and inserted in the hot shoe on the camera, but flash still doesn't get triggered. Any ideas how to make this work? Thanks in advance.

[Waddizzle]

"Hi, I have a Canon 5D MarkIII, and some White Lightning studio flashes."

First and foremost let's taking remoting shooting completely out of picture. 

Let's start off without the remote.  Does it work properly when you do everything directly from the camera?

[lucpla]

Yes, everything working fine when operating from the camera.

[Waddizzle]

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@lucpla wrote:

Yes, everything working fine when operating from the camera.

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I'm not sure what you mean.  Are saying that the flashes work fine on the camera, with no remote shooting?

Or, are you saying that remote shooting works fine when it is just the camera, without the studio flash rig?

[lucpla]

Here's what I mean:

- when not using the EOS utility, and connecting the flash lights to the PC terminal on the camera, everything works fine

- I can tether the camera to the laptop, and connect the flash lights to the PC terminal on the camera. As long as I don't use the "Live View"  option in the EOS Utility software, I can fire the camera from the laptop and the flash lights will be triggered. The moment I use the "Live View" option (and with the same camera/laptop/flash setup), I still can fire the camera from the EOS utility, but the flash lights are not triggered anymore, and I can't fire from the camera itself.

[Waddizzle]

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@lucpla wrote:

Here's what I mean:

- when not using the EOS utility, and connecting the flash lights to the PC terminal on the camera, everything works fine

- I can tether the camera to the laptop, and connect the flash lights to the PC terminal on the camera. As long as I don't use the "Live View"  option in the EOS Utility software, I can fire the camera from the laptop and the flash lights will be triggered. The moment I use the "Live View" option (and with the same camera/laptop/flash setup), I still can fire the camera from the EOS utility, but the flash lights are not triggered anymore, and I can't fire from the camera itself.

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Something doesn't sound quite right.  Doesn't the EOS Utility give you an image without you having to do anything?  I know that I can connect my 6D to my Windows 7/8/10 laptops and view the shots without having to do anything.  You use the Remote Shooting option, and an image appears on the monitor.  I get the same behavior when I connect wirelessly to an iPad through my wireless access point.  You get a nice large image of what the camera is seeing.

What computer are you running.

[EDIT]. I am not sure if the metering system for the flash works in Live View mode.  Live View uses a completely separate metering system from that in the viewfinder.

[lucpla]

Yes, I get the images on the laptop after I shoot them and can view them. I can even use the focusing through live view. The problem I am describing is that, when using live view, the external flash doesn't get triggered, so the images captured are useless because I use my camera in manual mode with settings predermined by my measurements with a light meter. Again, this is not a Canon flash, I am using standalone studio flashes.

[Waddizzle]

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@lucpla wrote:

Yes, I get the images on the laptop after I shoot them and can view them. I can even use the focusing through live view. The problem I am describing is that, when using live view, the external flash doesn't get triggered, so the images captured are useless because I use my camera in manual mode with settings predermined by my measurements with a light meter. Again, this is not a Canon flash, I am using standalone studio flashes.

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Turn on Live View, and focus the shot.  Switch lens to MF.  Turn off Live View, and take the picture. 

[lucpla]

Yes, that's how I ended up doing it. But I still wonder why the flash lights don't get triggered in Live View.

[lucpla]

Here's the reply from Canon support. Followed their advice and now working fine 🙂

"Please check the 4th red "camera" tab in the menu system, and make sure that "Silent LV shoot" is set to "Disable".  If the camera is set up for silent Live View mode shooting, then a flash connected to the PC terminal will not fire when using Live View, including using the Live View window in EOS Utility. "

Thanks for your help.

Luc