Second Curtain Flash 5D MK IV - What's Needed

[rtgphoto77]

I have a Canon 5d MK IV camera and I want to shoot with a second curtain flash with studio strobes. The camera doesn't have that ability on it's own, but I read somewhere that a couple flash triggers/receivers (Godox and Yongnuo among them) would allow me to do that. My triggers are 10 year old Pocket Wizards. I went to a local camera store to look at those units and they told me not only would I need new transmitters and receivers, but I would need to get different studio lights because my current lights, 8 year old Alien Bees, don't have 2nd curtain flash capability, either. That got me more confused because I figured the transmitter/receiver controlled the firing of the flash regardless of which light they would be firing.  

Can anyone shed some light on this please? 

Thank-you.

[Mark35mmF2]

Hi there,

It would be hard to say without knowing how the specific transmitter and receiver work, some of these units will only receive the firing signal from the camera and no information about the exposure time and closing of the shutter would be transmitted. In this case it might be best to ask Godox or Yongnuo directly. 

[rtgphoto77]

Thanks. I did talk to Godex and they told me I'm out of luck - their units won't do it and probably none will with the equip. I have.

[ebiggs1]

I, too, am in the ancient world of studio strobe photography but I would be shocked if Alien Bee's did not work. Call their CS and ask the same question. This isn't really a Canon issue. It is a strobe and trigger problem. Like Mark said I doubt you will get any exposure info returned but that's no biggie.

[rtgphoto77]

Thanks. I didn't think of talking to Paul Bluff, but I will. Other cameras do have settings for 2nd curtain flash triggering that Canon's 5D MK IV doesn't. As tempted as I am, I really didn't want to spend $3800 for the R5 and possibly a couple grand for a new strobe just to allow me to shoot with 2nd curtain flash a couple times a year 🙂 I still don't understand why my old strobes wouldn't work....if the camera/trigger combo tells it when to flash, why wouldn't it? Maybe I just need to rent the equip. I need on the rare occasions I'd use it. I like my MK IV.... 🙂