430EXii and the 1Dx

[Stoneysnapper]

Can anyone from Canon offer an opinion or reason as to why the 1Dx does not have the capability to communicate wirelessly with the 430EXII? It seems strange that my 2 year old 7D can do it but yet the 1Dx cannot. Was this to force customers with this flash towards the 600EX-RT? I'm guessing that this has been a deliberate action by Canon, i.e. to make them incompatible for wireless communication. When I tried to hook them up I was baffled that the settings would not register the flash, turn on the 7D and there it is.

Strange decision Canon but an explanation would be appreciated.

[jfo]

Maybe I'm missing something, but the 7D uses its built-in flash to wirelessly act as a master flash to any compatible Speedlites, while the 1Dx doesn't have a built-in flash to do this regardless of Speedlite.  

[Stoneysnapper]

JFO, you are correct, my error, I'd forgotten you need to have the pop up enabled. 

[jfo]

Ah, gotcha.  I was a bit baffled, because for some of Nikon's pro bodies, I think they still have a pop-up flash, and I wasn't quite sure if that was the same for the 1D series since I haven't worked with them firsthand.  

If I remember correctly, the 7D and T3i's pop-up flashes can do wireless control, so I'd assume the T4i does also.  Not sure about the 60D, though. For the "pros", I think Canon is pushing for their new ST-E3-RT transmitter and 600EX-RT's -- great for someone with the $$ starting out or to sell their existing gear to upgrade, but I don't think Pocket Wizard / RadioPopper, etc are going out of business anytime soon. 

[p4pictures]

Currently the T3i (600D), T4i (650D), EOS 60D and EOS 7D all can use their pop-up flash to contol other speedlites using the pulsed light communication. 

There are some differences though.

T3i / T4i / 60D - control at most 2 groups of flash, Speedlite groups A and B

7D - control 3 groups of flashes Speedlite groups A, B & C.

None of the built-in flashes can force the slaves to high speed sync mode.

To be honest I think Canon missed a trick by not building an ST-E3-RT type transmitter inside the EOS-1D X, though maybe getting radio signals through the metal body was the issue.