600ex ii as on-camera master

[coachboz68]

I have been a canon user for ~12 years, but almost exclusively sports.  when not sports, natural light only.   Now interested in venturing into off-camera flash photography.  My first quesiton is basic and painfully newbie.  

If I use the 600ex ii as an on-camera master in optical transmission mode to fire my 580ex ii, can I have it such that the 600 itself does not fire, but only triggers the off-camera 580?  Or does the on-camera always HAVE to fire even if acting as a master?  

In addition, one may naturally ask why spend all that money on a 600 when I can just get an transmitter for the 580 off camera.  Well, I'm just learning this stuff, but I have two daughters who are doing photography who will inherit my 580 and I don't see them doing off-camera for a good while, so I may as well get the 600 now and play with off-camera before giving the 580 to them.  Then I'll get a transmitter for the 600.  Body is a 1DX II. 

Thanks!  

Billy 

[kvbarkley · Accepted solution]

No, you can choose to have the master fire to help the exposure or not, or any level in beteeen.

[coachboz68]

Thank you! 

Also, if anyone has good resources on speedlite off-camera usage for newbies, would appreciate the references. 

thanks! 

[kvbarkley]

The best resource is Syl Arena's Speedliter's handbook, but sadly it is out of print. Only e-reader and used versions are reasonably priced.