Will Canon RC-6 wireless shutter release work with Canon transmitter ST-E3-RT on camera?

[geh9345]

I'm trying to find out if the Canon wireless RC-6 shutter release will work with a Canon ST-E3-RT mounted on camera.

The ST-E3=RT works fine on camera, but I prefer not to buy the RE-6 without knowing it will work.

Appreciate any input.

Jerry

[RobertTheFat]

There's no obvious reason why it shouldn't; the two devices serve entirely different purposes and use different communication methods. The RC-6 is an IR trigger that fires the shutter, wille the ST-ET-R3 is an RF trigger that enables the camera to remotely fire an off-camera flash. It's unlikely that the latter has any way of knowing that the former was used.

One caution, though: not all Canon DSLRs have an IR receiver. The 50D, for example, doesn't, which is why it doesn't appear on the RC-6's compatibility list.

[geh9345 · Accepted solution]

Bob,

Thanks for the reply.  If I remember correctly, for IR, the remote would have to be used in front of the camera, opposed to

radio freq.

Thanks again,

Jerry

[TCampbell]

This is really two different things.

The RC-6 will wireless tell the camera to take a shot.  The IR receiver for that is on the front of your camera (usually you'll see a spot either in the grip or adjacent to it.  The camera must be in a mode which allows IR triggering (if you check the "drive" settings you'll notice some drive settings show a tiny icon for the remote -- those modes support being triggered via the IR wireless remote and the other modes will ignore the IR remote.)

Once the camera is going to fire... the camera itself commuicates with the ST-E3-RT via the hot-shoe (the IR remote is out of the equation at this point) and the ST-E3-RT will communicate with off-camera flashes (provided they are "RT" flashes such as the 600EX-RT or the 430EX III-RT -- no other flash will work.)

[RobertTheFat]

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@TCampbell wrote:

This is really two different things.

The RC-6 will wireless tell the camera to take a shot.  The IR receiver for that is on the front of your camera (usually you'll see a spot either in the grip or adjacent to it.  ...  

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... so that your hand will cover it up, thereby preventing it from being triggered by a spurious IR source. You don't need or want it to work unless the camera is on a tripod.