ste10 transmitter and el-5 speedlite syncing issue on r6 mark ii

[cwagzphoto]

Hello everyone.  I have the items listed in my subject line, and I am having an issue getting things to communicate properly.  I have the transmitter and the speedlite "linked" with the green lights showing on both, and I can take a photo with the r6 mark ii with the transmitter mounted and the speedlite off-camera, and the speedlite will fire a flash properly and timely.  The problem is that when I press the menu button on the transmitter and it pulls up the camera flash menu, any changes I make on the camera menu do not transfer over to the off-camera flash unit.  The speedlite will show completely different settings than the camera.  The only thing that appears to be synced/linked is the connection to make the flash fire.  I cannot make any remote changes to the speedlite from the camera menu.  I can go in the speedlite and make changes, but again, they don't reflect over to the camera.  Any thoughts???  Thanks for the help!

[rs-eos]

There will be some things that you must go to the flash in order to set.  But it sounds like nothing is working for you.  You should at least be able to make manual power adjustments (if in manual) or flash exposure compensation changes if in E-TTL.

If you haven't tried manual mode yet, maybe try that out and see if changes made at the trigger make it to the flash.  Trying to rule out if this issue may be specific to a particular mode of the flash.

[cwagzphoto]

Thanks for the reply.  I’ve tried it on auto and manual modes for the speedlite, and also several different modes such as M, P, and Auto on the r6 mark ii with no luck.  With the transmitter mounted on the camera, I can get the off-camera flash to fire with shutter activation, but none of the exposure compensation, zoom, or exposure bracketing settings will change simultaneously on the speedlite when I change them on the camera body.  Really frustrating

[p4pictures]

When you make a change on the transmitter it does not instantly reflect the change on the Speedlite. This is the same for all of the Canon Speedlites and transmitters using radio or optical wireless transmission.

Say your EL-5 is set to E-TTL, and from the R6 MkII you change the settings of the ST-E10 to manual mode with 1/4 power. The only time this change is seen is when you take a photo as there is not test button on the ST-E10, so the changes are only sent to the flash just before it fires.

It is the same with the ST-E3-RT and the EL-5 or 600EX-RT/430EX III-RT/EL-1. However the ST-E3-RT has a test button to test fire the remote Speedlites. When the test button is pressed the settings on the transmitter are transferred to the remote Speedlites as well as if you just take a photo.

In comparison some other independent / third party units reflect the changes of the transmitter in real time on the remote Speedlites, my Godox kit does.

[cwagzphoto]

Thanks for the reply Brian.  Referring back to your 2nd paragraph - if I were to make a change in my camera menu for something, and then take a picture, it sounds like those in-camera changes should be reflected in the picture taken, but nothing changes.  I can get the flash to fire, and it takes a pic per the setting showing on the flash menu panel.  Nothing changes for any subsequent pics taken from the camera with different changes made to test it.  All pics come out exactly per what the flash shows for settings.  I feel like when I first hooked the remote up, and synced it with the flash that everything worked perfectly and communicated changes promptly, but it feels like I made some setting change in the camera that isn't allowing them to communicate anything above and beyond the command to fire when the shutter is activated.

[p4pictures]

I suggest that you try a significant change. So if you were shooting in E-TTL, then switch to manual flash and set the power to 1/512 or 1/1. This should result in the EL-5 switching to M mode and visible on the display plus you will also see the power level is set. In the photos the shot with 1/512 power should have almost no visible flash, and the 1/1 shot should be overexposed with the flash. Then you know for sure that the settings are transferring. If only make small changes then you might not spot them in the images.

[pmsakamoto]

Hi, In a separate thread about the 600ex and other Canon radio linked flashes, I tested out the exact same set you have and found the the radio link is NOT reliable, depending on surrounding interference sources, longer than about 3-5 minutes. That said, I did have control over all functions during the 3-5 minutes before it all failed completely to link or sync. I did find earlier that the R6 mkII did NOT work with remote radio trigger until I upgraded the firmware to the latest version on the R6 mkII. If you have not already upgraded to the latest FW on the R6, you'll have a ton of issues with the remote. This is aggravating because Canon did not post remote flash as a problem or an issue of any kind. In fact, the STE 10/ EL5 setup is supposed to be the one that works with the R6 II unconditionally. I tell you it won't until you do the upgrade. I'm pretty sure this will cure the issues you are seeing. Then, you'll be able to run it long enough to see the sync link die, which is what I was seeing after I got it to work at all. 

You may be lucky enough to avoid the interference problem if you are in a location that has minimal or no 2.4GHz wifi signal. These days, most places do have such interference due to the fact that almost all wifi cameras, alarms, and other home automation systems use that band. If you are lucky enough to primarily shoot in an area that does not have the problem, just know you WILL have the issue when you shoot somewhere else. The bandaid at that point is to power cycle flash and camera. You'll be good for a few more minutes and then you'll have to do it again.

But, that is getting ahead of things until after you get the FW upgrade done. 

Good luck!