Canon's OCF abilities.

[PhotoWrangler]

What's easier to use:

-430EX's with Pocket Wizard Flex units and an AC3 controller
-Or a bunch of 600EX-RTs

I am used to using SB700's with the PW Flex units and controlling my power with the AC3 dials - its quick, easy, and no menus. However I just watched a few videos on youtube on the 600EX's, including Gary Fongs video, and they look a little user UN-friendly.

Has Canon's ETTL system caught up to Nikon's CLS system yet?

 

[TCampbell]

Has Canon's ETTL system caught up to Nikon's CLS system yet?

In response to your question... I didn't know what "CLS" system is (other than what it stands for). So I dug around a bit to see what I could learn about it. In doing so, I failed to find anything Nikon does that Canon doesn't also do and... Canon has been doing it for years. What's "new" with Canon is the radio system. The system is extremely easy to use and controls 15 flashes. There are some power-user features that are a bit more complex. For example, I can use one camera and flash to trigger another camera and flash (not just the remote flash... the remote camera too.)

To link remote Canon 600EX-RT flashes, you press only one button. That button cycles the flash through one of 5 modes: (1) stand-alone (the default), (2) radio master, (3) radio slave, (4) optical master, and (5) optical slave. Press it again and it returns back to #1.

So you'd press the button on the camera to set it as radio-master. The LCD backlight will glow green to tell you this is a "master". Press the same button on the slave to put it into radio slave mode. The LCD backlight on the slave will glow amber to tell you that this unit is now a "slave". ALSO... simultaneously both flashes will get a green LED "link" light (meaning they are communicating). The light can changes colors for problems too... for example, it'll go amber to tell you that more than one unit is claiming to be the master.

That's it. Just start shooting. You literally don't need to do anything on the slave once it's linked. You can control everything without having to touch it. The master completely controls the slave features (not just when it fires). While Canon cameras have had flash-control as an on-camera menu for years, they've recently improved the system, it's more full-featured and more intuitive. The speedlight controller (ST-E3-RT) has a button layout and LCD screen which exactly matches the 600EX-RT flash... so the control layout and menus are all familiar and you don't think of it as a different device to learn.

I had a 580EX II and 430EX II which I used as a master & slave pairing... but then got a pair of 600EX-RTs and really liked the simplicity and the power of the system.

If you were ONLY using basic E-TTL flash then you probably wouldn't think one system (Canon RT vs. PocketWizard Flex) is necessarily easier or harder than the other. When you start getting advanced (setting flash ratios, flash compensation, high-speed sync, remote triggering of cameras, etc. etc.) then that's where I think the Canon system will really shine over the PocketWizard system. Also... I have yet to have the remote fail to fire using the Canon system.

 

[Derrel]

My Canon Speedlite Wishlist | PixSylated | Syl Arena's Photography Blog on Light & Imagemaking

Not sure how many of these 17 flaws and omissions Canon has managed to fix in its flash system since Syl's article was published 2009. Considering that Canon has been re-using the same 18-MP sensor in five different crop-body cameras introduced since 2009, I doubt that they've done anything major with their flash system technology or limitations...

 

[Derrel]

By the way, you MIGHT like this article on mutliple Off Camera flashes with Canon...

has a lot of examples....more so than most web-based articles.

Multiple Flash With Canon EX Flashes

It also does not show you the former "Official Canon instruction manual" way to cross-light portraits using two flash units at equal angles from a person, introducing competing shadows and God-awful lighting "effects"...that was pretty funny, seeing that lame MWAC two-flash setup in Canon's official materials for several years. Pretty hilarious. When a camera maker shows a two-flash "portrait" setup with two lights at equal power and equidistant and calls one a fill and the other a main light...you know some newbie wrote the instructions alllll on his own! Chuck highlighted their blunder multiple times...I "hope" Canon finally removed that, and hired somebody who understands lighting to write their flash instructions for their official publications.

it boggles the mind that the big camera companies all have TERRIBLE manuals and guides for their products, and it takes small, one-man shops to actually do the work and explain the stuff capably.

 

[PhotoWrangler]

If you were ONLY using basic E-TTL flash then you probably wouldn't think one system (Canon RT vs. PocketWizard Flex) is necessarily easier or harder than the other. When you start getting advanced (setting flash ratios, flash compensation, high-speed sync, remote triggering of cameras, etc. etc.) then that's where I think the Canon system will really shine over the PocketWizard system. Also... I have yet to have the remote fail to fire using the Canon system.

For instance, with two SB700's set up on Flex TT5's -
With an AC3 controller on the top of my camera I can just spin the dial one way or the other. Increase up to three stops, decrease up to three stops in one movement for up to three groups, A/B/C.

From the video that I watched on the 600EX-RT's -
It seems like a multi step process. I.E. push the menu button, push the ratio button, select the group, spin the wheel, exit the menu... etc etc etc. Although you do get more groups, up to 5 I believe.

 

[cynicaster]

I had a 580EX II and 430EX II which I used as a master & slave pairing... but then got a pair of 600EX-RTs and really liked the simplicity and the power of the system.

If you were ONLY using basic E-TTL flash then you probably wouldn't think one system (Canon RT vs. PocketWizard Flex) is necessarily easier or harder than the other. When you start getting advanced (setting flash ratios, flash compensation, high-speed sync, remote triggering of cameras, etc. etc.) then that's where I think the Canon system will really shine over the PocketWizard system. Also... I have yet to have the remote fail to fire using the Canon system.

I've got a 580EXII, 430EXII, and a 430EX. I recently picked up a 4-pack of the Yongnuo E-TTL radio transceivers for about $170 shipped and I'm having an absolute blast playing around with OCF that is no longer hamstrung by line of sight requirements. For the first two flashes I'm able to manually and separately control them using the my T3i's menus (the 430EX does not support this and needs to be set manually on the flash itself).

I know there are "build quality" and "reliability" questions surrounding the Yongnuo triggers (I've not seen any yet, personally, and most here seem to echo my experience), but if we can just pretend for a moment that those factors are not on the table, is there anything else function-wise that the 600EX system would do for me? This isn't a smart-ass question; I'm genuinely curious, because damn those things are expensive!