Frustrated with 580ex ii wireless

[Brys]

I have 3 580ex ii flashes, one master and two slave. I can only get the slaves to fire when I first turn on the master flash and hold the pilot button for the test firing. When I then attempt a pic with my 550D, neither slave responds. All units are on channel one. The slaves are programmed for slave and both show the blinking red dot. I tried every setting on my cameyand nothing made the slaves fire. My slaves are unobstructed and in a good field of view and only a few feet away. The master flash is set on ettl. Any ideas on how to help me?

 

[Big Mike]

Welcome to the forum.

You say the remote flashes are in the FOV of the master...but do you have the bodies turned to face the master as well?
Can you get it to work if you put the slave right in front of the master? If that doesn't work, you likely don't have it set right. If it does, then it's probably a line of site issue.

This certainly isn't a fool proof system...which is why radio triggers are so popular. But you should still be able to get it to work :scratch:

 

[2WheelPhoto]

+1

And you should be able to find great resources and directions for that on youtube if you search on your flash model number

 

[gsgary]

Get some cheap radio triggers

 

[pgriz]

How essential is ETTL to you? If what you're shooting is constantly changing in terms of the amount of light needed, then ETTL IS essential. On the other hand, if you're shooting a static or controlled scene, then radio triggers (and optionally a flash-meter) would do the trick, as GSGARY has already indicated..

Back to your question... The camera has little to do with it. The communication between the flashes happens in the pre-flash. The slave flashes need to see the preflash to know what ISO, f/stop the camera is set to (along with some other settings), and they then adjust their power accordingly. If the pre-flash signal is not visible (as BigMike noted), or is being obscured by other light (such as daylight), then the signal may not be getting to the slaves. Also, the settings you need to check are on your flashes: same channel (check), slave mode (check), group (check). Slave flash sensor must be directed towards the master flash and the head of the slave is rotated toward the subject (or background, or where-ever you want the light to go). All this is pretty well described in pages 34-39 of the 580 user manual. Note that in all the illustrations, the body of the slave flash is ALWAYS pointing to the master flash so that the slave sensor can see the master's preflash.

If the flashes are NOT communicating, it is usually due to them not seeing the master's preflash, at least in my experience.