help how trigger multiple flash at the same time

junqi · Apr 7, 2015

Hi all,

can anyone guide me how do i trigger multiple flash at the same time? I have 4 flash but do not really know how to trigger all at the same time. i am using 3 canon ex 600 rt for setup.

Correct me if i wrong. Set my first flash to master and 2nd flash,3rd flash to slave in order to flash all at the same time. or my way of doing it is not the proper way. if so can any kind soul guide me throughout?

Thanks

Buckster · Apr 7, 2015

Just follow the instructions in the manual. They're very thorough.

beagle100 · Apr 8, 2015

Buckster said:
Just follow the instructions in the manual. They're very thorough.

right, it also depends on the camera model

TCampbell · Apr 8, 2015

junqi said:
Hi all,

can anyone guide me how do i trigger multiple flash at the same time? I have 4 flash but do not really know how to trigger all at the same time. i am using 3 canon ex 600 rt for setup.

Correct me if i wrong. Set my first flash to master and 2nd flash,3rd flash to slave in order to flash all at the same time. or my way of doing it is not the proper way. if so can any kind soul guide me throughout?

Thanks

With the 600EX-RT it's actually very easy.

The 600EX-RT can be stand-alone or linked... when linked it can be either a "master" or "slave" and it can be linked in either "radio" or "optical" mode. That's a total of 5 different possibilities.

On the back of the speedite there is a link button on the left edge (looks like a zig-zag arrow pointing left & right) (just above the "MODE" button). On the flashes you intend to use as remote (off-camera) flashes, press that button while watching the display... if the flash was previously in stand-alone mode, then the FIRST press will put it in "radio / master" mode (you'll see a radio icon in the upper right corner of the LCD and word "master" will be displayed in the middle of the lcd.) Press it one more time and it'll go to "radio / slave" mode (the word "master" will change to "slave" but you'll still have the radio icon in the upper right corner.) ALSO... the color of the backlight will go from green to yellow. You want this "radio / slave" mode (if you keep pressing that button it would then go to optical/master, then optical/slave, then back to standalone and then the whole cycle repeats.)

At this point, you will notice your "LINK" light (just above the LCD panel) is red/orange color (meaning you've got a warning... you are not really linked.) That's ok of now.

On the on-camera flash, you'll press the link button... but you want to set this one to "radio/master" (the other two were set to radio/slave). At this point... ALL THREE flashes should get a green "LINK" light - meaning they are all successfully linked.

The on-camera (master) flash will probably have the word "ALL" in a box - which is fine. The off-camera flashes will have a letter in that box... "A", "B", "C", etc. Groups allow you to selectively tell remote flashes whether or not to fire and/or you can control power output or ratios based on the group (e.g. if you wanted the flashes in group "a" to fire at full power but wanted the flashes in group "b" to fire at half power... you can do that (just one of the many nice features you get when you spend $500 on a flash.) As long as the master says "ALL" then it doesn't matter which group the slaves are in (they probably both default to group "A" but if anyone has changed that they will "remember" their group assignment even after being powered off (I can grab a flash 2 weeks from now and it'll will still remember what group I assigned the last time I used it.)

If for some reason you do NOT have three green "link" lights and you've set the correct radio/master & radio/slave modes then you may have a conflict with the "channel" assignment and "id" assignment.

At large events, it's possible that other photographers will be using the same brand & model flashes that you are using. You don't want YOUR flashes to fire when they take shots and vice versa. So you can pick the radio channel that you use (default is "auto" which means it'll try to find an open channel on it's own) and then there's the "ID". The factor default ID is simply "0000", but you can set any 4 digit number you want. The IMPORTANT thing is that ALL of YOUR flashes MUST use the SAME ID. If you use "1234" then every flash you own MUST also use ID "1234". Anything not using the same ID will be ignored and treated as if it's not one of your flashes (even if everything else is set correctly.)

The "ID" is set (if you even need to bother) by going to the 3rd menu page. Press the right-most soft-button until you see "MENU3" and you should notice that one of the soft-buttons now says "ID" above it. Pressing that button will let you set the ID.

If there are no other photographers around then you'll never need to care. But if there are other photographers around and THEY also have the same brand flash, then there's a strong chance they never bothered to change off the factory default ID of "0000" either - which means that the odds of you interfering with each other's photography is actually quite likely! I changed the ID on all of my flashes to avoid this possibility.