Help with setting Canon 50D pop-up flash to fire before shutter?

[eszostak]

Hiya. I read in another thread here that it's possible to set the pop-up flash on the 50D to fire early (before shutter) in order to use it to trigger off-camera firing of the 430 ex II. I have searched the manual and can't seem to find any information on this. Probably I am not looking for the right terms? Any way, does anyone know how to do this? And also, apologies if this is a dumb question, but if I am firing the OCF with the pop-up flash on my cam (so pop-up flash is acting like the transmitter), do I still need to have a separate receiver (like a Cactus v4) attached to the OCF?

Super grateful for any advice. Cheers!

 

[radiorickm]

No one has answered you yet, so I'll take a stab.

I'm not sure WHY you would want to "fire" your flash before you push the shutter. I am assuming that you think you need extra time for the 430 to react to the flash of light and go off. This is not true.

#1. IF you have your 430 set up as an OPTICAL SLAVE, you don't need to fire the onboard flash early. The 430 will react quick enough when you press the shutter.

#2 If the TTL PRE-FLASHES from the On-Camera flash do go off, they will trigger the 430 also, before you push the shutter (not a good thing). On most flashes, that is what the S2 mode is for.

#3 If you are using OPTICAL triggering, you don't need a radio receiver like the Cactus.

 

[mangtarn]

i know what you are talking about. only 60D and 7D has that feature. it's called 'Integrated Speedlite Transmitter'
here's a pdf document from canon regarding the feature http://learn.usa.canon.com/app/pdfs/quickguides/CDLC_EOS-Integrated-Speedlite-Transmitter_QuickGuide.pdf
so ya not on the 50D

 

[Big Mike]

That's correct. The 50D doesn't have that feature, only the 60D, 7D and I think the Rebel T3i can do that (in the Canon line up).

 

[eszostak]

Ah well, if it's not actually a feature a 50D, no wonder I couldn't figure out how to do it. That makes me feel less like a blockhead then.


The reason I would have wanted to fire the on-camera flash before shutter is to have avoided it affecting the image - to be able to use it as a transmitter only, not as a light source.

Many thanks for the info!