NEED HELP IMMEDIATELY!! SYNCING 580 w/ 430ex & Pocketwizards

[bradracino]

Hey,

I have a shoot tomorrow morning and I"m having a problem syncing. I have a:

Canon 5d
580EXII Speedlite
430EX Speedlite
(2) PocketWizard Transceivers

I can get the 430 to flash as a slave to the 580 when the 580 is on my camera in the hotshoe and also when it is attached with an off camera shoe cord.

BUT when I attach one of the pocketwizards to my 5d and one to my 580EX (off camera), the 430 won't sync the flash when the 580 fires...there's about a half second delay until the 430 fires.

How do I get the 430 to flash along with the 580 while the 580 is attached to a pocketwizard and the 430 is not? Is there a way?

Thanks for the help.

-Brad

 

[JerryPH]

I'm not a Canon expert, and you could likely get a faster response over at the Strobist flicker group... thousands of people there use your setup successfully.

I have no idea of your level of understanding or experience and you forgot to mention WHAT kinds of PWs you are using (PWII's or the newer ones that support eTTL, the Flex and mini versions).

Either way... ask here:

http://www.flickr.com/groups/strobist/ (sorry typed so fast that initially I gave you a wrong link! This is the good one)

You will likely get an answer within minutes.

I am adding to this post, but wanted you to see this part... more is coming in a few seconds.
----------------------

Added info:

If you are using the Pocket Wizard II's (PW II's), which do NOT support eTTL, you still have some minor setup to do;

- make sure that both transceivers are on the same channel

- that the first one is mounted into the hotshoe of your camera and that the transmit mode switch is set to BOTH

- that the second one is hung to the side of your light stand and that the transmit mode switch is set to BOTH as well. There is a wire that sends the transmit signal from the receiver to your flash in one of 2 manners, either by connecting the wire that exits the FLASH socket from the PW to a hot-sync connector on your flash, or, if your flash doesn't have one, that your flash is sitting in a hotshoe connector that has a sync port in it and your PW connects to this connector.

- You will have to set your flash to a fully manual mode (refer to your manual for this) and set the power to something low like 1/4 power for testing purposes.

- Press the TEST button on the PW that the flash is connected to, if it fires the flash, thats a good sign.

- Press the TEST button on the PW that is sitting in the hotshoe of your camera, if it fires the flash, thats a good sign.

- Take a test shot, it should work.

This is about as far as I (a Nikon user) can help you assuming you have PW II's and not the newer units. For more help, refer to the site I mention up above.

----------------------

Ah, I missed a hint in my haste to answer... you have the new PWs, the ones that support TTL. My info above is not pertinent to you... sorry. The strobist club is your best bet. I did leave the rest of the info becuase thought it is not pertinent to the new ones, it is a good procedure to follow for users of the "older" non-TTL versions that have been successfully used for years. I will mention something though... there is a lot of talk about the 580 EX II and their noise levels that play havoc with these newer versions of the PWs. I do hope that you, as a professional, have backup solutions to your shoot tomorrow, or if it is not on a professional level and no backups, can reschedule the event without any inconvenience to anyone.

------------------------

One more piece of info... a good place to ask questions directly to PW and people that use the new PWs:

http://www.flickr.com/groups/pocketwizards/


Good luck!

 

[Mike_E]

If you have a camera shop near by and an extra $25 or so, get an optical slave. If you are using them near each other you should be good to go.

 

[table1349]

If you have a camera shop near by and an extra $25 or so, get an optical slave. If you are using them near each other you should be good to go.

Canon flashes and optical slaves do not play nice together. Usually one fire no recharge until turned off and back on. It's a Canon thing.

 

[JerryPH]

Yikes, really? Then there is the Canon equivalent of CLS, no?

 

[table1349]

Hey,

I have a shoot tomorrow morning and I"m having a problem syncing. I have a:

Canon 5d
580EXII Speedlite
430EX Speedlite
(2) PocketWizard Transceivers

I can get the 430 to flash as a slave to the 580 when the 580 is on my camera in the hotshoe and also when it is attached with an off camera shoe cord.

BUT when I attach one of the pocketwizards to my 5d and one to my 580EX (off camera), the 430 won't sync the flash when the 580 fires...there's about a half second delay until the 430 fires.

How do I get the 430 to flash along with the 580 while the 580 is attached to a pocketwizard and the 430 is not? Is there a way?

Thanks for the help.

-Brad

Brad, frankly the easiest thing is a third PW. I am a Canon user and I have 4 PW II's for 5 strobes and the camera body. When I need that much light both 580's get a PW, and one of the 383's gets a PW while the other 383's are on optical slaves. If I don't need that much light I use the 383's and leave the 580's out of the mix.

As much as I hate to concede this to Jerry, Nikon's strobes are better thought out than the Canon in my opinion.
:gah:

 

[JerryPH]

As much as I hate to concede this to Jerry, Nikon's strobes are better thought out than the Canon in my opinion.
:gah:

lol... I never was a brand snob and there is no one best answer for everyone.

I just see that the combination of Canon's 430, 580 and latest PWs are experiencing growing pains, IMHO, and I think that it is a bit of a mistake to depend on them for situations where reliability and consistency are critical at this point in time.

This is not to say that they are unusable nor that PW will not resolve their issues with the greatest alacrity possible to them and raise standards to the usual PW levels of performance that made them #1 in the past.

I have confidence in them... so much so that I invested in 3 PWII's in preparation to them releasing the Nikon variant of the new versions in June/July. Right now, though... even if people do not want to hear/read it... the Radio Poppers are way out ahead of the pack.

 

[table1349]

lol... I never was a brand snob and there is no one best answer for everyone.

I just see that the combination of Canon's 430, 580 and latest PWs are experiencing growing pains, IMHO, and I think that it is a bit of a mistake to depend on them for situations where reliability and consistency are critical at this point in time.

This is not to say that they are unusable nor that PW will not resolve their issues with the greatest alacrity possible to them and raise standards to the usual PW levels of performance that made them #1 in the past.

I have confidence in them... so much so that I invested in 3 PWII's in preparation to them releasing the Nikon variant of the new versions in June/July.

It's not a brand snob thing to me. Frankly, and this is coming from a Canon user, the Nikon flash system is better thought out and more user friendly in an all around way. The Canon system works well, in Canon mode but start adding outside influences to it and it gets quirky. Canon has started to address some of this with the EX II models, but that doesn't help us EX users much.

I have heard of some people getting some optical slaves to work, but they were not the cheap ones.

For the op, this would probably be the best place to get a quick answer. Small Flash and Studio Lighting - Canon Digital Photography Forums
The Canon forum regularly has a massive amount of users on it at any one time.