Off camera flash question

[Bluepoole]

OK so this has been an exciting week for me in terms of equipment - earlier this week I acquired a Canon EOS 50 film SLR (see topic elsewhere in this section) and today I became the proud owner of a brand new 7D.

Since I can now use my 430EX II Speedlight off camera, I can play around with new different techniques of lightning. I know there are many threads and articles on this subject, so I'm not going to ask any general questions on that.

I do have two questions however, which the user manuals can't seem to answer:

1. If I activate the wireless mode on the Speedlight, the AF assist beam flashes the whole time, even when the custom setting is set to disabled. Is this normal? I would think it could become distracting when using the flash off camera.

2. When activating the wireless flash mode on the camera, there are three options: Speedlight, Speedlight + Built-in, and Speedlight : Built-in ratio...even when Speedlight only is selected, the built-in flash also fires when taking a shot. Shouldn't the built-in flash just fires when one of the other two modes are selected?

(as a matter of interest, why must the built-in flash be raised when shooting wireless?)

Thank you in advance for any advice or comments!

 

[Big Mike]

The built-in flash is necessary because the communication between camera & flash is done via pulses of light....it's not infrared or radio communications.

So while you will see it flashing, if you have it set not to fire, it shouldn't fire when the shutter is open.

 

[Bluepoole]

Thanks Mike, further testing has indeed revealed that if I set the wireless option to Speedlite only, the built-in flash will send the signal but it does not actually show on the photo.

To answer my own question number 1, apparently the AF assist beam will flash when the Speedlite is set to Slave, this is apparently just to remind the user of such status. I figure it could become annoying, and since the beam will not perform any real function in Slave mode (as I understand), I could just as well put some masking tape over it

Very nice to see that Canon has included the wireless trigger capability in the new Canon 600D as well, but I assume as with the 60D it will only be capable of handling one Speedlite at a time.

 

[Samerr9]

hi Bluepoole, i have got the 60d and it is capable of controlling two flashes (on camera + A +B) wirelessly, with various setups..

But only the 430 and 580 work on it ..

I hope i am not wrong, but i read it in the manual..

Thanks