Please recommend a good off-camera shoe sync cord for Canon 40D and 580EXII

TheGreatGonzo · Feb 24, 2011

I'm looking for a good sync cord to mate my 40D and 580EXII flash and every review of the Canon cord I have read seems to indicate it is fragile and prone to breakage. I hate to spend that kind of money for a fragile product, but I'm also hesitant to trust an off-brand knock-off. If anyone has any suggestions, I would be most appreciative.
Thanks,
Gonzo

Josh66 · Feb 24, 2011

I think those reviews are talking about the old one - the OC-E2. The OC-E3 is the current one. It's pretty good, but expensive for what it is (IMO). It's also short. It can stretch to about 3 feet, but you're not going to be able to have the flash on a stand or anything with the cord stretched.

It's mainly for use with a flash bracket.

I use it for macro a lot too, and just hand hold the flash. As long as the flash doesn't have to be more than an arms reach away from the camera (and you can shoot with one hand on the camera and one on the flash) it works - but if you need the flash farther away than that, or need it to be on a stand or something - look into either a PC cord or wireless triggers.

PC cords are much cheaper (and longer), but you'll need something to connect it to the camera with if your's doesn't have a PC socket. Pretty sure the 40D doesn't have one, but I could be wrong...

TheGreatGonzo · Feb 25, 2011

O|||||||O said:
I think those reviews are talking about the old one - the OC-E2. The OC-E3 is the current one. .

Thanks, I will give the OC-E3 a look.
Gonzo

TheGreatGonzo · Feb 25, 2011

Please forgive me if this is a stupid question (I am still very, very new at this), but would a Speedlite Transmitter ST-E2 accomplish the same thing, only without the cord limitations? I'm just looking to extend my capabilities for bounce and angle lighting and I would not be shooting at "events" where there are likely to be multiple wireless transmitters being used.
Gonzo

Josh66 · Feb 25, 2011

Yes, the ST-E2 would work great. It's IR, so it would need line-of-sight to the flash though. Radio triggers do not need line-of-sight.

For about the same money as the ST-E2, you could get some decent radio triggers. For next to nothing, you can get some Hong Kong radio triggers. :lol:

TheGreatGonzo · Feb 25, 2011

O|||||||O said:
Yes, the ST-E2 would work great. It's IR, so it would need line-of-sight to the flash though. Radio triggers do not need line-of-sight.

For about the same money as the ST-E2, you could get some decent radio triggers. For next to nothing, you can get some Hong Kong radio triggers.

Just the sort of information I need, thanks. What am I looking for in a radio trigger? Anything specific (or if you can recommend an actual model, that would be even better)?
Thanks again!
Gonzo

Josh66 · Feb 25, 2011

Well... I use the cheap Hong Kong ones. :lol:

I have never personally had a single problem with them, but others apparently have. They were about $25 on Amazon...

PocketWizards are popular, as are CyberSyncs.

ghache · Feb 25, 2011

but some hongkong el cheapo triggers, i have 6 receivers and 2 transmiters (just in case 1 dies on me)

i used them all the time, without any issue. batteries last for ever.

the only problem with them. they dont like cold weather so shooting outside at like -30 is no gonna work but they are A1 for anything else,

i fire all my studio strobes, sb-600s, vivitar285hvs

TheGreatGonzo · Feb 25, 2011

You guys (or gals?) are a wealth of information. Thanks very much.
Gonzo

Josh66 · Feb 25, 2011

ghache said:
batteries last for ever.

The only problem I've ever had (which can't really be blamed on the triggers) was dead batteries. :lmao:

They do last a long time though. One day, it started to intermittently not fire... I thought it was broken, and I was telling myself 'Well, that's what you get for buying cheap Chinese crap...' :lol:

, then I put fresh batteries in and they worked perfectly again. The ONLY failure to fire issues I have ever had were battery related.

I mean, really - I don't think there's a whole lot to go wrong in there. A bad solder connection is about the only issue I can see that they might have.

TheGreatGonzo · Feb 26, 2011

O|||||||O said:
PC cords are much cheaper (and longer), but you'll need something to connect it to the camera with if your's doesn't have a PC socket. Pretty sure the 40D doesn't have one, but I could be wrong...

Actually, it turns out the 40D does have a PC Sync Port, although I must admit that means nothing to me in my blissful state of newbie ignorance. Should I start looking at PC cords as a better alternative than a hot shoe sync cord and, if so, do they operate the same way? Thanks for your patient answers.
Gonzo

Josh66 · Feb 26, 2011

Impact Sync Cord Male PC to Male PC (6') 10032370 B&H Photo

If that's long enough, it works great.

The Canon cord (OC-E3) would communicate everything to the flash (focal length, ISO, all that sort of thing) as if it were actually on the hot-shoe, while PC cords and wireless triggers will just fire the flash without communicating focal length or ISO. You can manually input all of that into the flash though, if you need to.

If you're using manual flash settings, it doesn't matter either way. I've found TTL to be pretty good on the 580EX II even with PC cords, so that hasn't been an issue either.
The only thing I don't like about PC cords is that they fall out easy...

The only time the OC-E3 cord has the clear advantage to me is if you were using a flash bracket. For most other uses, it's just not long enough. Macro work would be the one exception that I can think of.

Josh66 · Feb 26, 2011

6' was the longest male to male cord I could find. If you need longer, you would need that, plus an additional male to female cord. Connect them together, and you have a long male to male cord.

Male to female, they have cords everywhere from 1.5' long to 33'. Maybe longer too... 33' seemed plenty long to me, so I didn't look for anything longer than that.