Studio Flash Sync

lavellephoto · Mar 3, 2017

I own a Rebel T5. I recently got two studio strobes with built in optical slaves. My thought was to use the built in flash on the Canon to trigger the studio strobes. To that end I took a flash meter reading of the strobes, set the T5 on manual, keeping in mind the sync speed, dialed down the Canon flash output 3 stops and fired away. The strobes trigger but DO NOT SYNC. Red eye is turned off. I've tried other modes, nothing syncs. What am I missing? Help!

fmw · Mar 3, 2017

What does it mean to trigger but not synch? Do they fire at different times?

smoke665 · Mar 3, 2017

What did you set the sync speed to? Do you by chance have TTL on?

dasmith232 · Mar 3, 2017

The built-in flash on the T5 is E-TTL only. It will send a pre-flash, analyze the results, open the shutter curtains in the camera and then fire the (adjusted) flash. To the human eye, it looks like one flash (but it's two). Your studio strobes are firing when they see the pre-flash and they're all done when the shutter opens up.

Your camera is the T5, not the T5i. The T5i (with the "eye" at the end) allows you to set the flash to fire manually (without the pre-flash). This is how Canon crippled the non-I series to keep the distinction with the next product tier up. Yeah, kinda sucks.

Your workaround is to buy a hot-shoe to PC adapter and a PC cable to one of the strobes. Once it fires, the other strobes will follow suit from the optical slave.

Sorry for the bad news...

dasmith232 · Mar 3, 2017

Filling in a few more details...

There's another option. You could get a cheap external flash that supports manual and put it in the hotshoe. That would eliminate the cables (i.e., tripping hazzards) from the set.

A hotshoe to PC adapter is about US$10. A long-ish cable would be another US$10. Cables that run some distance (from the camera to an off-camera flash) should never be coiled. (Shortens the cable, increases chance of tripping). Coiled cables are for when you have two things on the same stand or bracket.

A cheap flash that would do the manual work would be something like the Neewer TT560 for about US$33. For a bit more money, you can get an external flash that supports E-TTL and all the manual control you'd need for about US$96 (Yongnuo YN-568EX II).

I have no connection of any kind with any of these companies nor any other vendor. Personally, I have all Canon flashes, but have used the Yongnuo's successfully. I have a(n adult) daughter who does portrait photography and she uses Yongnuo's.

smoke665 · Mar 3, 2017

Or check if your flash supports ignoring the preflash. The Yongnuo YN560-IV optical slave feature has two setting S-1 for without preflash and S-2 if the camera popup has a preflash. I'm sure there are others as well

Derrel · Mar 3, 2017

Thank goodness we have @dasmith232 here on TPF!@!@@! HE may be new, HERE, but he is a Godsend to this forum on matters of technique,Canon equipment, and modern photographic practices!@

WHO else but dasmith232 KNEW that the Canon T5 has E-TTL ONLY flash?I sure did not!

His suggestion of getting a hotshoe-to-PC-outlet cube ($14.95 or so, from FlashZebra online), or the Nikon AS-6 (works on ALL brands of cameras, and is a well-made,lifetime grade PC outlet adapter) makes sense, as does his suggestion of getting a cheap flash and sticking it in the hotshoe of the T5 and slave-triggering the monolights also makes sense!

lavellephoto · Mar 4, 2017

Derrel said:
Thank goodness we have @dasmith232 here on TPF!@!@@! HE may be new, HERE, but he is a Godsend to this forum on matters of technique,Canon equipment, and modern photographic practices!@

WHO else but dasmith232 KNEW that the Canon T5 has E-TTL ONLY flash?I sure did not!

His suggestion of getting a hotshoe-to-PC-outlet cube ($14.95 or so, from FlashZebra online), or the Nikon AS-6 (works on ALL brands of cameras, and is a well-made,lifetime grade PC outlet adapter) makes sense, as does his suggestion of getting a cheap flash and sticking it in the hotshoe of the T5 and slave-triggering the monolights also makes sense!

Thanks, everyone. I've tried two different hotshoe/PC adapters and neither will fire. I'll try a small external flash as suggested.