7D Off Camera Flash....

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Tiger Feet

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Anthony
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Right im sure this is pretty basic stuff but here goes!

I have a Canon 7D and im looking into off camera flash.

Now if im reading things right the 7d has a wireless transmitter built in.

1) So does that mean i can buy a flash an it will work wirelessly out of the box.

2) Do i need a receiver for the flash?

3) Have i got it all wrong an still need triggers and receivers?

4) If im right about the wireless, can i use any flash or do i need a canon flash - 580ex II for example?
 
Get yourself a 430 ex II. Thats all you need. The pop up flash on the 7d then sends the signal to the 430 and it flashes. couldn't be simpler
 
Right then, let's see if we can sort you out... :)

1. Yes, it will work wirelessly out of the box (as long as the flash is compatible).

2. No, you don't need a receiver... Canon flashes will fire straight from the 7D.

3. You'll need triggers and receivers if you want to use incompatible gear (like Nikon flashes etc).

4. I'd recommend sticking with Canon flash at first. A good place to start would be the 430EX or the newer EXII. As good as the 580EXII is, I doubt if you'll need the extra wallop. I've been doing strobist/off-camera flash stuff for a while now and use two 430EX's and a Metz AF-48 and that's ample.

Hope that helps,
Si
 
it doesnt simply work out the box as i pressume you'll need to buy a proper canon flash such as the canon 430exII and then i pressume you set it on slave mode and do the same in camera.

the wireless technology is infra red so you dont need no fancy recievers or transmitters as thats radio triggering which is better than infra red but its expensive even the cheap ebay triggers still set you back £30, its best to try with in camera wireless first to see if you like it.
 
1) yes. Flash will need to be able to see the pre-flash from the cameras pop-up flash. Its not an IR system.

2) no.

3) no. unless you want more advanced features and better range

4) you need specific canon flash with slave functionality.
You need a Canon flash such as 430EX, 430EX2, 550EX, 580EX, 580EX2.

Read page 119 onwards in the instruction manual.
 
Tiger Feet said:
Thanks all, thats cleared things up for me. :thumbs:
Click to expand...

...except to say that virtually all third party flash guns have fully compatible remote slave capability, even some of the very cheapest, not only Canon guns - Nissin, Jessops, Metz, Sigma, even Yongnuo.

They will fire directly off the 7D's master flash with full E-TTL auto exposure control. To do that with radio triggers will cost you several hundred quid just for the triggers - cheap radio tiggers are manual only.

The only drawback with the built-in system is that outside in bright sun the signal can get washed out at longer range, which is where radio comes in. You're unlikely to have any trouble indoors though.
 
Somebody post a sample image to make this clearer please!
 
It's not got a transmitter built in...

The way it works is...the onboard flash will fire very quickly in a certain way which will trigger the external flash.
The external flash has to partly be facing the onboard flash so it can see the pulse.

I was pretty dissapointed with this...as I was expecting an actual in built wireless radio trigger or something.
 
markw08 said:
Am i right the 7d has one of these built-in... Canon-Speedlite-Transmitter-ST-E2

:thumbs:
Click to expand...

Yes.

mastertrinity said:
i doubt it has one of them built in but it probably has a small stripped down version inside the 7D body.
Click to expand...

I don't think it's stripped down at all in terms of functionality. Only drawback that I'm aware of is that as it operates through the pop-up flash, it doesn't recyle as quickly. Which is actually a big drawback in some situations.

djs said:
It's not got a transmitter built in...

The way it works is...the onboard flash will fire very quickly in a certain way which will trigger the external flash.
The external flash has to partly be facing the onboard flash so it can see the pulse.

I was pretty dissapointed with this...as I was expecting an actual in built wireless radio trigger or something.
Click to expand...

It's got a wireless optical transmitter built in, essentially identical to the ST-E2. Same as some top end Nikon DSLRs. No camera maker uses radio, mainly because of cost and also international frequency regulations.

For remote E-TTL via radio, you need a Pocket Wizard set for £400 :(
 
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