Off Camera Flash 40D

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Eddie The Dog

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I have a canon 40d and i want to use the canon 550ex flashgun off camera wireless, what do i need, and how do i do it, and what is the distance i can go.

Also want to fire my D60 wireless with canon 550ex flash attached up to 20 meters away. Again what do i need and do i use it.

Sorry about the questions but know nothing about off camera flash.

Thanks in advance. :):)
 
Either an off camera lead which will give you very limited range or an ST-E2 transmitter which gives up to 15m range indoors or 10m outdoors. It's infra-red so line of sight only.

ETA

There are third party wireless systems available too. Some are pro studio systems others are cheaper.
 
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Hi Eddie,

Off camera flash can be tricky to set up and there's many ways to go about it, but it's the most fun I've had with my camera in a long time so worth it!

You need to have a way of triggering the flash firstly. You can do this by having a flashgun mounted on the top of your 40D (such as your 550ex) that triggers the flash, however they it wouldn't be off camera and you'd need another flashgun to act as the off camera bit.
The advantage to this is that you can retain the ability to use auto-power (TTL) flash where it will meter the flash power to produce a more desirable result without fiddling with manual settings.

The other option is to use radio triggers. They come in two parts, one that mounts on your hotshoe (transmitter) and one that sits on the flashgun's hotshoe (receiver). It works very well but you can only use them on manual.

With regards to the question about firing a camera wirelessly and then having OCF as well, it can be done and I tested this out a few weeks ago myself.

Basically I did this with radio triggers, I'll try to explain:

Take a radio receiver and attach it to camera as shown in this picture (transmitter/trigger is on the right, receiver on the left). This shows the transmitter being used as a manual button/finger triggered device that will activate the shutter.

Then take another transmitter and fit it on the hotshoe of your camera like this, with the receiver on the flashgun like this.

The one problem you have to overcome is that when you press the handheld trigger, it will set off the shutter button and the flashgun, and they will not be in sync. To get around this, you need to fiddle with the channel switches on the underside of one of those pairs of transmitters/receivers to a different channel.

In brief, the order of events will be like this:

Channel 1
Handheld Transmitter > Receiver > Trigger shutter

Channel 2
Trigger shutter > hotshoe transmitter > flash receiver


Please ask if some/most/all of that doesn't make sense!
 
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The question is, do you need remote E-TTL? Which raises a lot of more difficult issues and options and costs.

If you're okay with setting the flash power manually, then that's easy - Yongnuo RF-602 trigger set for £25 (from FlashInThePan on here - see trade advertisers section). Works up to 100m.

You could also trigger your D60 and flash with that (with the right lead) either using two units as described above, or your could do it with just one if you tape over the E-TTL pins on the flash and just leave the central firing pin to fire off the Nikon's hot shoe. Or trigger it off the PC socket if the D60 has one, or via an adapter. A few options there.
 
HoppyUK said:
The question is, do you need remote E-TTL? Which raises a lot of more difficult issues and options and costs.

Not really for the Canon D60. The camera & flashgun would be set to manual as long as i would be able to fire (not in line of sight) by a handheld device wireless (no cables) Nothing to do with the other camera up to 20 metres.
If you're okay with setting the flash power manually, then that's easy - Yongnuo RF-602 trigger set for £25 (from FlashInThePan on here - see trade advertisers section). Works up to 100m.

My Canon 40D i want to use the 550ex off shoe up to a range of 100metres but would be mainly used for ranges of up to 10 metres. How many trigger sets would i need.? Hope this all makes sense
You could also trigger your D60 and flash with that (with the right lead) either using two units as described above, or your could do it with just one if you tape over the E-TTL pins on the flash and just leave the central firing pin to fire off the Nikon's hot shoe. Or trigger it off the PC socket if the D60 has one, or via an adapter. A few options there.
Click to expand...

Thank you for your advice. Islander,Digital_Clarity,HoppyUK
 
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Sorry, I thought your D60 was a Nikon!

It sounds like you could do everything with the RF-602. You need a transmitter on the main triggering device, and a receiver on each of the cameras/flashes you need to fire.

Not sure what you are trying to do. Do you need two cameras/flashes to fire in perfect sync? There should be a way to do that, using two transmitters on different channels as Dave suggested.
 
Question 1
I want to use my canon D60 with canon 550Ex flashgun on a tripod 20metres away (not with a cable} but wireless (not line of sight) fired from a handheld device.
_________________________________________________________________

Question 2
I want to use my canon 40D with canon 550EX off shoe again wireless (not with a cable) (and not line sight) fired from my canon 40D.

Does this make sense?

What do i need please.
I have looked at Pocket Wizards & Radio Poppers but the price. wow to much for me.
Will the RF-602 work for want i want to do.?

Thank You.

Flash in the Pan. Do you know what i mean and what do i need.
 
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I don't know much about radio poppers so I'll leave those out...

Bad stuff
Pocket Wizards - horrendously expensive/eye-wateringly over priced.
RF-602 - basic, no TTL metering.

Good stuff
Pocket Wizards - All singing, all dancing full data communication between camera and flash.
RF-602 - Very cheap (9-10 times less than PWs), solid build, reliable.

The important thing to bear in mind when you're deciding is "do I need quick and easy control over the power of the flashguns?".
If so (for example, shooting fast paced events or moving subjects), the PWs will allow you to remotely change power settings from your camera and use TTL metering so the flash power if automatically adjusted depending on how far the subject is from the lens.
If you have time to check and adjust the flashguns manually by actually walking up to them and pressing the power adjust buttons, then RF-602s are for you.
If you're on a budget you don't have a choice!

To answer your question, you can do any of the setups and scenarios with RF-602s, you just need to fiddle to get the setup right.
 
Eddie The Dog said:
Question 1
I want to use my canon D60 with canon 550Ex flashgun on a tripod 20metres away (not with a cable} but wireless (not line of sight) fired from a handheld device.
_________________________________________________________________

Question 2
I want to use my canon 40D with canon 550EX off shoe again wireless (not with a cable) (and not line sight) fired from my canon 40D.

Does this make sense?

What do i need please.
I have looked at Pocket Wizards & Radio Poppers but the price. wow to much for me.
Will the RF-602 work for want i want to do.?

Thank You.

Flash in the Pan. Do you know what i mean and what do i need.
Click to expand...

That doesn't sound like a problem. Drop a PM to Graham (FITP). I'm sure he can both advise and supply the RF-602 with the right cable for the D60.
 
Thanks to all that have posted comments. Iv'e just ordered the Yongnuo RF-602 Tigger Set from Amazon, Will let you know how i get on with it when it arrives sometime next week (quoted 5-8days) delivery.
 
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