Wirless flash Canon 7d and 430ex

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William
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My head is bursting. Is it possible to set the 430ex wireless flash to fire without the on camera flash firing with the 7d. I have the flash firing wirelessly but on camera flash also fires.

Also how do I get a shutter speed above 250 to say 1000 when pop up flash is up.

Have been attempting some water drop photography and I am getting increasingly frustrated. I have even resorted to reading the camera and flash manuals LOL!!

Any and all assistance would be gratefully appreciated, Sunday noting is play time with my camera but today had been totally exasperating.

Thanks

WS
 
Yes it is possible and easy to do heres Clicky linky some 7D video tuts wireless flash is covered scroll along the videos at the bottom 2nd to last then play and then watch full screen to see how to set up your camera Have Fun
 
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There will always be at least a small low power flash, as this is hown the 7D communicates with the flash unit.

Steve
 
My head is bursting. Is it possible to set the 430ex wireless flash to fire without the on camera flash firing with the 7d. I have the flash firing wirelessly but on camera flash also fires.

Also how do I get a shutter speed above 250 to say 1000 when pop up flash is up.

Have been attempting some water drop photography and I am getting increasingly frustrated. I have even resorted to reading the camera and flash manuals LOL!!

Any and all assistance would be gratefully appreciated, Sunday noting is play time with my camera but today had been totally exasperating.

Thanks

WS

There is a lot behind your question!

You need to understand how focal plane shutters work in relation to flash, but the important thing to know here is that the shutter speed is irrelevant as it's the flash duration that freezes the water. In round numbers, that will be around 1/1000sec at full power, 1/2000sec at half, 1/4000sec at quarter and so on down to incredibly short durations. Also check out high speed sync, though you don't need it here.

There are basically two flashes in E-TTL mode, pre-flash and main flash, though they both happen so fast they look like one to the naked eye. The pre-flash (or multiple pre-flashes in remote mode) that go out before the shutter opens for exposure measurement and master control instructions. Then the shutter opens and the main flash fires at the measured power. You can disable the main flash from the pop-up so that only the pre-flash/es fire (see handbook) but actually it does still fire a tiny residual flash that you might be able to pick up in specular reflections, but it shouldn't effect the exposure.

You won't get the shutter speed above 1/250sec, because of the way focal plane shutter work, without high speed sync. You can do that with the 430 gun, but not in remote slave mode because the pop-up acting as master can't do it. I think that's right. The 7D's pop-up certainly can't do HSS (it's just not powerful enough) but I don't see why it couldn't act as master for a suitable remote slave to do it. However, I don't think it does.

Anyway, you don't need or want HSS for what you're trying to do. Best way is to switch the pop-up to manual master, disable its main flash, and adjust the power of the 430 manually for correct exposure.
 
Thought my head was bursting before but it is at an altogether higher level of bursting now thanks to HoppyUK. Actually I did understand most of what you all kindly offered me, thanks for taking the tome to respond to me.

I have taken 950 shots and there is 1 or 2 that made me feel I was getting somewhere, I will post one later when I get time to go on my computer.

Thanks again
 
My head is bursting. Is it possible to set the 430ex wireless flash to fire without the on camera flash firing with the 7d. I have the flash firing wirelessly but on camera flash also fires.




7D has wireless communication with speed lights, it may emit to focus, but not fire during the exposure itself, page 119 in

On the camera menu 1st tab Flash control at the bottom/ press set/ built in flash function setting/ scroll to Wireless Function/Press Set/there are 4 option available/choose option 3 marked blue in the image below, now the onboard flash will not fire during exposure, only the remote flash will fire

5700015930_be24287946_b.jpg
 
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Thought my head was bursting before but it is at an altogether higher level of bursting now thanks to HoppyUK. Actually I did understand most of what you all kindly offered me, thanks for taking the tome to respond to me.

I have taken 950 shots and there is 1 or 2 that made me feel I was getting somewhere, I will post one later when I get time to go on my computer.

Thanks again

LOL :)

To improve the hit rate, the way I did it was to turn the flash down to maybe 1/8th or less power setting (which will probably fine at close range) and it recycles fast enough to keep up with the camera on continuous shooting, at least for a few frames. You can hardly miss.
 
Just Dave said:
7D has wireless communication with speed lights, it may emit to focus, but not fire during the exposure itself, page 119 in

On the camera menu 1st tab Flash control at the bottom/ press set/ built in flash function setting/ scroll to Wireless Function/Press Set/there are 4 option available/choose option 3 marked blue in the image below, now the onboard flash will not fire during exposure, only the remote flash will fire

I know, but still emits a "flash". I use the wireless flash facility all the time and am aware of how to set it up. But thanks for the info anyway.

Steve
 
I know, but still emits a "flash". I use the wireless flash facility all the time and am aware of how to set it up. But thanks for the info anyway.

Steve

My post #6 was for the OP, not you Steve, I used the wrong Quote sorry

It should only emit whilst focus is achieved, then only the remote will fire when you fully press the shutter button,
 
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I can't speak for the 7D itself, but a 580exII hotshoe mounted on my 500D still fires a preflash, which is evident (although not significant) even when the master flash exposure is suppressed.

I was actually unsure if this was true when I read it on here.

However I put the slave flash away out the room and fired a shot. I was shooting something black, glossy and although the whole exposure was underexposed, you could see the preflash reflecting back although it was insignificant, it was there without doubt.
 
I can't speak for the 7D itself, but a 580exII hotshoe mounted on my 500D still fires a preflash, which is evident (although not significant) even when the master flash exposure is suppressed.

I was actually unsure if this was true when I read it on here.

However I put the slave flash away out the room and fired a shot. I was shooting something black, glossy and although the whole exposure was underexposed, you could see the preflash reflecting back although it was insignificant, it was there without doubt.

not sure but you should be able to disable AF Beam Assist (Emit Preflash) on the 500D you can on a 400D, but the 500D doesnt have wireless function though, so not sure how its firing the slave, sure the onbaord flash would have to fire to fire the slave
 
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not sure but you should be able to disable AF Beam Assist (Emit Preflash) on the 500D you can on a 400D


Cheers Dave,

I'll have a look. I don't think a focus assist type (flash?) fires from a 580ex, it uses a focus (red LED?) beam however. (Sorry I know this isn't relevant to the thread as a whole)

I presume the 7D, like the 500D uses the same type of flash assist without a gun mounted. As I don't have a 7D I wasn't going to suggest anything about focus assist and/or preflash from the onboard master. It was more a case of seeing an example of an actual preflash from a 580 being captured during the exposure.


Andy:thumbs:
 
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Pick up some cheap wireless flash transmitter things. I got the yongnuo ones about a year or two back, best £20/30 I've spent
 
I can't speak for the 7D itself, but a 580exII hotshoe mounted on my 500D still fires a preflash, which is evident (although not significant) even when the master flash exposure is suppressed.

I was actually unsure if this was true when I read it on here.

However I put the slave flash away out the room and fired a shot. I was shooting something black, glossy and although the whole exposure was underexposed, you could see the preflash reflecting back although it was insignificant, it was there without doubt.

It's not the pre-flash - that's dead and buried before the shutter opens. It's actually the main flash which still emits a residual pulse even when 'disabled'. Nikon guns do it too, which is why I supect the 7D's pop-up will also do it.

I tested it once with my 580EX with the main flash disabled. I can't remember what the power output was but is was quite a lot less than the 1/128th minimum power normal flash. It will only ever effect the exposure if you're shooting very close, at high ISO and/or low f/number. Even then unlikely to be a problem but if it is, then cover the pop-up with a couple of dark red cellophane wrappers from a box of Quality Street - darkens the flash further, but doesn't effect its mastering ability.
 
Hi Folks thanks fo r all your posts and advice today, I have one photgraphy that I am happy with the technique, not happy with the content or the sharpness but I can get that next time,

Thanks again

Water_Drop2.jpg
 
Hi Richard once built in flash emit is disabled, its disabled it will not emit at all, it just uses the wireless trigger function :thumbs:
 
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It's not the pre-flash - that's dead and buried before the shutter opens. It's actually the main flash which still emits a residual pulse even when 'disabled'. Nikon guns do it too, which is why I supect the 7D's pop-up will also do it.

I tested it once with my 580EX with the main flash disabled. I can't remember what the power output was but is was quite a lot less than the 1/128th minimum power normal flash. It will only ever effect the exposure if you're shooting very close, at high ISO and/or low f/number. Even then unlikely to be a problem but if it is, then cover the pop-up with a couple of dark red cellophane wrappers from a box of Quality Street - darkens the flash further, but doesn't effect its mastering ability.

Ahh sorry guys, thanks Richard !

I understood it to be the preflash, I obviously didn't know the difference:bonk:
 
Hi Richard once built in flash emit is disabled, its disabled it will not emit at all, it just uses the wireless trigger function :thumbs:

That's interesting.

So just to be clear, with the 7D's pop-up in master mode and with the main flash disabled, if you take a picture of yourself in the mirror there is not so much as a peep from the pop-up visible in the picture?

Then Canon has fixed that little quirk :thumbs:
 
That's interesting.

So just to be clear, with the 7D's pop-up in master mode and with the main flash disabled, if you take a picture of yourself in the mirror there is not so much as a peep from the pop-up visible in the picture?

Then Canon has fixed that little quirk :thumbs:

Hi Richard

Yes with emit disabled and the main flash set not to fire, only the slave will fire :thumbs:
 
Mackie said:
Pick up some cheap wireless flash transmitter things. I got the yongnuo ones about a year or two back, best £20/30 I've spent

But then you'll lose the ETTL facility.....
 
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