2nd curtain sync w/PWs

[ean36]

I shoot a 5D and have set the custom function to 2nd curtain sync. I have AB strobes and sync them with PW +2s. On a multi second shutter the flash fires when the shutter is pressed.

Am I not doing something right or is this not possible?

[jcolman]

Mine does the same thing. I think I recall reading somewhere that it's not possible to use second curtain sync on the 5D with off camera flash fired via PW's.

[ean36]

Thanks for the reply. Will it work with your 1D?

[jcolman]

Thanks for the reply. Will it work with your 1D? Haven't tried it yet with the 1D. I'll give it a shot next time I pull out my gear.

[JakPot]

Yeah, I was under the understanding that 2nd curtain sync only works with ETTL, but let's wait for someone with more knowledge to be sure.

[tadrscin]

2nd curtain & high speed sync are both lost when you go off-camera with triggers such as PWs, Skyports, ebay triggers etc. However, there is a way of doing this with Skyports so it should work with PWs as well. What you need to do is put a dedicated Canon flash on your camera and either point it away from the subject or use it's lowest power setting so it doesn't effect your subject. You use an optical flash trigger and place the sensor over the flash head and connect it to your transmitter. By setting the flash on the camera to 2nd curtain sync it "fools" your camera into thinking your using that flash instead of the off-camera flashes. Once the on-camera flash goes off it triggers the transmitter via the optical trigger which then triggers all off-camera flashes. This also works for high speed sync with a limitation on the power output you have to use with the off-camera flashes. Here's a link to where I learned about this working for high speed sync: http://www.flickr.com/groups/strobist/discuss/72157604724354633/?search=high+speed+hacked

[ean36]

tadrscin, thanks.

I'm going to try the STE-2 to trigger a 580 that will optically trigger the AB strobe.

[bimmerteck]

I have been reading about the PW Multi-Max and it advertises rear curtain sync, So possibly upgrading to a Multi-max (master) transmitter and using it to control the Plus IIs would give you this ability?

[tadrscin]

Well I read up on the Multimax since a couple of people have mentioned them for use with other things I want to do. I had originally thought that if I bought PWs and wanted a Multimax, I'd have to buy all Multimax units which would be too costly. After reading about them it looks like I could buy just one for my primary camera and use Plus IIs for the rest. Not only does the Multimax have 2nd curtain sync, but it sounds like it will allow me to fire a handheld camera, a remote camera and off-camera flashes all in sync.

[PacAce]

2nd curtain & high speed sync are both lost when you go off-camera with triggers such as PWs, Skyports, ebay triggers etc. However, there is a way of doing this with Skyports so it should work with PWs as well. What you need to do is put a dedicated Canon flash on your camera and either point it away from the subject or use it's lowest power setting so it doesn't effect your subject. You use an optical flash trigger and place the sensor over the flash head and connect it to your transmitter. By setting the flash on the camera to 2nd curtain sync it "fools" your camera into thinking your using that flash instead of the off-camera flashes. Once the on-camera flash goes off it triggers the transmitter via the optical trigger which then triggers all off-camera flashes. This also works for high speed sync with a limitation on the power output you have to use with the off-camera flashes. Here's a link to where I learned about this working for high speed sync: http://www.flickr.com/groups/strobist/discuss/72157604724354633/?search=high+speed+hacked
Just took a look at that link you provided and I have to say, Rafa came up with a very ingenious yet simple way to use HSS with just about any flash or strobe which has sufficient flash duration to make that possible. I just tried it using a home-made optical trigger, a pair of PW units and two flashes, and high-speed syncing with a PW-triggered flash worked like a charm. Thanks for sharing the link. :D

[PacAce]

tadrscin, thanks.

I'm going to try the STE-2 to trigger a 580 that will optically trigger the AB strobe.

Just wanted to mention that if you are going to do this, you'll need to make sure that the AB strobe cannot directly or indirectly "see" the IR signal from the ST-E2, otherwise, the IR signal will trigger the AB strobe prematurely. if all you're looking to do is sync the AB strobe with the camera using the ST-E2, all you need to do is either attach the ST-E2 to the camera PC port or use a piece of tape to cover up the 4 dedicated pins of the hotshoe. Using the ST-E2 this way, there will be no need for an intermediate 580EX to trigger the AB strobe unless you wanted the 580EX to provide lighting, too.

[EDIT: Oh, wait. You wanted to fire the strobes at 2nd curtain sync, didn't you? In that case, the ST-E2 is not going to solve that problem for you.

[tadrscin]

Just took a look at that link you provided and I have to say, Rafa came up with a very ingenious yet simple way to use HSS with just about any flash or strobe which has sufficient flash duration to make that possible. I just tried it using a home-made optical trigger, a pair of PW units and two flashes, and high-speed syncing with a PW-triggered flash worked like a charm. Thanks for sharing the link. :D

Yeah that's a pretty sweet trick. When it comes to DIY and clever workarounds, the Strobist folks are great.

[PictureDisk]

Bump
Has anybody figured out a way to accomplish 2nd curtain sync off camera without using the "trick" of mounting a canon speedlite to the camera, pointing it away, and using an optically triggered PW transmitter?

The G11 is capable of second curtain sync with single-(center-) pin transmitters without using any elaborate tricks. For transmitters that have multiple pins (like RF-602), using a piece of tape to prevent contact of the four auxiliary pins (leaving only the center-pin) works just dandy on a G11.

But this doesn't seem to work on any of the DSLR bodies.
Has anybody else figured out a direct way to accomplish off-camera second curtain sync on a Canon DSLR body, using radio triggers??

[AntonLargiader]

2nd curtain & high speed sync are both lost when you go off-camera with triggers such as PWs, Skyports, ebay triggers etc.

I think that's simply not true as a general statement, because the PW TT1/TT5 definitely support 2CS and HSS. The OP is using older PWs which may not support these features.

... Has anybody else figured out a direct way to accomplish off-camera second curtain sync on a Canon DSLR body, using radio triggers??

If the camera body works with the TT1/TT5 (I believe the 60D doesn't) then you have a plug and play solution right there. No tricks, no nothing. That product does what you ask.

[Hoppy1]

Canon's second-curtain sync trigger signal comes from the E-TTL contacts, not the central firing pin, so you need some way of accessing that.

The way I do it is as you suggest, but it's quite neat and I don't know of any other method this side of PWs. I use a little 270EX gun (it's a handy lil gun to have anyway - $100) plus a Sonia optical slave plugged into an RF-602 radio transmitter. The whole lot clips on the front quite neatly inside a plastic cosmetics bottle cut in half. You can also get radio-remote HSS that way, via a workaround.

Bear in mind that Canon's native second curtain syn is normally only enabled at 1/25sec and longer shutter speeds, which had me puzzled for a bit :( I believe the 1D3/4 run a bit faster, and the PW Flex/Mini runs faster still.