Optical trigger for studio lights

[tim]

I've discovered I can rent two studio lights from my photography club really, really cheap, like US$20 or a couple of weeks or so. One has an umbrella and they're on 7 foot stands. I'm strongly considering renting them for the upcoming wedding i'm doing. The only problem is they're optical trigger ones, and they don't have a cable at all. Given the preflash in ETTL, is there any way to use these? Could it be as simple as putting the 550EX in manual mode so it doesn't preflash?

My next question is given the lack of ETTL, how do you make sure you get a good exposure? Growing up in the world of ETTL, i've never had to worry about that before.

The groups i'm shooting won't be large, so would I be better off just forgetting the studio lights and using the 550EX by itself?

[chris.bailey]

You can do it the way you describe with the 550 but make sure you turn it way down so it does not affect the lighting.

Metering flash heads really needs a flash meter or a lot of experimenting.

You will get better results with the heads than a single 550

[tim]

I don't have access to a flash meter :( I can get them for a couple of weeks so experimenting with them wouldn't be hard, though i'm not sure my flatmate or girlfriend would really appreciate me setting up two large studio flashes and practicing while they're watching TV ;)

I guess i'll get them and experiment, and if I have no luck i'll just stick with the 550EX for the wedding.

[Marshall]

Without a meter forget the studio set-up,not the easiest things to cope with at a wedding & no use for those candid shots, use the 550 fit a diffuser & preferably a flash bracket.Good luck.

[tim]

Thanks for the advice Marshall, if it's difficult maybe i'm better off not trying it for my first wedding.