420ex slave

[dioptic]

Hello,

I have some studio strobes and I'd like to use them to "frontlight" faces as I use my new 420ex as a slave to backlight a portrait session tommorow.

Would you help me? I can't seem to get the 420ex to fire when I fire the strobes. How does the slve feature work on the 420ex? Do channels and groups come into play? If so, how?

If it matters, I'll be using a 20D

Thanks.

dioptic

[tim]

How are you firing the strobes?

[dioptic]

Tim,

Thanks. I am firing the strobes by pushing the test button on the control panel as a test for the slave. When I am shooting for real I use a sync cord from my camera to one of the strobes.

dioptic

[tim]

I don't know much about studio strobes, but one thing I do know is the Canon flashes are triggered by an IR signal or the hot shoe. They don't have optical triggers.

How do you have the 420 connected?

[dioptic]

Tim,


The 420ex comes with a small stand. I've just got the 420ex on the stand facing the strobe as I fire it.

dioptic

[tim]

The stand's just a hunk of plastic to keep it from falling over, it doesn't do anything. With your current setup there's no way you're going to get the 420 to fire. You'll need to use a wired or wireless system to get it to fire, but since I have no experience i'd recommend waiting for someone who knows more about this than me to help you you.

[robertwgross]

You are not properly triggering the 420EX.

It is not optically triggered by generic flashing.

It can be triggered by a Canon wireless master, but it appears you are not using one.

It is possible to attach a sync cable, but it takes a slightly special sync cable to go from the camera's PC connector to the hot shoe foot of the 420EX.

---Bob Gross---

[mgbeach]

could you use something like the wein optical slave for this application?

http://www.pictureline.com/product.php?id=2780

[kjonnnn]

Those little optical slaves work too. I think they are about $30 each. They attach to the bottomof your flash.