Best Method For Firing Flash Remotely & Manually (independent of camera).

I'm just trying to work out the best way to fire my flash remotely (out of reach at the end of a long pole), but fire it independently of my camera's shutter operation.

This is so I can have the shutter open for a long-ish period (30 seconds, or longer in Bulb mode) whilst firing the flash multiple times up the other end of my pole!

I can use my RF-603s to operate the flash and the shutter remotely from a third hand-held transceiver, but I want to fire the flash independently - i.e. multiple times per shutter actuation - and preferably with a hand-held remote, or even with a lead running down the pole to a switch of some description.

I don't mind if I have to hold two remotes (one to open the shutter and another to fire the flash). I've tried one RF-603 hand-held and another attached to the flash, but it won't fire it (and I didn't really expect it to) without one transceiver being on the camera's hot shoe.

Bulb mode might be another difficulty to operate with my set-up, but I'll deal with that when I get to it, and 30 seconds should be okay for most tasks anyway.

Any suggestions would be welcome! Thanks!

Mike

I've been thinking about this. If the RF-603 will fire a flash only when on the camera's hot shoe, then that capability must depend on something to do with the hot shoe pins.

Presumably it makes a connection between two of the pins and then allows the transceiver to transmit to the flash. If that's the case then surely the appropriate pins (whichever ones they are) could be shorted out to put the (now hand-held) transceiver into a constant state of 'pressed-shutter-button' and allow it to trigger the flash.

Any observations or suggestions before I go and ruin my equipment would be gratefully received.

Mike

For some unknown reason Yongnuo removed the test button from the RF-603's. This was a big negative in my opinion.

You should be able to short the center pin and the contact in the side of the foot of the transceiver in your hand and get the remote RF-603 to trigger.

Thanks Dale.

Would that be the pin nearest the battery compartment? It's on the centre line of the unit, but outside the group of four pins. I can't see a contact in the side of the foot, but do you mean the metal plate of the foot itself?

Thanks again,

Mike

* *
* * <----
* <---- (this pin is central, but the damned forum won't display it as typed in the message text box)

Okay, I've worked it out. Looking at the pins underneath the RF-603 (battery compartment side), if you short the two pins arrowed above, it fires the flash (flash with another RF-603 attached).

This isn't much use though without wiring some sort of switch between the two pins. I was hoping that shorting these two pins would then enable the flash to be fired by pressing the main operating button, which would have been much easier to set up by taping something across the two pins.

Mike

I would just get another set of triggers and use the test button on the transmitter to set off your remote flash.

Yes, it looks as if that's the most sensible idea. I have just been looking at the RF-602s. I wanted to stick with the 603s, but I suppose I could get a couple of the earlier model to fire the flash remotely by hand.

Mike

Yeah, you can probably get a used set cheaply off of someone who wants to upgrade to different triggers.