Portable Studio Set HELP!

Hey all,

Alright, I'm a newbie in this but first of all, what I mean by "portable studio set" was my 7D, 430ex II flash, and hopefully soon an umbrella and it's stand (Should I or not?). I don't have a pocket wizard device or something to that extent so the only way I'm using the flash as a slave is by the infrared from the 7D as I tested plenty of times.

What I'm concerned about right now is that if I take the umbrella around and set up my little studio outside (friends and I are experimenting on this), will I have to get myself the pocket wizard if it doesn't work or shouldn't I? I don't think I elaborated this enough.

I guess what I'm concerned with is if I have to buy a pocket wizard to trigger the system instead of just the flash when it's pointed away from me (when the umbrella reflects the flash to the speedlite). Hopefully I made sense.:roll eyes:


EDIT- What do you need if you don't have a wireless system for the flashes? Just a long cable or so? OR will the 7D still help along with that infrared thing?

sync cable will do fine. but the 430 does not have a pc sync port. you'll need another hotshoe adapter with a pc port to trigger the 430 via the cable.

Your easiest and cheapest option for ETTL off the camera in those conditions is a long off camera cord like the ones they carry at www.flashzebra.com Another option would be to get some inexpensive manual triggers and dont worry about ETTL. Manual off camera flash is easier than it sounds and give more consistent results.

I haven't heard very positive things about the range of triggering flashes via IR outdoors. You'll still need to be facing the flash sensor if you do that, though. You could use a cable as gonzogolf said, but if you want to go wireless, the Cactus V5s or Yongnuo RF-603s are the best options for such a low price. They're manual only triggers though, so you'll have to be shooting in all-manual for both flash and camera settings (which most people find preferable).