Trigger Slaves with Diffuser

Hi there,

New to using flashes and I have a quick question. I have a 580 EX II and I am about to get a 430 EX II as a second unit.

Can I trigger the 430 EX II in slave mode if I put a diffuser, like a Sto-fen, on the 580 EX II acting as a master?

Thanks.

Yes. I highly recommend you take a look at this thread.
https://photography-on-the.net …/showthread.php​?t=1131904

GeeMack wrote in post #13650302
Yes. I highly recommend you take a look at this thread.
https://photography-on-the.net …/showthread.php​?t=1131904

Thank you, I saw this the other day. Appreciate the help.

As long as the sensor on the front of the 430 can see the light from the 580 flash it will trigger.
The whole other discussion is why you think you need a Stofen?

dedsen wrote in post #13652309
As long as the sensor on the front of the 430 can see the light from the 580 flash it will trigger.
The whole other discussion is why you think you need a Stofen?

Just to take away the harsh light from the 580 EX II. I'll use the 580 as my key, and the 430 as my fill.

MrGreen wrote in post #13652557
Just to take away the harsh light from the 580 EX II.

Do you realize that the small 'tupperware' diffusers do NOT "take away harsh light" unless you have significant (preferably white) reflective surfaces such as walls and ceiling nearby to return the light toward the subject? All these diffusers do is scatter light in many directions instead of toward the subject. Without the reflective surfaces, all one accomplished by using one of these diffusers is reducing the available light from the flash and wasting battery power.

The only thing that "softens" light from a source of light is making the apparent size of the source significantly larger. With the large reflective surfaces, the reflective surfaces become the effective source of the light and they are much larger than the flash lens itself. Without the surfaces, the Stofen's size is not significantly larger than the flash lens itself and the result is very little softening of the shadows near the subject.

Using the Stofen diffuser in an optical master/slave setup would reduce the reliability of the slave to properly "see" the master.

SkipD wrote in post #13654258
Do you realize that the small 'tupperware' diffusers do NOT "take away harsh light" unless you have significant (preferably white) reflective surfaces such as walls and ceiling nearby to return the light toward the subject? All these diffusers do is scatter light in many directions instead of toward the subject. Without the reflective surfaces, all one accomplished by using one of these diffusers is reducing the available light from the flash and wasting battery power.

The only thing that "softens" light from a source of light is making the apparent size of the source significantly larger. With the large reflective surfaces, the reflective surfaces become the effective source of the light and they are much larger than the flash lens itself. Without the surfaces, the Stofen's size is not significantly larger than the flash lens itself and the result is very little softening of the shadows near the subject.

Using the Stofen diffuser in an optical master/slave setup would reduce the reliability of the slave to properly "see" the master.

Cool, thanks for the info. How do I then diffuse the master key light but still have it trigger the slave unit? Can I put it in a softbox?

MrGreen wrote in post #13655542
Cool, thanks for the info. How do I then diffuse the master key light but still have it trigger the slave unit? Can I put it in a softbox?

You could use a softbox or the largest practical reflector panel mounted with the flash (either on-camera or off-camera, depending on what's possible for the situation). The idea is to radically increase the area of the light source (as "seen" by the subject).