Noob Question re: simple strobe setup

Hi all,
Noob here (to strobe), and I'd like to assemble a simple system for doing studio portratis for friends and family. No professional work.

What I have:
- 580EXII
- Lastolite Ezybox HotShoe
- Canon 7D w/ 17-55mm, 100mmLmacro, Sig 30mm
- Backdrop and various lighting stands and reflectors

What I think I'd like:
- 1 monolite to start with (Alien Bee, Einstein, or equivalent)
- Modifiers for monolite: beauty dish for doing over/under shots, softbox, snoot or grid for hair light shots

What I need help on:
- What do I need to sync the 580 to the monolite? I can sync the 580 to my 7D using the on-camera flash, but I don't know to sync the monolite. Wireless would be nice, but I don't want to spend the money on transmitters just yet. I don't mind using sync cord, but don't know what I need. Wireless to 580 and cord to monolite? If I do buy transmitters, do I need a receiver for each strobe? I'm confused!

Thanks for any help. POTN is amazing!

Personally I would pick up some cheaper wireless triggers like the Yongnuo rf-603, sync cables are a pain to deal with. I would use a receiver on each strobe but you could get by with just one on the 580 and use the optical slave on the monolight.

Thanks, David. If I understand you correctly, the monolight can trigger optically from the 580II and doesn't need a wireless transmitter. The 7D can trigger the 580II without sync cord but I think it's optical or IR only (no RF) so the on-camera flash has to fire in order to trigger it. Also the 7D allows you to delay firing the 580II so the on-camera flash doesn't add to the photo. If I choose to strobe the 580II only, will the on-camera flash trigger the monolight at the wrong time? Sorry, I'm not sure you're familiar with the 7D's off-camera strobe setup, so this may be a lot more info than you care for.

The 7D will need to fire the 580 while set to manual (not ETTL) in order for the monolight optical slave to work. You are right, I am not familiar with 7D but I think it only works wireless with ETTL. You could also fire the 580 using a sync cord and the optical slave to fire the monolight.

If you are going to use the optical slave trigger of the strobe, forget the built in flash Control of the camera. It uses pulses of light for that control. Lots of them. Too many of them for the strobe trigger to ignore and the strobe will fire early. Bare minimum get one set of wireless triggers. Transmitter on camera. Receiver on the 580 with it in manual mode and the strobe optic trigger active. Best case, wireless receivers for both the flash and the strobe.

The 7d can do wireless mode in manual but the are still too many command flashes for an simple optical trigger to ignore.

http://www.paulcbuff.c​om/cybersync.php

If you want the studio strobe to also fire your 580EXII, you could get an optical slave: http://www.flashzebra.​com/products/0118/inde​x.shtml

Or get another wireless receiver and connect it to the PC-sync connection of the 580EXII.

Thanks, all, for your replies. Looks like wireless RF is the way I need to go. Dedsen, your comment re: the built-in flash control causing the monolight to fire early is just the info I needed. Now all I need to do is decide on brand.

dedsen: you live in Independence MO? I grew up there! Truman grad, class of '74. Now I live in Peculiar and work on the Plaza...

Glad to help. William Chrisman class of 1971.

After much searching on Amazon, B&H, and elsewheres, I pulled the trigger on one AB800, beauty dish, soft box, and a fistful of RF transmitters. I was very pleased with the total cost. - except shipping. Ugh.