AF Assist for OCF?

When I bought my 7D+580EXII combo back in 2009, I bought the Demb Flip-it! immediately afterwards and the combo has served me very well these past 3+ years. Over this time, I have tried my hand at OCF using the wireless flash ETTL option in the 7D and it works well with my 580EXII but severely limits me with its LoS requirement.

Last week I finally bought a full set of OCF components. The list is:

- YN-560II speedlite x 1.
- CS 2.4GHz triggers (being returned and replaced with YN-603 to support the "wake up" feature when speedlites are on stand-by) x 2.
- CS 28" white/black umbrellas (non shoot-through) x 2.
- CS light stand adapters x 2.
- PBL 8" light stands x 2.

I am having a lot of fun experimenting with manual OCF control and two speedlites (my first time for both) but I miss AF-assist. I mostly take family pictures of my wife and kids and with high-ceilings in our house, AF-assist used to sometimes be a help after sunset.

What do you guys do for this? I looked into the ST-E2 but don't want LoS limitation so that isn't an option for me. What else can I do? Buy yet another speedlite and add it above the YN-603 transmitter? Does the signal pass-through the transmitter and to the camera? Anything else I should consider?

ManiZ wrote in post #15394320
When I bought my 7D+580EXII combo back in 2009, I bought the Demb Flip-it! immediately afterwards and the combo has served me very well these past 3+ years. Over this time, I have tried my hand at OCF using the wireless flash ETTL option in the 7D and it works well with my 580EXII but severely limits me with its LoS requirement.

Last week I finally bought a full set of OCF components. The list is:

- YN-560II speedlite x 1.
- CS 2.4GHz triggers (being returned and replaced with YN-603 to support the "wake up" feature when speedlites are on stand-by) x 2.
- CS 28" white/black umbrellas (non shoot-through) x 2.
- CS light stand adapters x 2.
- PBL 8" light stands x 2.

I am having a lot of fun experimenting with manual OCF control and two speedlites (my first time for both) but I miss AF-assist. I mostly take family pictures of my wife and kids and with high-ceilings in our house, AF-assist used to sometimes be a help after sunset.

What do you guys do for this? I looked into the ST-E2 but don't want LoS limitation so that isn't an option for me. What else can I do? Buy yet another speedlite and add it above the YN-603 transmitter? Does the signal pass-through the transmitter and to the camera? Anything else I should consider?

The Yongnuo YN-622C triggers have an AF assist beam built into them.

I hate to offer an expensive solution, but lenses that are f/2.8 or faster will focus much better in low light.

You could always focus manually. If you're using umbrellas, etc presumably your subjects aren't moving much.

You could put a ST-E2 on top of your YN-603 (not sure you would have a line-of-site issue if your using umbrella's)

I do a similar thing (but the other way around, (Skyport trigger on top of the ST-E2)

Thanks to all for the input so far. I should clarify that the umbrellas are for posed portraits. I haven't even used them yet in the last 3 days they've been here.

Most of my pics are candid of the kids and I used to use just the camera-mounted 580EXII with the flip-it deflector, but with the new gear this week, I started placing the 580EXII and YN-560 II with triggers in different parts of the room to take those pics.

Matthew, I noticed the thread on YN-622 right after creating this one. I will definitely be looking into them very seriously. The price is amazing for sure.

Curtis, I hadn't though of the lens having an impact on AF but it makes sense. I will try my nifty fifty wide open and see how well it does.

PixelMagic, little kids are involved here (a toddler and an infant), so split-second focusing and shutter release are paramount for me for those candid pix.

Mark, that is another good option I wasn't aware of. I will look into that. I want scalability with the option I pick. I've read that the ST-E2 struggles outdoors or in large areas indoors. Have you had any issues with that?

If you have a look at my YN-622 review - http://flashhavoc.com/​yn622c_review/ you can see that you can even use a 622 TX just as the focus assist light with other manual triggers.

The RF-603 are not the greatest triggers either as the sync speed is very low. Its taken years to find a good alternative at similar prices - but there is one now in the Comtrig T320. You can see the trigger guide here - http://flashhavoc.com/​which-radio-trigger/ and T320 review here - http://flashhavoc.com/​commlite-comtrig-t320-review/

Note - any trigger on top of the YN-622 pass through will have a little added delay (so slighlty slower sync speed), in which case the RF-603 again are not ideal as they are slow enough already.

ManiZ wrote in post #15395676
I will try my nifty fifty wide open and see how well it does.

Try it at any aperture. It's always wide open during AF.

Also, on some cameras the center AF point is a cross type AF sensor that works better than the others, especially with f/2.8 or faster lenses.

The 50 F1.8 is also one of the worst lenses at focusing in low light. I only recently bought a 50mm F1.4, and the images are not really that much different at wide apertures, but the focus is like chalk and cheese.

I don't expensive fancy equipment (YN602's, YN467, Viv 285HV). In low light, I use a small flashlight. Cheap, simple, effective.