flash cord

Had a canon 550d for 18 months & recently got a nissin d622i mark 2 flash gun - performance so far is strong when it's on the camera but i want to experiment with the flash being moved around the subject to learn how it pays off

anyway, as far as i understand it, my options are:-

1) get another flash gun on my camera to trigger another flash remotely (too expensive & too early for me to do this, it's not an option)
2) use my inbuilt flash to trigger the flash gun remotely (happy to experiment but wonder if the inbuilt flash (which lets face it is rubbish) will effect the lighting
3) get a cable to link the camera to the flash gun

option 3 is my preference & so ive been looking around for a budget option to get me going. what i want to know is if there's any/much difference between a specific (genuine) nissin cable which would be on the pricey side, versus a cheaper 3rd party "hot shoe extension"?

is the only difference the length of the cable (hot shoe extensions look coiled), the quality & the price?

wellsie82 wrote in post #15510885
Had a canon 550d for 18 months & recently got a nissin d622i mark 2 flash gun - performance so far is strong when it's on the camera but i want to experiment with the flash being moved around the subject to learn how it pays off

anyway, as far as i understand it, my options are:-

1) get another flash gun on my camera to trigger another flash remotely (too expensive & too early for me to do this, it's not an option)
2) use my inbuilt flash to trigger the flash gun remotely (happy to experiment but wonder if the inbuilt flash (which lets face it is rubbish) will effect the lighting
3) get a cable to link the camera to the flash gun

option 3 is my preference & so ive been looking around for a budget option to get me going. what i want to know is if there's any/much difference between a specific (genuine) nissin cable which would be on the pricey side, versus a cheaper 3rd party "hot shoe extension"?

is the only difference the length of the cable (hot shoe extensions look coiled), the quality & the price?

there's also a fourth option - wireless triggers either manual or ETTL. Cheap manual triggers are can be as low as $20 and you have to set the flash power manually. ETTL triggers like the Yongnuo YN-622c wireless flash triggers cost around $80

thanks watt100 - hadn't listed that as assumed (incorrectly now!) that they would be very expensive

If you're going to grab the 622's, know that they don't support Nissin flashes through on-camera remote control, which is a really nice feature. My experience with flash cords is that they all work equally well. I would recommend getting one that isn't coiled. You have the potential to send your gear shooting for the floor by stretching a coiled cord to far.

Rashkh wrote in post #15510981
If you're going to grab the 622's, know that they don't support Nissin flashes through on-camera remote control, which is a really nice feature.

sorry, me being daft but can you confirm what you meant here?

wellsie82 wrote in post #15511028
sorry, me being daft but can you confirm what you meant here?

If you have a compatible flash (which you don't) and a compatible camera (which you do) and have your flash set to manual mode with the 622c attached, you can adjust the flash settings from the camera instead of walking over to the flash and adjusting them there. It's a very convenient feature to have if your flash is twenty feet away and you're fine tuning the flash strength or whatever it is.

Compatible flashes and cameras listed here:
http://www.yongnuostor​e.com …-flash-trigger-for-canon/

Rashkh wrote in post #15511048
If you have a compatible flash (which you don't) and a compatible camera (which you do) and have your flash set to manual mode with the 622c attached, you can adjust the flash settings from the camera instead of walking over to the flash and adjusting them there. It's a very convenient feature to have if your flash is twenty feet away and you're fine tuning the flash strength or whatever it is.

Compatible flashes and cameras listed here:
http://www.yongnuostor​e.com …-flash-trigger-for-canon/

got you, so what you meant was in addition to firing the flash from the camera, you could of controlled the power etc manually, but from the camera

this isn't a problem for me, not at the outset anyway as im not sure how much i'll be using the flash like this, but i can certainly see the benefits

in terms of fit, i assume both of these will suffice (one long & expensive, the other short & cheap)?

http://www.ebay.co.uk …Cords&hash=item​1c1aee3dca

http://www.ebay.co.uk …ts_JN&hash=item​1c2f5a6568

I do not know anything about the quality of the eBAY cords you linked to. I imagine that most of these cords can be traced to the same manufacturer anyway. I would suggest getting a straight, non-curled cord for the long cord. If you place your flash on a stand and try to use a curled cord at max length, you are going to pull the stand over. A straight cord does lets you use most of the distance and lays nicely in the floor out of the way. But really, forget the cords!
The best thing to do is go with the suggestion above and get the YN 622 wireless units. You are going to spend about 1/2 that price to get cords. I promise you will be happy you did. Cords break, cords have bad connections, cords pull your expensive flashes over and smash them into pieces. Cordless units just require batteries and work.

^ Seconded and thirded and fourthed and so on.
If it's not you who trips over the cord, rips it out of the camera or flash and ruins the cord you can virtually guarantee that someone will do it. In so doing, they're quite likely to pull the flash over and break that too. Then you're down one flash unit AND one cord - all for the sake of initially saving a few £/$/€(depending on where you are). If you're really unlucky, it could rip the hotshoe off the camera (official spec is that this is held on by four 5mm long 1.7mm CSK bolts, not a lot of strength there) but that's far less likely than pulling the flash onto the ground and breaking it.

Some will tell you how they've had great success with cords. They've either been lucky or they work completely alone. Go cordless - it's cheaper in the medium term.

I use cords regularly for close-contact situations (ie flash on a bracket) where I have total control over it. Every other situation, I reach for my Yongnuo 622Cs or Pixel Kings. Yes, even when I'm all on my lonesome, in my living room (no studio since I retired) and just doing small pack shots. So much safer, so much more reliable, so much neater to work with and around. It's not the connectors themselves which cause the problems so much as that infuriating bit of wire tying them together; get rid of that and life is so much simpler.

Check out Clive Bolton's guide here for what you can/can't do with your current combination.

thank you to both you guys for your advice, for double the price they're not as expensive as i thought they'd be. going to have a good read of that pdf that whortleberry kindly provided then start saving up

you guys are clearly experienced & know how to look after your kit, as you say its ok when it's just you there as you'll know where the cables/kit is but others might not

We are just trying to save you from having the box full of "good ideas" that are never used like we have.

dedsen wrote in post #15512098
We are just trying to save you from having the box full of "good ideas" that are never used like we have.

Well, Dale, some folks are just borne lucky if you only have a box full of "good ideas" - some of us have a cupboard and two filing cabinet drawers full. I have one drawer full of nothing but cables.

I'd rather have the money than all that junk. Even more annoying is that I can never quite bring myself to dump it "just in case"..........:o

Finally found enough money & time to consider this again but im getting conflicting info as to whether Yongnuo YN-622c wireless flash triggers would work with my nissin flash.

i've contacted sellers on ebay & amazon. One said it would work, the other said "we wouldnt suggest it" then when i asked would it work yes/no they said no

wellsie82 wrote in post #15734821
Finally found enough money & time to consider this again but im getting conflicting info as to whether Yongnuo YN-622c wireless flash triggers would work with my nissin flash.

i've contacted sellers on ebay & amazon. One said it would work, the other said "we wouldnt suggest it" then when i asked would it work yes/no they said no

You're definitely not going to get off camera flash control with the Nissin flashes. As for the other features, I'm not too sure since I don't have a nissin flash.

Below is a link to the 100+ page thread on the 622c's. I'm willing to bet that the answer to pretty much any question you can come up with is likely in there.

Relevant thread - https://photography-on-the.net …?t=1212530&high​light=622c

2) use my inbuilt flash to trigger the flash gun remotely..............​.

Yes, you already have everything you need to get started with off camera flash. The Nissin D622i Mk II is a very nice flash that has THREE different built-in slave modes. One of those slave modes will work perfectly with the 550D pop-up flash and can be used to trigger the Nissin flash remotely. Yes, the pop-up flash might be noticeable in the photo, but it is very easy to add some kind of a diffuser or reflector to lessen or eliminate any light reaching your subject. Keep in mind the Nissin flash will be used in manual mode and you will have to adjust the power to suit the scene.

An ETTL flash cord will give you off camera ETTL, but why not experiment with what you have now? It's FREE!