using 580ex II and 430ex II together

hi guys

ive been getting into portrait photography recently, and today i bought a 580ex II off a mate for $80 (yes i know, what a bargain!!!). anyway, i tried to do some testing (with the 580 as the master and the 430 as the slave) to get both to fire at once, but i can only get the 430 to fire. the 580 does the small flashes before i take the photo, but when the photo is taken the 580 does not fire. i want both to fire at the same time when the photo is taken.

ive tried searching google but i cant find anything (maybe because i have bad google skills). is there a guide on how to set 2 WIRED flashes up?

my setup is canon 7d, 580ex II and 430ex II connected with a Lastolite 3m Off-camera TTL Flash Cord.

In the flash control menu of the camera under external flash control, make sure the master flash is enabled. If disabled, it will fire instructions to the slave(s) in the form of rapid light pulses but will contribute very little to the exposure.

This has me confused. The 580 as master should be in the hotshoe or at the end of the TTL cord connected to the camera's hotshoe and the 430 should be in slave mode free of wires. Or the 580 and 430 can be unwired slaves with the 7D's popup flash as master.

figured it out! i had my cable attached to the hot shoe on the camera, and then my 580 attached to the cable. just put the 580 on the cameras hot shoe and all it good now! weird though, i couldnt see the master flash option in the camera when my 580 was on the cable. thanks for your help mate!

Is the Lastolite cord model 2424 (Canon 3m)? It could have the wrong shoes, or a fault. A significant number of E-TTL cables are wired incorrectly for Canon, even with the correct shoe.

If the 7D flash control menu doesn't recognise the 580EXII at the end of the cable, the cable is faulty/incorrect.

BTW, Pixel HK has a great cable set - "Componor". I keep it as a backup to radio triggers.

mcrow5 wrote in post #15747689
... i couldnt see the master flash option in the camera when my 580 was on the cable.

As Clive stated, defective or incompatible cable. Glad you're back on track.

CliveyBoy wrote in post #15747779
Is the Lastolite cord model 2424 (Canon 3m)? It could have the wrong shoes, or a fault. A significant number of E-TTL cables are wired incorrectly for Canon, even with the correct shoe.

If the 7D flash control menu doesn't recognise the 580EXII at the end of the cable, the cable is faulty/incorrect.

BTW, Pixel HK has a great cable set - "Componor". I keep it as a backup to radio triggers.

it is a "A2424". but heres whats wierd. i have the cable connected to my 7d and my 580 ex on another tripod at the other end of the cable. it works. and so does my 430ex on the end of the cable. but i put the 580ex on the mount thats on the camera, and the 430ex on the other end, the 580 is not recognised. and i only get output from the 430.

so yes, it seems i have a faulty connection. will be taking it back for a replacement, although i dont really need to, i can just place the 580 in the cameras hot shoe and all works well inside.

but yet another problem, i go outside to get some practise with my back facing the sun and using the flashes to light my body, and i cant get my 430 as the slave to work. it works indoors, but not outdoors???

mcrow5 wrote in post #15748058
... but yet another problem, i go outside to get some practise with my back facing the sun and using the flashes to light my body, and i cant get my 430 as the slave to work. it works indoors, but not outdoors???

If your 580 as master is in the hotshoe and you're not using it to add exposure, pan its head to point at the 430 slave. The 430's wireless sensor is at the front of the unit. Pan its head (430) so it points where you want the light but the sensor in the base should be aimed at the 580. And zoom the 580's head to maximum to get as much control light as possible to the 430.

that was the issue, i faced the two flashes towards each other and they both worked.

now one more question, my 430 recharges really quickly, but my 580 takes a good 5-10 seconds to recharge and be ready for another flash. is this normal?

On the cable issue - the camera allows only one "master". So it is likely that the socket on top of the cable on camera is by design unable to function as a Master. That is reserved for the far end of the cable.

The other problem you have is likely to be your batteries. Rechargeables fail, often after 2 years of use. It only takes one to fail to take down the set. Get a good reporting charger so you can tell when a battery charges to quick or too slow compared to the others.

I use Powerex 2700MAh batteries with the Maha Powerex MH-C9000 charger. My 580EXII is ready in 1.3 seconds after a full dump.

However, the flash's capacitor can go bad. It is very much cheaper to buy a new set of batteries than send the flash to Canon for them to put new batteries in.