Can the 60D's onboard flash control a 600 ex?

I sent my daughter in college one of my flashes. She's taking a photography course and is doing portraits of animals along with photographing a necropsy in the vet school on her campus.

Can her 60D's flash act as a master, something like the ste3, to use the 600 off camera?

Thanks
mark

It can control the 430EX II, but I don't know about the 600.

If the 60D onboard flash can be an optical master for a 430EXII then it can do the same for a 600EX-RT, in optical wireless mode of course. Unlike the ST-E3-RT, which is radio only, she would need to set the 600 to optical wireless.

If you want to spend the money the STE3 will do RT for the 600. The 60D is a pre 2012 release so it will not have all the features 2012/13 cameras offer like group mode but you have only one flash right now. You can still use ETTL and if the flash is in manual you can select ration and control the 600's flash duration from the STE3. Since you have the 600 you are future proofing. Group mode is awesome if you ever expand.

NOTE: The STE3 does not have an AF assist beam but if the setting is well lit it won't matter unlike a dark wedding reception. No second curtain sync off camera for new and older cameras. This bugs some people. Some people get a second 600 for the master. I have 3 x 600's and an STE3 and am very happy.

The other option is getting 3rd party RT triggers if you want to save a few dollars. The Yongnuo YN 568C will do everything - ETTL, second curtain sync.

Here are the restrictions. Even though it states sync speed is cut in half with pre 2012 camera there are numerous reports here that older cameras works at sync speed.

thanks all for your replies.

I (meaning me) have the same as you, Digital Paradise, 3 600's and the STE3. I also have a 1Dx and a 5D3.

In this instance, I've loaned my daughter one 600 for her 60D. I didn't loan her my STE3, though I probably should have, it would have made it a lot easier. I will definitely look into those triggers you mentioned.

Thanks again.

Oh so you are well versed in Canon RT. If she can live with optical then the 60D will fire the 600 but as we all know radio is better. YN has manual triggers that are less expensive but she would probably appreciate ETTL.

LOL. You are making a huge leap there. I'm not well versed in anything. lol.

but if it will fire it, even optically, that should suffice for now. Is there a way of not having the flash on the camera go off? Meaning only a preflash to trigger the 600 nearby?

I'm pretty sure you can set the pop up flash to shoot at minimal duration for this. I said pretty sure because I can't remember the last time I used pop up. I know you can do it with an on camera flash so I don't see why you couldn't with a pop up. The manual will have that info. You can download it at Canon if she has it.

She could always just block the popup flash with her hand (after she's metered the scene).

MDJAK wrote in post #16293571
but if it will fire it, even optically, that should suffice for now. Is there a way of not having the flash on the camera go off? Meaning only a preflash to trigger the 600 nearby?

Yes you can. Here are the relevant pages from the 60D manual. I don't have a 60D but I did test this with my 650D and one of my 600EX-RT's set as an optical slave. The key to getting the onboard flash to only send the prefire pulse is to set the Wireless func setting in step 5 to only show the external speedlite icon. The verbiage in the grey box suggests that the onboard flash may still be visible in certain lighting conditions but it's impact on the exposure should be minimal. The only way to completely avoid that with ETTL, as you know, is to use radio triggering.