Phottix Laso firing, but not controlling flashes

Hi lighting wizards,

Hoping someone who's used this system can help me figure this out. I just got a Laso Transmitter and a few receivers to use with my 580EXII flashes, and I cannot figure out why they're not actually controlling the remote flash settings. Whatever I have set on the speedlite is what I get. I've heard that the speedlite display may not reflect the changes in settings, so I've been taking test shots for everything I try, and it's clear that the speedlite is firing at the same power every time (and if I change it on the speedlite itself, I can see the difference).
- I've got communication. Green link lights on both the receiver and transmitter.
- If I change the settings on the camera body, the change is reflected on the transmitter screen.
- The modeling light will fire if I hit the DOF preview button.
- I've tried both ETTL and Manual modes. Regardless of what the transmitter is sending, the flash behaves how I set it (if the flash is set to Manual, it fires at whatever power it's set to regardless of what the transmitter says. If the flash is set to ETTL, it fires at what looks like the brightness I'd expect. If I switch the mode on the transmitter (ie, manual to ETTL), the speedlite doesn't do anything differently.
- I've tried Group mode
- I've tried switching the receiver to group A or B, no difference.
- I've tried different zoom settings (saw a mention online that the speedlite has to be in auto zoom- I'd rather be able to manually control this, but it is what it is) and that didn't fix it either.
- I've tried two different bodies (5d3 and 7d2)

So... anyone have any idea what I'm missing? Thank you!

The 580 EXII can not receive changes as it’s not radio based.
Will not reflect changes.
I tried to incorporate my old 580 EXII into a newly designed Canon 600 EX-RT, ST-E3RT work flow back in 2012 when first introduced.
After exhausting all possibilities traded in old 580 EXII towards another 600 EX-RT Speedlite.
Now 5 600’s and 2 ST-E3 RT in my Arsenal, this radio based system has been working smoothly now nine years ago.

Is that not the whole point of the Laso system? My understanding was that the Laso receiver received the radio info and relayed it to the non-radio flash via the hot shoe...

bseitz234 wrote in post #19238363
Is that not the whole point of the Laso system? My understanding was that the Laso receiver received the radio info and relayed it to the non-radio flash via the hot shoe...

Can not Talk with old System that does not have built in Radio. Old technology of the 580.
The 580 will work with the Canon 600 system if shot Optically. Still have to adjust settings etc on all Speedlites as no Radio Communication frequency.
I could fire external Speedlites with Old Pocket Wizards with Radio Communication to only FIRE the Speedlites. Still had to physically go to each and every one to adjust power etc. and go back and forth to adjust all additional changes.
Could never take advantage of the entire 600 System.

If you have both transmitter and receiver by Laso, the flash SHOULD behave just like it was mounted directly on the camera hotshoe (or connected via Canon extension cable), responding to commands from the camera. The IR vs. radio is NOT a factor, unless one was attempting to use Canon radio tramsitter to connect directly with a Canon IR-command-only flash unit! Putting the Laso in the middle ought not change the behavior of the flash....the radio transmitter+ receiver is in lieu of the connecting cable!

Put NOTHING into 'Manual' mode...it all has to be in 'eTTL' mode (not simply 'TTL' -- which is compatible only with the old film camera thru-the-lens flash metering!

My suggestiong is to

1. first mount the flash on the camera, and see that it is behaving properly...the flash should detect it is mounted on eTTL camera, and put itself in 'eTTL' mode (not 'TTL' mode). It should emit a low power pre-flash shortly before the appropriately commanded power is emitted.
   
2. THEN after doing #1, put the Laso transmitter and receiver in the middle. Make sure the transmitter and receiver are both in eTTL mode, not Manual. The flash should detect it is on an eTTL device and it should put itself into 'eTTL' mode, just like it did in #1.
   If the transmitter/receiver are NOT in eTTL mode, the flash will NOT detect it is on an eTTL device...it might only remain on 'TTL', which is NOT COMPATIBLE with eTTL and would always fire the flash at full powered rather than control the amount of light output
   

Thank you, Wilt! That seems to have done the trick. I'm not sure exactly which piece of the setup I had wrong, but after going through putting everything in ETTL and reconnecting in order, it's behaving as expected. I did not know that about how ETTL works, but it does make sense that information was getting lost somewhere along the transmission chain. Better still, doing this got me manual control too, just by changing the settings on the camera back and leaving everything else alone.

Great! you were getting a lot of 'not right' advice, so I thought I'd steer you in the right direction!

I guises I need to be “Lassoed” in for passing “not right information…….