430EX - Alien Bees Question

Can you use a 430EX as a background light (or hair light) mounted on a small stand and have it triggered by the Alien Bees?

Thanks in advance for all your input.

Carlos

No.

I guess I should say why. The speedlite doesn't have an optical slave, and it apparently doesn't work well with an external optical slave. For this get a chepa vivitar unit and an optical slave, that'll work. If you put the 430EX in manual mode it can trigger the bees, but not in ETTL because the preflash sets off the strobes.

I was given this advice when I thought about getting the Alienbees. I decided to go with full Canon gear and it has paid off for me. I get a lot of use from my 2 Canon flashes with the transmitter.

Thank you Suzy & Tim for your quick response.

I guess I should just buy a 400 bee to use as a backlight ($225) - the canon st-e2 is $200 and at this point I only have one flash and it would be nice to have a backlight in my studio.

That is wise thinking.

I would suggest that you consider one point, though. All three versions of the AB lights use the same modelling light. A 100-watt lamp (which comes standard with them) is too dim, though. I suggest upgrading to the 150-watt halogen lights (from Home Depot, etc.). The problem is that if you have different model AB lights, all fitted with the same modelling lamp, then the shadows, etc., that you see with light from the modelling lights won't be correct in a multi-light situation. If you, on the other hand, have all the same model of AB light - all fitted with the same modelling light bulb - then you can do multi-light setups and be much more able to predict the way shadows and balancing of the lights will work.

Thanks Skip.