Can 550EX be used as a background flash?

Hello all,

I'm about ready to buy my first lighting kit (alien bee B800 strobes) and I'm going to start with 2 strobes. I'm thinking that I can use one strobe as my main light and reflect that. The second strobe can either be used as a hair light (need to buy the boom for this) or a background light. I'm also looking to buy the 550 EX, so I was wondering... does the 550 EX have a PC input so that it can be used as a background light? I haven't worked with lighting at all, but my guess is that the background light does not have to be diffused, correct? In that case, is the 550 EX powerful enough to spotlight the background?

Thanks for any input/suggestions. The B800 can output 14,000 lumenseconds. I can't seem to find that spec for the 550 EX. If I knew that, it might give me a better idea as to the relative output difference between the two. So much to learn...

Thanks again for any help!
-Deva

The 550EX doesn't have a PC outlet. You can get a hot shoe to PC adapter at www.paramountcords.com. You also can't use a peanut slave as the 550 will lock up. You'll need a better slave like a Wein Digital. It should be powerful enough for a background. I've used less powerful flashes to do that.
Scott

A 550EX can function as a slave to another 550EX with wireless E-TTL. It works well as a perimeter light, if that's what you're asking.

dphoto wrote:
Hello all,

I'm about ready to buy my first lighting kit (alien bee B800 strobes) and I'm going to start with 2 strobes. I'm thinking that I can use one strobe as my main light and reflect that. The second strobe can either be used as a hair light (need to buy the boom for this) or a background light. I'm also looking to buy the 550 EX, so I was wondering... does the 550 EX have a PC input so that it can be used as a background light? I haven't worked with lighting at all, but my guess is that the background light does not have to be diffused, correct? In that case, is the 550 EX powerful enough to spotlight the background?

Thanks for any input/suggestions. The B800 can output 14,000 lumenseconds. I can't seem to find that spec for the 550 EX. If I knew that, it might give me a better idea as to the relative output difference between the two. So much to learn...

Thanks again for any help!
-Deva

You should use one flash as a main light and the second as a fill. This is more important than a hair light. You'll have flexability and control over your lighting ratios which you won't have if you just use a reflector. This is the essence of studio lighting: Main + Fill in a lighting ratio. The rest of the lights are spices in the soup. Important no doubt, but not critical.

As for hair and background lights you could use a 550 on a manual setting with a light slave. There is no synch terminal in the 550 and your camera would be plugged into one of the studio strobes in any case, so there's no way of plugging another flash into the camera anyway. I guess that you could figure out a cabling system of some kind but I just plug my camera (through a Wein Safe Synch) into a strobe and then have everything else light slaved. This will only work if there are no other competing flashes so you have to go to a radio slave sype of system if you intended on using this at a wedding or something similar.

But rather than the 550 you'd be just as well off with a Vivitar 283/285. In a lot of ways that kind of Automatic flash is better than the 550 since you could still use Automatic settings which the 550 lacks. You could easily afford at least two of these flashes for what one 550 would go for. You'd have one as a hair light and one as a background light. I put Velco on the sides of a flash that I'm going to use as a hairlight so I can attach small black cards to act as flags to aim the hairlight and to prevent flare.

These flash's are powerful enough to do the job. But in portrait photography you don't need or want a lot of power. I like to shoot portraits at about f5.6. The subject's eye's and face are completely sharp, but the backgound is blurred and that's what I want. I could use f22 and spend an hour using Photoshop and Gaussian Blur on the background, or I could shoot it at 5.6 and let the camera do the work!

You can use an ST-E2 to fire both the Strobes and a 550. I take it the AB's have a slave cell incorporated into them?

I like to be wireless (to the camera anyway) in the studio so often use the ST-E2 to fire my Bowens setup (4 strobes in total). The 550 makes a nice background or accent flash but you will have to play around with it on manual to get what you want. I often use it fired into a small silver lined brolly as an accent light and it does work very well as you are able to turn the power right down to just give a bit of extra light her or there.

Hey guys,

Thanks for your input! Scott, thanks for the info on hot shoe to PC adapter and the Wein peanuts.

G3, yes, I was talking about perimeter lighting, and I'm glad to know it will work.

Chris, the AB's do have slave cells... how would I use an ST-E2 to trigger them? Does the IR from an ST-E2 trigger most slaves? Or would there have to be a 550 in manual mode that would be triggered by the ST-E2, which would in turn trigger the slaves? I'm intrigued by your setup... how exactly does it work?

Dave, thanks for the info on fill lighting. I'm going to have to reconsider my original plan. I need to look at lighting ratios again. I like the idea of connecting the camera to one strobe and then letting everything else be light slaved. It sounds like a 550 in manual mode could be light slaved through a hot shoe to PC adapter and a slave cell, correct? It would also give me the option of using a multi-PC cord setup if I needed to. I do have a question regarding "automatic" lighting in the studio... I thought all the strobes had to be set manually independent of each other anyhow, so any flash that is automatic is not really going to figure things out correctly, is it? No, I don't want to shoot at f22 either... which is why the B800's are probably overkill in this situation. I think diffused through a softbox I might use 1/4 power, but that's just a guess at this point. I'm anticipating some non-portrait use in the future, so I would like to have the power. As I rethink this whole thing, I might be better off with a mix of B400's and B800's.

Thanks again for the help. It gives me a lot more to think about! Once again, any input is appreciated... I'm still learning. Now to look into those Vivitars...

-Deva

The 550EX does not work well with the cheap optical triggers. The trigger locks up after one flash, requiring you to power cycle the 550EX. The expensive Wein SSL triggers are purported to work, but at over $100 a pop you might as well consider the ST-E2 or go with Pocket Wizards.

If I were in your shoes, the question I'd be asking myself is, do I want wireless ETTL for those situations when I'm not in the studio? If so, then the ST-E2 is your only option. In the studio, it's MHO that the ST-E2 is not the right tool to trigger studio flashes. While others have had success, for reliable results, you need to disable the preflash, which is only possible by taping all but the main contact on the unit. Putting the 550EX into manual mode is not sufficient to stop the ST-E2 from emitting the preflash.

You are correct that automatic flash has no place in the studio when used in concert with studio strobes. A studio is by definition an environment where every aspect of the lighting is under the photographer's control. All manual is really the only way to go.

Hello slin,

Hey, thanks a lot for your input. In regards to ETTL, you are correct, this has to do with "away from the studio." I have the 300D, and from experience, the onboard flash can be very harsh, especially indoors, and there is no way to adjust its intensity. When away from the studio, the 550EX mounted on the hot shoe would allow me to adjust its intensity and even diffuse it a little. Also, ETTL is nice on the road since it figures out a good exposure very quickly! Anyhow, since I was looking to get a 550 for these reasons, I was trying to see if I could incorporate it into my future home studio somehow, thus saving money on another strobe. But, as costs add up due to adapters and what not, I may be inclined to just buy another strobe. I'd rather pay $225 for a B400 strobe than $100 for an adapter to make a 550EX work. It would have been nice if they had designed the 550EX to be a better non-ETTL slave for studio environments, but oh well, what are you going to do? Anyhow, I still need to look into those Vivitar flashes as possible hair/backlights. At $80 each, I've got to at least look into it!

Yeah, I agree with you... all manual in the studio is the only way to go!

Thanks again for your help!
-Deva

I think you'll get easier results if you use all studio flashes or else all Canon flashes. Mixing them together probably can be done, but the question is whether it should be done.

---Bob Gross---

I have not been able to get that to work out. Like you said, it probably can be done, but it seems that it is much more trouble than it is worth. I have had very good results just using straight E-TTL wireless with 2 550EX's (a main flash mounted on a Stroboframe and a perimeter flash on a tripod) for this application, bouncing the perimeter flash off the ceiling.

This is probably your best bet since you would then have a modeling light.

A 550EX has a modeling light.

It's not a continuous modeling light, only 1 sec. I've never tried it, but I doubt the modeling light output is adjustable, either.

The point is, if all the other flashes have continuous modeling lights, then using a 550EX in that setup is less useful.

You don't need a modeling light for a background like... at least I don't see why you would need one. I have a friend that uses the IR trigger between his camera and the 550ex, which is mounted on a tripod. He does this for hundreds of shots with no problem. I use the Excalibur monolights myself and I found for a background light a small Photogenic 3001 worked great. It also made a nice hairlight when I needed it. There are a lot of small AC strobes available that should work pretty well. The biggest advantage to using a AC powered strobe is you don't have to worry about the batteries wearing down and slowing down the recycling time.

Mike

Hey Mike,

Thanks for the input. Hmmm... more for me to think about. Also, I am curious to know... you said your friend uses an IR trigger between his camera and the 550EX. Is that the ST-E2, or some other kind of IR device that attaches to the hot shoe? If it is the ST-E2, then it wouldn't work with other strobes because the preflash would trip them prematurely. So it must be something else?

So, does anyone know the approximate cost of a small AC strobe with a slave cell?

Thanks again everyone, this has been extremely helpful!
-Deva