Low cost off camera flash tutorial for beginners

great write up Axton!

Good one! More links here:
FAQ - Studio Lighting
Simple "every-day-emergency" location lighting

Fill light at sunset

Portable softboxes outdoors

Great post! Thanks for a guy just starting to play with off the camera flash!

this is very helpful. thanks! one question. i have a 30D nd a 580 ex II. do i need a male - female synch cable or female - female? it looks like the camera and the flash have the same type of synch connection so im kinda confused...

^^^i think i found the answer in another thread. it would be male to male correct? just need a confimation before i buy it online...

CharlieD wrote in post #4576921
^^^i think i found the answer in another thread. it would be male to male correct? just need a confimation before i buy it online...

this may help...I'm not sure which you need but you might be able to tell from this article

http://strobist.blogsp​ot.com …-pc-cords-and-pocket.html (it's a great blog to follow if you are getting interested in lighting)

Permagrin wrote in post #4577161
this may help...I'm not sure which you need but you might be able to tell from this article

http://strobist.blogsp​ot.com …-pc-cords-and-pocket.html (it's a great blog to follow if you are getting interested in lighting)

thanks. ive been following strobist for about 2 months now and finally can start to apply what ive learned with my first flashes. it turns out i needed a male to male PC cord. they are somewhat hard to find but b&h has them for $20

CharlieD wrote in post #4577366
thanks. ive been following strobist for about 2 months now and finally can start to apply what ive learned with my first flashes. it turns out i needed a male to male PC cord. they are somewhat hard to find but b&h has them for $20

You can also get them from Lon at FlashZebra.com.

ooh very nice thread - thanks for the info!

I just love stuff like this!

One word of caution about doing this with older flashes, beware of the trigger voltage. The trigger voltage on an older flash can be higher than the trigger voltage on the hot shoe of your camera. If your camera has a pc sync outlet on the side, you'll be fine. If you have to use an adapter on the hot shoe, be careful. Here is a good resource on trigger voltages.

http://www.botzilla.co​m/photo/strobeVolts.ht​ml

Fantastic post. I have a Canon 580 EX that I woud like to use as the main flash in this setup. When I went to E-Bay to check on the optical slave it specifically states that the optical slave will not work with Canon flashes as they emitt a pre-flash which will trigger the slave. Does the 580 EX emitt a pre-flash in manual mode? I would purchase a Sunpak 383 as the second flash connected to the optical slave. Any easy way around this?

Thanks,

Michael

Thanks for the write up Axton.

Have you had any issues with the optical slave? I am looking at purchasing one in the near future.

Also it looks like your particular slave will only work if the flash has a built in PC outlet. Is this correct?

mwvt9 wrote in post #4923895
Thanks for the write up Axton.

Have you had any issues with the optical slave? I am looking at purchasing one in the near future.

Also it looks like your particular slave will only work if the flash has a built in PC outlet. Is this correct?

I must say, this particular optical slave has been fantastic! I've never tried it outdoors, but in studio it has not failed me yet.

The optical slave has a simple hotshoe mount, so it is not necessary that the flash have a built in PC outlet. This optical slave also has a PC socket on the side so you can link it to aother flash and trigger two flashes with it (or you could just get another optical slave).

JazzRat wrote in post #4923352
Fantastic post. I have a Canon 580 EX that I woud like to use as the main flash in this setup. When I went to E-Bay to check on the optical slave it specifically states that the optical slave will not work with Canon flashes as they emitt a pre-flash which will trigger the slave. Does the 580 EX emitt a pre-flash in manual mode? I would purchase a Sunpak 383 as the second flash connected to the optical slave. Any easy way around this?

Thanks,

Michael

If the 580EX is in manual mode and the remote (Master/Slave) switch is set to off, you shouldn't have any problems firing an optical slave with it. The preflash is fired only when the 580EX is in ETTL mode.