ST-E2 Modification

Have just modded my ST-E2 with a hot shoe on the top of the battery cover.

Purpose of mod. is to be able to use remote wireless strobes but utilize the ST-E2 AF assist beam (and could also control an speedlite that was within the range of the ST-E2)

This could be accomplished by using the sync port but you still have to mount the trigger somewhere or leave it dangling around. There are also some camera models that don't have a sync port.

One thing Canon should put on their bodies is an AF assist light!.

Not an easy bit of kit to work on.

So that is a working hotshoe? Do you have more pics and info on how to do it?

Thanks

That's a very cool looking mod. A little more details on the how-to would be greatly appeiciated.

Ah, sorry guys, didn't take any photos of the job.

It is a working hot shoe but only for something very light weight as a RF trigger but I wouldn't put something a big as a PW on it.

Basically a hot shoe scraped from something I had lying around, screw fixed to the battery cover. It has two fine wires (soldered to the center pin & the mounting plate) that go down through the bottom of the battery box, under the PCB and are joined onto the corresponding wires leading up from the ST-E2 hot shoe to the PCB. These particular wires are very fine and there is not a lot of room to work with. It is a much fiddler job than say for instance re-wiring a off-camera extension.

Would not recommend it to anyone not confident with working on this type of thing

These are a couple I've just taken to show you the idea. (excuse the background)

You're game! Nice work, though...

Thanks Mark. I've tried to take the case apart by removing the 4 screws under the battery but didn't go very far. What's your trick to get to hotshoe from inside? Hidden screw somewhere? Remove the front IR lens?

No special knack, there are a couple of light weight tag? type clips that hold the front of the cap to the body, I just used a very light bit of pressure lifting the back end & it popped off, just go gentle & you'll be fine.

Once the top is off, the main PCB is held to the base with another 4 small screws, then the whole thing falls apart, rear panel can be disconnect from the main PCB via a plug but there is still a single wire soldered joining the combination together. I didn't disconnect anything, the only wires I cut were the two required to join the new hot-shoe connectors. But, as I say, its a bit tight in there

Michael Bass Designs does these with ETTL Hot Shoes very cool.

I will give that a try, thanks again, Mark.

NSWESP wrote in post #5366218
Michael Bass Designs does these with ETTL Hot Shoes very cool.

That's interesting, I had not heard of anyone doing this. However, the battery cover is fairly light-weight. I certainly wouldn't want to mount anything like a speedlite or even an off-camera cord on it. Would only recommend it for very light RF triggers.

Mark Vuleta wrote in post #5372027
That's interesting, I had not heard of anyone doing this. However, the battery cover is fairly light-weight. I certainly wouldn't want to mount anything like a speedlite or even an off-camera cord on it. Would only recommend it for very light RF triggers.

he mounts it on the main body of the unit, google for his site its great.