ir assist with flash off ?

I photograph live bands, its always dark of course, whilst available light is always a problem, my main problem is focusing, is there a way of using the ir assist on the 430ex without setting off the flash. I dont want to use flash as it washes out the stage colours. Another problem is that ir assist is only available on full auto mode, and on the various idiot modes on my 400d and 300d, and as it is full auto, it takes away my asa1600 because it sets off the flash and therefore doesnt need asa1600. double jepardy. I know canon makes a very expensive ir assist for wireless flash, but there mush be a cheaper way..
i hope that all makes sense. basically i need ir without flash going off.

Don't think the XT bodies has a custom function to turn off the flash. You can alway put the 430 to manual mode and lowest power, and turn the flash head straight up or backward.

Lotto wrote in post #5670905
Don't think the XT bodies has a custom function to turn off the flash. You can alway put the 430 to manual mode and lowest power, and turn the flash head straight up or backward.

yes they have, but that is not my problem. tried all that, any activity of the flash automatically sets the exposure for flash, and remember i am standing with people around me, the flash in their faces will antaganise them.
i want the flash function on, i just dont want the gun to actually flash, i just want a better autofocus, and so i only want the ir assist, not the flash.

Have you checked custom function 5 on the camera?

IR assist shouldn't be available in the auto modes only. Ive done exactly what Lotto mentioned in manual modes on both camera and flash with my metz.

road warrior wrote in post #5672209
yes they have, but that is not my problem. tried all that, any activity of the flash automatically sets the exposure for flash, and remember i am standing with people around me, the flash in their faces will antaganise them.
i want the flash function on, i just dont want the gun to actually flash, i just want a better autofocus, and so i only want the ir assist, not the flash.

Unfortunately, with the 400D and the 300D, there is no option to disable the firing of the flash like there is with the xxD cameras (even the 1D series cameras didn't have it until the Mark III came along). And the disabling of the flash is one function that can't be set via the flash either, like it can be for the enabling/disabling of the IR assist beam.

Have you tried setting the flash for manual mode at the lowest setting so your camera's exposure settings remain indipendant, and then using somthing like an omnibounce filter painted black (or stuffed with black paper)?

In my opinion this should alow you to indipendantly set the camera, and the flash which will fire regardless, but the light will be compleatly phyisically blocked, and the IR funtion should remain enabled for focusing....

The other more expensive option would be a ST-E2 transmitter, which I have used quite a bit to provide focus assist without need for a flash. I think they are going for around $220 these days. I also seem to recall the 580ex can easilly fit your bill as well if you set it as a master but assign it to a group that you will not be using when you actually take the picture. Focus asist will definitly be enabled in this situation.

Well first he should figure out why the flash isn't working properly outside of the magic modes, that at least should be working. As for blinding people around you, cover the flash head, you don't need it for assist, just the red emitter on the front of the flash.

Manual focus. Problem solved.

AF is very useful when shooting shows and the like, with the lights and movement it can be hard to tell if youhave it right in manual (specially with my bad eyes).

I would think it shouldn't be necessary to disable one function (and a useful one) to enable another.

thank you fellas for your replies, I am somewhat confused as, for no reason at all, the ir has started to work on all modes, which is worrying as it would indicate either something is wrong, or was wrong.
can anybody say for sure, (either way) whether it should - or should not work in all modes on my 400d, or indeed if the problem lies in the 430ex, or even the off camera cable which I use permanantly. Ok I can eliminate the cable by putting it on shoe, but any ideas would be helpful.
Anyway, for now, I have discovered a work-around, use flat batteries.... the ir works fine as it doesnt need much power, but the flash has to recycle and so i can get 10 shots in before it powers back up.
The flaw in the "cover the head up" system, is that when the camera senses the flash is powered on, it makes the exposure based on that, so when no light is emitted the photo is underexposed big time, but when the batteries are tired, the flash gun doesnt flag the camera and say "i am ready" and so the correct exposure is made by the camera, so ir but no flash..result.. (sort of)

road warrior wrote in post #5713815
thank you fellas for your replies, I am somewhat confused as, for no reason at all, the ir has started to work on all modes, which is worrying as it would indicate either something is wrong, or was wrong.
can anybody say for sure, (either way) whether it should - or should not work in all modes on my 400d, or indeed if the problem lies in the 430ex, or even the off camera cable which I use permanantly. Ok I can eliminate the cable by putting it on shoe, but any ideas would be helpful.
Anyway, for now, I have discovered a work-around, use flat batteries.... the ir works fine as it doesnt need much power, but the flash has to recycle and so i can get 10 shots in before it powers back up.
The flaw in the "cover the head up" system, is that when the camera senses the flash is powered on, it makes the exposure based on that, so when no light is emitted the photo is underexposed big time, but when the batteries are tired, the flash gun doesnt flag the camera and say "i am ready" and so the correct exposure is made by the camera, so ir but no flash..result.. (sort of)

I believe that the AF assist is only emitted when needed. I am not sure if it is only below a certain EC level or if the camera "requests" it when AF cannot also be achieved due to low contrast.

I was having the same problem when I was shooting a wedding last week.
I was using a 70-200 IS and was having major problems autofocusing. I was shooting in manual mode, and was using bounce-flash. I was getting very upset that the AF Assist beam was not firing on my 430. It would have helped immensely and I would not have missed some shots.
Why does the AF assist beam not fire when in manual mode? I really need to use it!
Thanks

S-Man wrote in post #5740070
I was having the same problem when I was shooting a wedding last week.
I was using a 70-200 IS and was having major problems autofocusing. I was shooting in manual mode, and was using bounce-flash. I was getting very upset that the AF Assist beam was not firing on my 430. It would have helped immensely and I would not have missed some shots.
Why does the AF assist beam not fire when in manual mode? I really need to use it!
Thanks

The purpose of the AF assist beam is to help the camera in auto focusing in dim lighting. When you switch the lens to manual focus mode, the camera no longer has to auto focus the lens so it doesn't need to have the AF assist beam emitted from the flash. That's how it was designed.