What Happened??

Hey speedlight guru's... I come seeking knowledge.

The other day, I had a two speed light setup, one of the speed light's fired a split second after the other and I have no idea why!

Here's what I was using;

580EX
580EXII
Orbis Ring flash
Dedicated Flash Cord

I was shooting TTL with the 580EXII & Orbis Ring Flash tethered with a dedicated hot shoe flash cord. This Speedlight was set to Channel 1 Master

The second speed light, the 580EX was placed on the floor to blow out the background. At least that was my intention. This is the one that fired off, but a split second delayed. It was set to Channel 1 Slave.

Why the delay?? Anyone?

Thanks!

You mean the off shoe cord 2/3? I vaguely remember hearing about this problem before but I can't remember what it is. Check the channels, both should be on A, master set as A slave set as B. Set both to fire, 1:1. Hit the red test button and see what happens.

That could be where i went wrong...i had both set as Channel 1 set A.

I'll retry and report.

Thanks!

tim wrote in post #8137108
You mean the off shoe cord 2/3? I vaguely remember hearing about this problem before but I can't remember what it is. Check the channels, both should be on A, master set as A slave set as B. Set both to fire, 1:1. Hit the red test button and see what happens.

If you press the test button on the master flash in a wireless master-slave setup, the slave flash will flash about a second after the master...

Also, in a wireless setup, the Master flash will fire a command flash before anything else happens.

Rene,

How do I get them to fire at the same time?

René Damkot wrote in post #8144385
If you press the test button on the master flash in a wireless master-slave setup, the slave flash will flash about a second after the master...

Also, in a wireless setup, the Master flash will fire a command flash before anything else happens.

With the test button they always fire 0.5 - 1 second apart, so you can tell they work. When it's triggered by the camera they flash at the same time.

You will have your channels and groups set up incorrectly. Have a read of the manual, you'll work it out.

I was afraid you'd say that..."read the manual"

I guess i have to. Sigh.

tim wrote in post #8150349
With the test button they always fire 0.5 - 1 second apart, so you can tell they work. When it's triggered by the camera they flash at the same time.

You will have your channels and groups set up incorrectly. Have a read of the manual, you'll work it out.

There's not much chance you could use wireless ettl effectively without having read the manual.

All kidding aside, all I want is to be able to trigger the two flashes. I'm comfortable with full M on the Cam and speedlights.

tim wrote in post #8151653
There's not much chance you could use wireless ettl effectively without having read the manual.

If you're comfortable with manual flash then here is what you do.

Set the flash that is attached to the shoe cord to Master. Make sure it is in Manual mode.
Set the flash that is off camera to Slave. Make sure it is reading ETTL or Manual mode (either one should be fine) and set to channel B.

Go to the Master Flash and press the zoom button (I believe) until you get to the ratio part. Set your flash powers for A and B; i.e. set A to 1/32 for and B to 1/8 for example.

Shoot away.

There is one thing though. The slave's sensor (black/gray strip above the red AF lens) must be able to see the flash from the master.

One thing that could be causing you problems is that you are using a ring flash. The commands from the master (that will set the levels on the slave) are sent via flashes. I've never tried this through a ring flash. My guess is that it will be fine as long as the slave can see the master, you are within a reasonable distance (< 20') and you are not doing this in direct sunlight.

One last thing, you test the system by pressing the red button on the back of the master. It will fire the master, a brief delay and then the slave will fire. This tells you that they are communicating sucessfully.

From memory channels are 1,2,3, groups are A,B,C. Get them mixed up and you'll stuff everything up.