Remote Flash and ETTL

Just curious about the approach others use to fire there flashes remotely while still maintaining ETTL.

When indoors and with line of site, I like using a pair of 580exII's and infared, but that has obvious limitations.

I have Cybersyncs, but they don't do ETTL.

I also have a very long ETTL cord from FlashZebra which works great, but of course, the cord is obnoxious to deal with.

I keep looking at Radio Poppers and Pocket Wizards. Maybe even going with Quantum flashes and their setup for ETTL. I have yet to pull the trigger on any of this, though. Partly over cost though I'm not completely unwilling to drop the $'s. Partly because the reviews for all of these other approaches suggest that each has their own challenges with reliability. And then also, I have to imagine that the next iteration of the 580 may come with it already embedded.

So thoughts on this?

Hope someone replys soon,looked at the pocket wiz but way out of my league,looking to going untied from the flashes myself.

I have the radio popper p1's. Honestly I've found that I just like the simplicity of the going to manual off camera flash so I rarely use them.

Just started to search out this information myself. I've been using my Quantum T5D for years, always in manual mode. That is what my photography teacher taught me. But I just watched an instructional video that talks about using your off-camera flash with ETTL. I would like to know more about it and how I can go this route.

Just need one of the gadget lovers to come along and give us the heads up on the latest tech and we'll be ok

I think you've listed most of your options. The other being "buy a 7D"

You guys who are doing it manually, how are you dealing with exposure? Do you meter every shot?

Peacefield wrote in post #9914511
You guys who are doing it manually, how are you dealing with exposure? Do you meter every shot?

How are you wanting to use them? Certainly you dont meter for every shot. For event work, if you set the room up right you can meter the center of the room and then adjust as you get closer or farther from the light source.

For me, it's mostly about portraits. Getting out in a park setting, or even a dark and moody lobby. I want to add just enough pop. But to take the time to meter ambient, meter the flash, make adjustments, etc. Ugh.

Infared inside is pretty simple, but only within line of sight which isn't always the case. And I'm sometimes adding flash outside and the ETTL cable is a pain to deal with. The Cybersyncs are wonderfully reliable, but we're back to manual and I'm pretty particular about balancing my flash to the ambient exposure. Why can't this be easy?

everyone that i know using RP are extremely happy with them .. as i am thinking about adding them to use with ETTL as well

as for using it indoors manually with PWs .. i take a few test shots to see the range where i should be and go from there .. to meter for everything takes too long and too much of a hassle

Peacefield wrote in post #9914789
For me, it's mostly about portraits. Getting out in a park setting, or even a dark and moody lobby. I want to add just enough pop. But to take the time to meter ambient, meter the flash, make adjustments, etc. Ugh.

Infared inside is pretty simple, but only within line of sight which isn't always the case. And I'm sometimes adding flash outside and the ETTL cable is a pain to deal with. The Cybersyncs are wonderfully reliable, but we're back to manual and I'm pretty particular about balancing my flash to the ambient exposure. Why can't this be easy?

For portraits its really simple, you just meter the first shot of every setup, and honestly once you are set as long as the distance between the subject and lights doesnt change then you are good to go. For your balance between light and flash. The sekonic l-358 meter and higher include a measurement o the percentage of your exposure that comes from flash so its a way to get your head around that numerically.

I don't need ETTL when the flash is off camera, I get more consistency in manual, and that shortens my processing time since I can work on batches of images.

I would like eTTL off-camera, but I can't realistically expect it to perform the way I might want and radiopoppers are much more expensive than elinchrom skyports. Plus, all my off-camera flashes are still manual.

To convert to 3x 580EX off-camera plus battery packs for each plus radiopoppers...well that's about $1200 for flashes and battery packs, and another $1250 for radiopoppers. I could buy a 5D II for less.

tim wrote in post #9915867
I don't need ETTL when the flash is off camera, I get more consistency in manual, and that shortens my processing time since I can work on batches of images.

Tim if the distance does'nt change between subject and flash does'nt ETTL give more consistant results than manual setting,or am I missing something.
Does ETTL really just come into its own when the flash is on camera.

butugly wrote in post #9918228
Tim if the distance does'nt change between subject and flash does'nt ETTL give more consistant results than manual setting,or am I missing something.
Does ETTL really just come into its own when the flash is on camera.

If the distance doesn't change between the subject and flash manual will give you identical exposures each time. ETTL will vary based on what your camera decides to meter - the brides dress, the grooms suit, something shiny, etc. I only use ETTL when the flash is on the camera for this reason, and I sometimes use manual flash on camera too.