530ex ii question.

I just got a 530ex ii, I am using it as a Master and triggering my 430ex. I am looking into
adding another light to my set up.

Will the 530ex ii trigger an Alien Bees B800 or other similar flash units wirelessly? Do I need a sync cable? is it recommended to use a sync cable?

Thank you.

i assume you mean 580exII. are you shooting ETTL or manual? ETTL won't mix well when adding a strobe. your camera won't be calculating all that extra light from the strobe.

the AB's have an optical trigger on them so technically the 580exII can trigger it. you'd set both the 580exII and AB manually. it gets messy once you want to add your 430ex into the mix. the speedlites need to communicate via the preflash which could set off the AB. sync cables would work, but it gives you something to trip on and you're still setting everything manually. instead of sync cables, you could buy some radio triggers for a wireless solution.

I am shooting ETTL. So, If I add a strobe I should get some wireless triggers? How about the Yongnuo's?

Thanks for the advice.

yes, the RF-602 set would be a really cheap way to get into wireless triggering. you'll pretty much have to learn how to set everything manually if you want to mix different systems.

Keep in mind that there is a pretty significant disparity between the power of the strobes and the hotshoe flashes. Your speedlites are likely to be relegated to fill or kicker lights. I would also suggest you look at the cybersync's from the alien bee folks.

I had trouble getting one AB to trigger the other AB. If I remember correctly, the AB site recommends using a transmitter and receiver. The Cybersyncs work great on AB as well as the 580EX2.

gonzogolf wrote in post #10933980
Keep in mind that there is a pretty significant disparity between the power of the strobes and the hotshoe flashes. Your speedlites are likely to be relegated to fill or kicker lights. I would also suggest you look at the cybersync's from the alien bee folks.

Do I need receivers for the Speedlites also?

Nmahooch wrote in post #10934025
Do I need receivers for the Speedlites also?

Yes you will. The canon wireless system and radio triggers are not particularly compatible. The canon system uses a preflash to communicate the signal the master and the slave. That preflash will trigger optical slaves like those found the bees, resulting in them firing out of sync. You can use the optical slave in the studio strobes to fire them in sync if the flash on your camera is in manual mode. If I'm inside I can get away with one reciever on the strobes, and one for each speedlite. Outside each strobe or speedlite gets its own.