Stumped: Will my 430 EX II and 7D fire a 'pre-flash?'

gee ... sometimes I feel so stupid!

I have to take a pic of the senior football players tonight and would like to use flash because of where the shot must be taken. Shot is inside the tunnel to the field, but I'll be OUTSIDE of the tunnel nearer the field.

Probably only going to get one or two shots at this so I believe pointing the 430 EX II at them might be my best oppty.

Ideas? Thanks in advance.

dave

if you shoot ettl - yes
if you shoot manual, no - but if the 7D is the master, it will flash the commands to the slave

You've realized that many really stunning images of such events are actually arranged?

Or at least they are taken by someone who made sure he could practice on another team, or some poeple posing as a team.

May I ask why you are asking? Even if you do use E-TTL, which probably is the smartest, if you can't practice in advance, then why is the existence of a pre-flash any issue?

Yes a Homer said, the 7d will use the pop up flash and send what looks like a flash. Its really just the "message" to the 430 or whatever you are using.

And as a pointer (if you can do this) have someone, ie wife, stand inside where the players will be and practice. If the tunnel is low enough it might be beneficial to bounch flash off the ceiling.

If you set your * button to FEL, you can give it a press when setting your exposure and both the pop-up and flash will fire a pre-flash to set the exposure. I'm not sure if that's what you're asking, but hopefully it's helpful.

And I'd agree with some of the others; if you have the ability to practice in the location before the event you'll increase your chances of success a fair bit.

The M-Fn button on the 7D defaults to being the FEL button.

Note that several 7D cameras can't properly control slave flashes if you use FEL. Some not without FEL either. Try it first!

apersson850 wrote in post #11190030
The M-Fn button on the 7D defaults to being the FEL button.

Note that several 7D cameras can't properly control slave flashes if you use FEL. Some not without FEL either. Try it first!

^^How so?