Speedlite masters and slaves

For some photographers, the concept and details of wireless Speedlite flashes is simple and they just get on with it. However for a large number it's a minefield designed to trap the unwary, and make photography with flash absolute hell.

Today we'll kick off with a short list of Canon flashes that can be used in a wireless Speedlite flash system. All kinds of wireless flash systems need a single leader to tell the rest of the flashes what to do, in Canon terminology this is the master. Following the obvious all the subservient flashes employed in the wireless flash setup are known as slave flashes.

All the following models can act as masters, controlling the slaves;

• Speedlite 580EX II
  
• Macro Ring Lite MR-14EX
  
• Macro Twin Lite MT-24EX
  
• Speedlite Transmitter ST-E2
  
• Speedlite 580EX
  
• Speedlite 550EX
  

All of the following models can act as a slave flash

• Speedlite 580EX II
  
• Speedlite 430EX II
  
• Speedlite 580EX
  
• Speedlite 430EX
  
• Speedlite 420EX
  
• Speedlite 550EX
  

Seems mostly typical that the current models of flash that are masters outnumber the slaves.

One question that some people ask is how many slaves can you control from one master. Generally Canon suggests the limit is seven slaves for each of the three groups that some of the masters can control. However in practice more than this is possible, and blabpictures have successfully managed to trigger 11 slave speedlites from a single master. Typically the limits are practical rather than system specific, think how much space you need to put up 21 lights and aim them at the photo subject and then add in the range of the pulsed light transmission and you can see that for most practical purposes the system will suffice.

You should also check out the previous post about using the MR-14EX and MT-24EX as a master with custom function 5 on blabpictures.

To set the master / slave function the older flashes have a nice easy to find switch, the latest generation 580EX II and 430EX II make it really tough and use a scheme where you press and hold the Zoom button for about five seconds - Canon please can we have the switch back?

-blabpictures-

New Pocket Wizards

It seems Pocket Wizards have been looking on a Radio Poppers with envy and decided they don't want an upstart moving in on their market. So, they have just announced new products for wireless E-TTL II control of Canon flashguns. 

It seems it's a whole new system for radio flash control with units called the MiniTT1 (transmitter) and FlexTT5 (transceiver). 

Currently it's only for Canon users and it allows wireless control up to 8fps. 

From the Pocket Wizard Website: 

The New Shape of Wireless Freedom

The smallest PocketWizard radio ever, the MiniTT1™ Transmitter locks onto the camera’s hot shoe supporting an on-camera flash with its own hot shoe while working with remote PocketWizard units. Remotes can be one or more PocketWizard FlexTT5™ Transceivers connected to Canon E-TTL II flashes or any PocketWizard Receiver for triggering flash or remote cameras.

The MiniTT1 Transmitter is easy to use; just slide in place and begin to shoot. The new PocketWizard ControlTL™ System interprets the complex E-TTL II data being sent through the camera’s hot shoe and digitally transmits it in a reliable radio signal. Change the flash compensation dial on the camera, and those commands pass seamlessly through the system to your remote flash. Adjust your shutter speed, aperture or ISO and the system corrects for those changes. A ratio command set on the flash or command unit passes through the MiniTT1 to set the remotes. PocketWizard ControlTL radio communication allows you to shoot farther, faster, around corners, through walls even at high noon in bright daylight. Now you can deploy a wireless flash system wherever you want, without infrared limitations, in seconds.

Use the MiniTT1 for standard triggering with any PocketWizard Receiver including the FlexTT5, PlusII or MultiMAX. When used this way with a digital camera, you can take advantage of PocketWizard’s HyperSync Technology that allows up to 1/500th of a second camera sync with many camera/strobe set-ups. HyperSync allows you to advance the timing of your flash trigger so that faster then X-sync speeds can be achieved.
Need more speed? Push your ControlTL system beyond 1/500th and go into FP/High-Speed sync mode automatically. No buttons to press or settings to change other then your shutter speed will give you flash sync all the way to 1/8000th.

A new PocketWizard Utility program is provided to support the MiniTT1 via a USB port. The Utility allows you to configure your channel settings, dial in your HyperSync timing, adjust your sleep-mode timers and update your product to the latest firmware.
The PocketWizard MiniTT1 Transmitter is the start of a new era in wireless trigger control.

AVAILABILITY: For Canon, March 1st. For Nikon, Q2, 2009. US & Canadian Markets. Contact your local Distributor for availability in other markets.

From their just posted Instruction Manual:

ControlTL: PocketWizard’s newest firmware platform taps into the camera’s digital communications
to enable an entirely new level of remote flash capabilities through our proven radio system, beginning with remote TTL for Canon E-TTL II flash systems with Slide-n-Shoot Simplicity.
HyperSync - Achieve better than X-sync with many
cameras and flashes – up to 1/500th second.
FP/High-Speed Sync: Need more speed? Push
beyond 1/500th and go into FP/High-Speed sync mode
automatically. No buttons to press or settings to change
other than your shutter speed will give you flash sync
all the way to 1/8000th.
Power Tracking: When working in E-TTL II, you can
change any of your control settings on your flash or
camera and the system adjusts for those changes.
Eight Frames per second: Never before have you
been able to shoot remote E-TTL II at this speed.
Nothing else comes close.
Low Profile Design: The FlexTT5 lies flat to stay out of
the way and uses a flip-up antenna for additional range
when needed. The MiniTT1, with an internal antenna,
weighs in at 2.3 oz. and is the smallest PocketWizard
ever.

It seems things are hotting up in the wireless flash world. Hit the comments with your thoughts on it all. 

UPDATE: They've also posted a video on youtube showing some of the features. 

-blabpictures-

Wireless flash tip with ST-E2

Wireless flash can be quite a confusing thing. Most people seemingly don't understand how to use one flash properly, let alone two, three or more. But, once mastered, flash opens up creative possibilities the like of which you've never seen before. For proof, just hop over to Strobist and see for yourself. 

Now, there are several ways of controlling wireless flashguns in the Canon system. My personal favourite and the most versatile is to have a Speedlite 580EX II on camera and use it as a non-firing Master controller. But that is an expensive option. Cheaper, and almost as versatile is the ST-E2 Speedlite transmitter. It doesn't have the same range as a Speedlite, but it is discrete and offers most functions you're likely to need in general shooting. It even acts as an AF Assist beam in low light - great if you're a gig photographer working in low light.

One issue with the ST-E2 though is that it doesn't control three groups of flashguns (

A, B and C) only two (A and B).... or does it? Well yes and no. There are two ways of looking at it:

	blab:
	Guide Number / Aperture = Range

Manual flash powers is one. The box to the right shows the basic calculation for flash powers. Simply take the guide number of your flashgun (580EX = 58, 430EX = 43, 220EX 

= 22 etc) and divide it by the aperture setting you want to use. This gives you the range your flash needs to be from the subject. You can then change the flash power manually to alter the guide number. This works because once you set a flash power manually in slave mode, it drops out of being in any group and then just waits for a trigger signal. So if this is method one, what's method 2?

Well, method two has some level of automation. If you use ratio control on the ST-E2, there is no triggering of a Group C flashgun. Try as you might, it won't happen. So what do you do? Take the ratio control off groups A and B and then you can use flash exposure compensation to brighten or darken a group C flashgun that will now fire. So there is now automatic flash exposure control from group A and B (with no ratio control) and also for Group C with Flash exposure lock. Cunning hey?!

Hit the comments with your thoughts....

-blabpictures-