580exII Master & 430exII Slave Issues

[mercho]

Hey Guys,

After some advice if possible... I purchased a 580exII a few weeks back to use as a master with my 430exII, to replace my cheap trigger set I have, mainly for ettl purposes and to have a second flash

However the first time I was using this combo was outdoors on a Bright sunny Day, and had the 430 off to the left of the camera on a stand with an umbrella. I was finding that the 430 wasn't firing anywhere outside a metre away, even under a metre there was a 50 50 chance of it firing... Nothing to do with sync times either as I was giving it plenty of time to re-sync..

Indoors however its fine, managed to get it to fir about 90% of the time...

I have read that they do perform poorly outdoors, but this is ridiculous.. Are there any tricks or tips anyone has to improve the outdoor performance? I was fairly conscious of making sure the flashes were pointed at each other.. Any settings I should be considering.. I had them both on Channel 1, i don't know if that makes a difference though?

Thanks in advance

[MarkChap]

Brad, the best advice I can give you is to not use it outside.
Sorry, but a plain fact.

Wherever possible try to ensure that the front, the red panel, of the slave is pointing at the master, not through the umbrella, but that is about all you can do.

Radio Poppers can retain TTL and then the transmisson is radio not optical, I think they are about $250.00 each.

Sorry I couldn't be more help

[mercho]

Brad, the best advice I can give you is to not use it outside.
Sorry, but a plain fact.

Wherever possible try to ensure that the front, the red panel, of the slave is pointing at the master, not through the umbrella, but that is about all you can do.

Radio Poppers can retain TTL and then the transmisson is radio not optical, I think they are about $250.00 each.

Sorry I couldn't be more help

Thanks Mark,

Have been looking at the radio poppers as a substitute, they seem cheaper than the pocket wizards anyhow..

I might see how i got for a while and then if it gets to be a pain ill grab a set!

[MarkChap]

The roadio poppers are a lot cheaper than PW's.

To retain TTL, you need to have the Radio Popper on the hot shoe, then the 580 on that set as master, you then have a radio popper receiver on the slave flash which is set to slave.

That should retain your E-TTL function.

I don't know about the pocket wizards here, but the US Flex/Mini, which retain TTL, have severe interferance issues with the 580's

[mercho]

The roadio poppers are a lot cheaper than PW's.

To retain TTL, you need to have the Radio Popper on the hot shoe, then the 580 on that set as master, you then have a radio popper receiver on the slave flash which is set to slave.

That should retain your E-TTL function.

I don't know about the pocket wizards here, but the US Flex/Mini, which retain TTL, have severe interferance issues with the 580's

Hmm ok.

So i would need to have a transmitter + 580 on camera, and receiver + 430 off?

Do you know whether it would retain ettl if i had a transmitter on camera with 2 receivers and the 2 flashes off camera?

[MarkChap]

No they don't, I don't think

[mercho]

No worries, thanks for your help Mark

[mercho]

Is there anywhere in Aus that stocks the radio poppers? Or do you just have to order from their website?

[Brodie]

I have had these working at rediculous distances outside.

Unfortunately I havent finished the in-depth blog post about it, but two of the tricks I use is to make sure your master flash is zoomed in as far as it can go just to get that little bit of extra reach. Make sure its aimed at your slave. Then, around your slave sensor you need to make sure its shielded from the sun or any other harsh light source. Sometimes someone holding a simple diffiuser over it is enough, other times I have used a gobo on the side of the flash so the sensor is nice an enclosed.

Works wonders.

[Brodie]

The problem you run into then though, is that your slave flash may not be powerful enough to achieve what you're trying to do in the bright sun.

[mercho]

Thanks for the info Brodie, the way that i was shooting meant that the wireless sensor of the slave was pointing into the sun, so I am guessing this could be part of the issue?

So if I just made a makeshift hood for the sensor that should hopefully help resolve the issue?

Thanks again!

[Brodie]

Thanks for the info Brodie, the way that i was shooting meant that the wireless sensor of the slave was pointing into the sun, so I am guessing this could be part of the issue?

So if I just made a makeshift hood for the sensor that should hopefully help resolve the issue?

Thanks again!

Bingo! Theres your issue.

See with the sun beaming into the sensor of your slave, there is no way its going to detect the flash from your master flash on the camera. Imagine looking into the sun yourself, your not going to notice a little flash going off are you.

So shield the slave from the sun and you will be amazed how well they work outdoors. Just make sure the sensor can still see the master flash.

[mercho]

Bingo! Theres your issue.

See with the sun beaming into the sensor of your slave, there is no way its going to detect the flash from your master flash on the camera. Imagine looking into the sun yourself, your not going to notice a little flash going off are you.

So shield the slave from the sun and you will be amazed how well they work outdoors. Just make sure the sensor can still see the master flash.

Wicked..

Ill give it a go! Thanks for the help!