6D [remote] flash triggering

[peppe]

hello people
I'm not sure if the question has been answered before - a research brought up several similar topics, but I couldn't find the answer to my question.

So, here it is: I have a 6D, a 580exII and a set of three very cheap strobes, brandless.
Back to the days of 30D and 5D, life was easy: I used to plug one end of this cable into the sync port of the strobe, the other end (the female) into the 30D/5D, and just fired the flash.
I tried today with the 30D, and it still works.
The problem with the 6D is: there is nowhere to plug the end of the cable! :-| I found it on the 580exII, but it still won't trigger the cheap strobes

Ok, now you're wondering: how noob can a noob be? I know, I know. The point is: I'm a landscape photographer. I have a decent understanding of natural light, but know nothing about flash photography.
Will anyone try and help me, please?

 

[victorian squid]

hello people
I'm not sure if the question has been answered before - a research brought up several similar topics, but I couldn't find the answer to my question.

So, here it is: I have a 6D, a 580exII and a set of three very cheap strobes, brandless.
Back to the days of 30D and 5D, life was easy: I used to plug one end of this cable into the sync port of the strobe, the other end (the female) into the 30D/5D, and just fired the flash.
I tried today with the 30D, and it still works.
The problem with the 6D is: there is nowhere to plug the end of the cable! :-| I found it on the 580exII, but it still won't trigger the cheap strobes

So, you only want to use the 6D to trigger the cheap strobes, but not the 580ex? And you want to do it off camera. Well yes, one "complaint" was that the 6D doesn't have a PC port. Even my 60D had a PC port. What you get with the 6D is an HDMI, and wifi. What, not good enough? ;-)

Ok, now you're wondering: how noob can a noob be? I know, I know. The point is: I'm a landscape photographer. I have a decent understanding of natural light, but know nothing about flash photography.
Will anyone try and help me, please?

I'm still a bit confused. You've got a 580ex, and even if the 6D had a PC port you'd only be able to fire one flash off of it. But, you seem to want to use your "brandless" flashes. The cheapest solution would be to get a set of triggers, which (to me) are must have items for a photographer's toolbelt.

They allow you to not only trigger your flash remotely (no line of site required and up to 100M in some cases), but you can also operate your camera with one. Look to the Yongnuo RF series for a low-cost solution for manual flashes (you'd only have manual with no-name flashes anyway).

This is a great source. Look at the manual triggers, or TTL triggers if you want additional functionality with your 580ex. flashhavoc.com/gear-guides/

I have a bunch of Aputure Trigmaster Plus triggers - they're loads of fun and get lots of use.

You stick one on your camera, one on your flash - and if you want to be far away from both, get a third. The "transceiver" type of units are the best, which allow you to set them as either a transmitter or a receiver. The Transmitter/Receiver types are cheaper, but not as flexible.

--
have camera, will travel
http://suadoni.zenfolio.com/

--
"I'm afraid that if you look at a thing long enough, it loses all of its meaning." Andy Warhol

 

[peppe]

hello people
I'm not sure if the question has been answered before - a research brought up several similar topics, but I couldn't find the answer to my question.

So, here it is: I have a 6D, a 580exII and a set of three very cheap strobes, brandless.
Back to the days of 30D and 5D, life was easy: I used to plug one end of this cable into the sync port of the strobe, the other end (the female) into the 30D/5D, and just fired the flash.
I tried today with the 30D, and it still works.
The problem with the 6D is: there is nowhere to plug the end of the cable! :-| I found it on the 580exII, but it still won't trigger the cheap strobes

So, you only want to use the 6D to trigger the cheap strobes, but not the 580ex? And you want to do it off camera. Well yes, one "complaint" was that the 6D doesn't have a PC port. Even my 60D had a PC port. What you get with the 6D is an HDMI, and wifi. What, not good enough? ;-)

pc port! Is this how it's called?

good.

Ok, now you're wondering: how noob can a noob be? I know, I know. The point is: I'm a landscape photographer. I have a decent understanding of natural light, but know nothing about flash photography.
Will anyone try and help me, please?

I'm still a bit confused. You've got a 580ex, and even if the 6D had a PC port you'd only be able to fire one flash off of it. But, you seem to want to use your "brandless" flashes. The cheapest solution would be to get a set of triggers, which (to me) are must have items for a photographer's toolbelt.

what I want to do is this:

I bought the 580exII 6 years ago, because my sister was getting married and she absolutely wanted her beloved brother to be the photographer. Of course I told her she was no landscape, but do you think she listened to reason? So I bought the most automatic flash there was around for my 5D, put the most expensive diffuser on it, and just fired repeatedly.
It worked.

Then she got pregnant, so I thought I would "invest" in some cheap strobes with stands and all - you know, umbrellas, barn door etc. The thing came with three strobes, three long cables and a wireless transmitter/receiver. Again: just plugged it in and fired, and all went well. (Somehow, the strobes not connected to my camera manage to fire off just the same).
Took ONE picture of the tummy and, again: it worked.

Now I have a better camera (but no pc port), a pregnant wife and, of course, nothing works anymore. But you're here

They allow you to not only trigger your flash remotely (no line of site required and up to 100M in some cases), but you can also operate your camera with one. Look to the Yongnuo RF series for a low-cost solution for manual flashes (you'd only have manual with no-name flashes anyway).

This is a great source. Look at the manual triggers, or TTL triggers if you want additional functionality with your 580ex. flashhavoc.com/gear-guides/

I have a bunch of Aputure Trigmaster Plus triggers - they're loads of fun and get lots of use.

You stick one on your camera, one on your flash - and if you want to be far away from both, get a third. The "transceiver" type of units are the best, which allow you to set them as either a transmitter or a receiver. The Transmitter/Receiver types are cheaper, but not as flexible.

ok, let's see if I got this.

I buy this set (YONGNUO RF-603 II) , put one on the camera hotshoe and plug the other one into the sync of my strobe, and that's all?
One thing still confuses me, though. This review states:

Not Improved -

• PC sync port instead of a reliable 3.5mm mini-phone jack (why oh why… still after all this time?)

Is the pc sync port needed to connect the transreceiver to my 6D? Is it needed to connect the transreceiver to the strobe? My strobe only has one hole, and it's a 3.5mm mini-phone jack.

Please, we're almost there

 

[peppe]

So, you only want to use the 6D to trigger the cheap strobes, but not the 580ex? And you want to do it off camera. Well yes, one "complaint" was that the 6D doesn't have a PC port. Even my 60D had a PC port. What you get with the 6D is an HDMI, and wifi. What, not good enough? ;-)

no, wait: can I use the 580exII to trigger the strobes, without firing it? That would be enough, for now. All I managed to do was setting the 580 to fire at 1/128, and use this mini-light emission to trigger the other strobes.

One step further would be to be able to have the strobes firing, without light coming off from my camera.

Even better, if I wasn't forced to mount the 580 on the 6D just to trigger other flashes.

I hope my hit-and-miss English is clear enough.

 

[apersson850]

The PC sync port on the 580 EX II is to fire that flash just as you can fire your simple studio strobes. It's an input into the flash, not an output used to fire other flashes.

The cheapest way to add a PC port to cameras not having one is to but a third party adapter in the hot shoe. There are such adapters, which have a PC port on themselves, so they convert the hot-shoe triggering to PC port.

 

[Yxa]

The onboard flash of the D600 triggers external flashes wirelessly

There are a large proportion of Canon users that thinks an integrated flash is useless

Now you know why its there

 

[Matt Mikulla Photography]

I would get a cheap pair of wireless flash triggers. The transceiver mounts on you camera's hot shoe. The receiver mounts on the strobe hot shoe or via pc sync.

You can spend as much as you want on the set but for general purpose you can get a cheap set from amazon or ebay for $25 that work reliably for you needs.

If you only have one receiver and need to trigger multiple flashes just set the flashes without the receiver to be slaves and they'll fire off the light from the main flash.

Think about the freedom of having everything wireless for $25.

 

[peppe]

I would get a cheap pair of wireless flash triggers. The transceiver mounts on you camera's hot shoe. The receiver mounts on the strobe hot shoe or via pc sync.

like this?

or this?

 

[howard39]

Why are we talking about cheap flashes when we spent good bucks for one of the best cameras on the market? I would suggest you investigate the new Canon 600 RT flash and the STE-03. Check youtube for excellent videos.

Howard

I would get a cheap pair of wireless flash triggers. The transceiver mounts on you camera's hot shoe. The receiver mounts on the strobe hot shoe or via pc sync.

like this?

or this?

--
have camera, will travel
http://suadoni.zenfolio.com/

 

[peppe]

Why are we talking about cheap flashes when we spent good bucks for one of the best cameras on the market? I would suggest you investigate the new Canon 600 RT flash and the STE-03. Check youtube for excellent videos.

Howard

I would get a cheap pair of wireless flash triggers. The transceiver mounts on you camera's hot shoe. The receiver mounts on the strobe hot shoe or via pc sync.

like this?

or this?

 

[jshetley]

As I understand your original question, you are basically concerned about firing your strobes - not remote flashes - and this is a problem because your new 6d does not have a pc synch port.

Not sure, but I think all you need is a Hot Shoe Adapter with Extra PC Synch Port. There are several different manufacturers, but basically it is a little cube that fits in the flash slot on top of your camera. You can then put your flash on top of that AND plug your PC Synch cable in to fire your strobes as well. You do NOT need to have the flash in the cube to plug in the synch cord and fire the srrobes.

I ran into this problem myself when I got a 6d and this is what I used for a while. I eventually got wireless triggers though. They are just some much more convenient than dragging the cable all around.

Just type that into the search box at B/H and see all the different ones that are available. You can get one of these for as little as $10. Hope this helps.

JS

 

[mark kotzen]

I don't have an answer but at least you saved me from a big mistake. I must have a sync socket to attach a pocket wizard to [I use the hot-shoe for a strobe]. Cant believe Canon left it out in a full frame. I guess I wont be replacing my 50d anytime soon.

 

[billstien]

Hi Peppe

I have a 6D and EX580 II, and several cheap strobes from the past. I wanted to do what you are trying to do and the best solution for me was to purchase a couple of used EX 430's. Set the 430's to slave mode, set the 580 to master and no fire. The advantage with this is its a clean setup and no messy wires to deal with.

 

[mark kotzen]

Peppes your question was answered by Jshetley who suggested using a hot shoe adapter with synch. Look it up in BH