Canon 580 Slave flash Question
 

Does anyone know whether the Canon 580 flash can be used and triggered by the on board flash. In the manual its not very clear, it does mention about using as slave but only with other speedlites, I presume one on the hotshoe and it talks to all others. I have tried the speedlite in slave mode and pointing it so it can be seen by the on board flash but it just doesn't work. What I want to know is it able to to.

Sorry Christine, but it doesn't. I thought the same when I got my 580, and your quite correct, the handbook is not to clear at all.

John

Thanks John Shame, it means I will have to pay out more just to get the cable and they are not cheap.

Try the HK e-bay sellers. I managed to get my flash cable for 2/3rd of high street prices and anything under £50 does NOT attract VAT or Customs Duty.

Thanks Stephen I hope this is the right lead.

I will delete the link after you have looked.

Thanks

I think I got my cable form HK at US$ 40...

From what I think (And not completely worked on) the 550 and 580 synchronizations and TTL communications is via wireless features and not IR so on board flash does not trigger it. The good thing here, is even line of sight is blocked, still there is no problem. But most likely a wireless module should be able to do this. It gets nice when one flash is on cable and the others where you need them. Well as you said, this comes at a price tag. A big one indeed that if in professional use, surely will pay back.

I cannot help with the right lead but thats the idea. It seems Canon flash leads are far cheaper than Nikon. I payed approx £40 for a SC-28 from HK about 12 months ago.

Christine,

Is this the equivalent to the Canon Off-Camera Shoe Cord 2.

I have downloaded the manual for your flashgun so I can keep up. :)

Don

Yes Don, I deleted the link to the cord it is the of camera shoe cord 2. I have found hopefully a cheap source for the cord.

I've just bought a canon camera shoe cord 2 and immediately attached with a soldering iron to extend the lead to 5 meters. A quick test shows it works OK but I've not had a chance to put into action yet.

On the 580 I think your find the master/slave bit relates to 550/580/STE-2 units driving other 550/580/420/430 units in slave mode. It also gets a bit more complex in that you can have different slave groups with variable power ratio in more complex setups.

Thanks Rob, you were brave cutting up your cable, I know thats the kind of thing I would have done and probably will when I get one. Why don't they have them in different lengths like some of the other cables, its a pain when you don't have a choice. Never mind it just means more blue peter adaptions.:D

I found a link where a number of electronics bods like myself had extended the cable by various means. It seems to work OK upto five or six metres OK. Part of the problem is making sure the digital signals don't get degraded by extending the cable too far. There were many links to a store in the USA that would make custom lengths upto 50 metres. Personally I think 50 metres is too far and will cause a problem. When I got onto the site they seem to have stopped selling them. Maybe Canon got onto them for one of two reasons. Firstly the item will no longer conform to the electrical regulations. i.e the CE mark in Europe or FCC in USA. This includes electrical interference. The other is if the signals are degraded much this will lead to unreliable operation.

Alot of the guys cut the cable and inserted a longer cable with plugs and sockets. In my case I replaced the exsisting cable with a 6 way multicore screened cable. Thereby I can restore the original cable if need be.

I bought the off camera cord 2 from a u.k. supplier for £27 + £3p&p on ebay (Denise Camera?)... obviously a grey import but without major shipping cost.

Bit flimsy vs Nikon though

Many reports of damaged cords. I suspect not man enough to take the weight of the 580ex unsupported.

I have heard about reports on cracking of the connector head, not sure which end. Its something to be aware of and not pull at it.

Although I've heard the tales of woe about the cable, it's the block that the flash attaches to that seems a bit weak... with the flash on a bracket, catch the flash gun on something, even lightly and there could be trouble.

No problems here, but I'm not a regular flash user.