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.