Help with remote flash
 

I recently bought a Canon 430EX flash gun which works perfectly with my 20Da when mounted on the camera hot shoe. When, however, I put it on a remote flash trigger there are problems.

The first problem is minor but when I use the camera pop-up flash to trigger it, it works fine but has to be turned off and on again before it can be triggered again. Is this normal? It doesn't seem to make any difference which mode it is in or whether set to slave or not.

More seriously, when it fires when triggered from the remote trigger, it does not corespond with the shutter being open. I have tried slowing down the shutter speed but to no effect.

When I use my ancient flash gun connected to the pc socket on the camera there is no problem at all. What do I have to do to get my new flashgun to operate properly away from the camera? (without having to buy a second flashgun)

TIA

Dave

Dave, I have the 580ex and as far as I am aware you can't trigger the flash as a slave with the pop up flash. It can only be triggered with another of the same i.e. for the 580 it would be another 580ex which would be on the hot shoe. Hopefully someone will come along to verify this.
When I bought the 580, I thought the same as you that it could be triggered with the pop up. I was told and reading the manual over and over again that I can't.
I eventually went out an extension lead so I could use it off camera.

Oh dear. Thanks Christine. The extension lead for off camera use is £45 from WE. I suppose they would take the remote trigger back in exchange. These camera companies do know how to extract money from you. I'll wait awhile in case someone has a way around it. With the extension lead I guess all the ETTL functions will work.

Dave

The off camera shoe cord 3 is very short.

Note that the Multiflash setup which looks idea is not digital compatible for some reason.

I took a soldering iron to an off camera shoe cord 2 and extended the cable to 5 metres

The other option is also expensive the ST-E2

There are some circuits about on the web to modify the old style peanut slave unit to cope with pre-flash.

Afraid I can be of no help on this one Dave. I have no understanding of how the Canon flash system works, as I don't think you can turn pre flash off.

Now theres a challenge for someone to prove me wrong.;) :) Then the solution to Daves problem will be a lot less than £45.

Don

Thank you all for your replies. I am returning the remote sensor and have ordered the remote cord 3. I appreciate that it is short but my main use is for macro so it should be ok. I feel quite capable of extending it if I later need to.

Dave

Well you beat me to this post with your decision Dave. Try as I might I cannot find a downloadable manual for your flash. I have downloaded the 20D manual for a read.

Don