How to Wirelessly Fire a Canon 430EX-II Speedlite

Oletimer

I have a Canon EOS 5D MkIII, which, has no built-in flash like both my EOS700D & 650D DSLRs. I have two Canon 430EX-II Speedlites which I was able to fire off wireless with the 700D.



Question is, how can I fire both Speedlites via being mounted on two tripods, or light stands with the Canon 5D MkIII? I have just bought a Canon ST-E3 as I was told that the 5D does not have a built-in flash to trigger the Speedlites.
So, with just that ST-E3 mounted on the 5D, can I fire off the two Speedlites wireless, or do I need some more ancillary equipment under the Speedlites to accept the 2.4GHz radio signal from the ST-E3 to fire off?

pete4130

You can go down the route of spending money on a pocket wizard set up. Pocket Wizard are basically some of the best wireless flash triggers you can get. I've used PW for years. I started with Pocket Wizard 2's I think.

The PW2's used to come as a transmitter, for sitting on the camera and receivers for firing the flashes. They can also come as tranceivers. They were simple, affective, reliable and have a great range and shoot up to the sync speed of your camera, which is usually 1/250th.

The latest models are more advanced and can adjust flash outputs remotely on the flashes (they are all tranceivers so they can transmit and receive).

I've got Nikon specific pocket wizard TT5 FCC TTL unit for my camera body, and have 2 Canon specific TT6's that I use as receivers (got the TT6's when I bought kits from a friend and purchased a TT5 for my Nikon body). The TT5 works with 100% functionality with my camera and the TT6's work perfectly as receivers on the flashes, so the TT6's being Canon specific don't matter in that respect.

The greatest thing about the pocket wizard TT5/TT6 is that they can shoot at ANY shutter speed and still sync with your camera. So, I can shoot at 1/8000th of a second if I want to using the TT5 on my nikon body (an old Nikon D3 from 2007).

The TT6 will still fire my flashes remotely, but I won't be able to go above my normal camera flash sync speed of 1/250th.

My old Pocket Wizard II's will still work as receviers to my TT5 as well, and as they are just receivers, they will still allow me to using fast shutter speed syncing as the TT5 does all the work on the camera, so there is some backwards compatibility there.

You also get a little control unit, the AC3. It can switch channels to your receivers for different lighting set ups with the same flashes on different power etc but I've never had any use for it.

The Canon specific units are these:

https://pocketwizard.com/products/ttl-bonus-kit-canon/

If you DON'T want to spend lots of money, I've also used cheap radio triggers that cost me AU$80 a pair and they work fine. They obviously don't have the range or reliability (I've heard wifi signals can interfere but I've never had an issue with them).

The specific ones I have are these. Way cheaper than pocket wizards, with less tech but they do the job.

https://www.digitalcamerawarehouse.com.au/voking-wf820-wireless-flash-trigger-transceiver-set


EDIT: As a side note. I remember a friend that had 430's using pocket wizard II's and there was some issue getting them to fire reliably I think? I can't remember so it might be worth googling and finding out. The cheap set of triggers I used, worked as a hotshot connection. My Pocket Wizard II's has a PC to 3.5mm cable that was the weak link and sometimes wouldn't fire them. So, I thought the cheap triggers were more consistent for how I used them. The downside to the cheap triggersI use, they are turned on very easily and drain the battery in the units, so bringing spares AAA's or removing the batteries are your options there.

jbv

I used the Yongnuo Yn-622c to trigger my flash.
They are cheap and work great.

The Canon 430EX- II doesn't have radio.
Can only be fired by optical from another flash.
That can be OK indoors and short distances.

Using Godox lights now.
Sold all my Canon speedlights.
They have a transmitter included.

Cameraman

The ST-E3 is radio-wireless based - but your two flashes are optical-wireless based.

The closest to your previous setup would have been to use the ST-E2 (not the E3) which is an optical-wireless trigger.

So, your current options are :

(a) Replace the ST-E3 with an ST-E2
(b) Get compatible (with ST-E3) radio-wireless receivers for the flashes
(c) Use a 3rd party radio-wireless trigger system - transmitter and receivers
(d) Get a 3rd compatible flash for your camera to trigger the others


(I believe all the above to be accurate - but check compatibility carefully before making any purchases)

pete4130

Optical wireless triggers are useless unless used indoors. Ambient light kills your strobe needed to fire them, even IR triggers are pretty useless with a short range.

3rd party radio triggers are the most reliable way to achieve this.

Cameraman

pete4130 wrote: »

Optical wireless triggers are useless unless used indoors. Ambient light kills your strobe needed to fire them, even IR triggers are pretty useless with a short range.

3rd party radio triggers are the most reliable way to achieve this.

(a) The ST-E2 is infra-red
(b) Optical worked before for Oletimer, which is why I included it as an option

I agree that radio is the best option overall. Also the best option if starting from scratch.

Oletimer

Thanks jbv, Cameraman, and pete4130 for your replies. Much appreciated. I am glad this poser I asked here. There is so much to learn between 'optical trigger' and 'radio-signal trigger'. Pity I had not come here first instead of laying out for the Canon ST-E3.

I only intend to use these Canon 430EX-II Speedlites indoors

@jbv----those Godox lights you mention, are they flash Speedlites, or just ordinary Studio Lights?

@Cameraman

---

so, when I used my Canon EOS 700D's pop-up flash and triggered the Canon 430EX-II, although the Speedlite was not in a 'line-of-sight', it nevertheless fired a flash, so was that an optical triggered flash?

@pete4130

---

I had no plans to use these flash Speedlites outdoors yet till I get completely au fait with indoors lighting first. The 3rd party radio triggers you mention, any brands? And what would I need? A transmitter obviously for the Canon 5D,and two receivers for the 430EX-IIs to accept the 2.4Ghz IR signal to fire?

pullandbang

Get yourself a set of these - https://www.adverts.ie/camera-accessories/cactus-v6-transceivers-price-drop/18346040

jbv

Oletimer wrote: »

@jbv----those Godox lights you mention, are they flash Speedlites, or just ordinary Studio Lights?

Godox do both: speedlights and studio lights.

I have the TT685 with AA batteries, V860II and V1 both with lithium batteries as Speedlites.

AD400 Pro as portable studio light and old faithfull friend AD360II

They communicate great between them, can be used as transmitters when speedlites mounted on the camera.

Cameraman

Oletimer wrote: »

I only intend to use these Canon 430EX-II Speedlites indoors

@Cameraman

---

so, when I used my Canon EOS 700D's pop-up flash and triggered the Canon 430EX-II, although the Speedlite was not in a 'line-of-sight', it nevertheless fired a flash, so was that an optical triggered flash?

@pete4130

---

I had no plans to use these flash Speedlites outdoors yet till I get completely au fait with indoors lighting first. The 3rd party radio triggers you mention, any brands? And what would I need? A transmitter obviously for the Canon 5D,and two receivers for the 430EX-IIs to accept the 2.4Ghz IR signal to fire?

Yes - Optical triggers can be infra-red or flash. Yours were flash-based with your previous camera. The ST-E2 uses infra-red.
They are line-of-sight, but indoors reflections from the walls/ceiling/etc. makes them relatively reliable. For outdoors, they are much less usable and reliable, and radio-wireless is recommended.

Can you return the ST-E3 and swap for an ST-E2, as this would involve no additional cost for now.

However, if buying new stuff, I would go for a radio-wireless system.
What you go for depends on how you will use them in the future, how much you want to spend, and if you want to keep your existing gear.

Like many, I have lots of "legacy" flashes and triggers - Canon, Yongnuo, Bowens, Phottix, Pocket Wizard etc. etc.
But if I was starting from scratch now - I would go completely Godox for lights and triggers, and all my new lighting gear will be Godox.

Also - beware of terminology. Some people use the term wireless trigger for radio-trigger only - when it also includes optical. Some people think the flash trigger uses infra-red, when in most cases it's using visible light etc. etc. It's a bit of a minefield.

Oletimer

Cameraman wrote: »

Yes - Optical triggers can be infra-red or flash. Yours were flash-based with your previous camera. The ST-E2 uses infra-red.
They are line-of-sight, but indoors reflections from the walls/ceiling/etc. makes them relatively reliable. For outdoors, they are much less usable and reliable, and radio-wireless is recommended.

Can you return the ST-E3 and swap for an ST-E2, as this would involve no additional cost for now.

However, if buying new stuff, I would go for a radio-wireless system.
What you go for depends on how you will use them in the future, how much you want to spend, and if you want to keep your existing gear.

Like many, I have lots of "legacy" flashes and triggers - Canon, Yongnuo, Bowens, Phottix, Pocket Wizard etc. etc.
But if I was starting from scratch now - I would go completely Godox for lights and triggers, and all my new lighting gear will be Godox.

Also - beware of terminology. Some people use the term wireless trigger for radio-trigger only - when it also includes optical. Some people think the flash trigger uses infra-red, when in most cases it's using visible light etc. etc. It's a bit of a minefield.

Thank you so much Cameraman for such an elucidating reply. I have learned something today, and yes, you are so right the terminology had be in a right muddle.


As the Canon ST-E3 is still in its box unopened, I hope I can get to swap it for the ST-E2. So, I'd mount this in the Canon 5D's hot-shoe, and that would fire the Canon 430EX-IIs via the infra-red trigger, is that correct?



Regarding the Godox brand, I am still uncertain are these ordinary Studio Lights you mention or Speedlites/flashguns?

Cameraman

Oletimer wrote: »

Regarding the Godox brand, I am still uncertain are these ordinary Studio Lights you mention or Speedlites/flashguns?

They have a complete range from flashguns to studio lights, as well as triggers.
One of the big advantages is that the triggers etc. are (generally) all compatible with all their lights. Most of their recent range is cordless (i.e. rechargeable lithium batteries, or similar), but I think they also do mains-powered lights (I'm not in the market for those).
So, you can start quite simply and expand the system as required while still using the same triggers.
They are sometimes sold under other brand names such as Witstro or Flashpoint.

This link gives an idea of the range : http://www.godox.com/EN/index.html
The ones I'm going for are the AD200/400/600 ones. There are a few Irish suppliers as well as the usual online ones.

Oletimer

Cameraman wrote: »

They have a complete range from flashguns to studio lights, as well as triggers.
One of the big advantages is that the triggers etc. are (generally) all compatible with all their lights. Most of their recent range is cordless (i.e. rechargeable lithium batteries, or similar), but I think they also do mains-powered lights (I'm not in the market for those).
So, you can start quite simply and expand the system as required while still using the same triggers.
They are sometimes sold under other brand names such as Witstro or Flashpoint.

This link gives an idea of the range : http://www.godox.com/EN/index.html
The ones I'm going for are the AD200/400/600 ones. There are a few Irish suppliers as well as the usual online ones.

Thanks, Cameraman, for that and the link.


As I have 3 Canon 430EX-II Speedlites, (a) the re-sale value I have been quoted does not make it a viable option to go down the road for something else, (b) I have just picked up a Canon ST-E2 as you recommended, so, hopefully now, I can pair that with the Canon 5D and fire the 3 x 430EX-IIs through the optical trigger method as you have pointed out.

pete4130

Oletimer wrote: »

Thanks jbv, Cameraman, and pete4130 for your replies. Much appreciated. I am glad this poser I asked here. There is so much to learn between 'optical trigger' and 'radio-signal trigger'. Pity I had not come here first instead of laying out for the Canon ST-E3.

I only intend to use these Canon 430EX-II Speedlites indoors

@jbv----those Godox lights you mention, are they flash Speedlites, or just ordinary Studio Lights?

@Cameraman

---

so, when I used my Canon EOS 700D's pop-up flash and triggered the Canon 430EX-II, although the Speedlite was not in a 'line-of-sight', it nevertheless fired a flash, so was that an optical triggered flash?

@pete4130

---

I had no plans to use these flash Speedlites outdoors yet till I get completely au fait with indoors lighting first. The 3rd party radio triggers you mention, any brands? And what would I need? A transmitter obviously for the Canon 5D,and two receivers for the 430EX-IIs to accept the 2.4Ghz IR signal to fire?

The 3rd party radio triggers I linked in my post for AU$80 that I paid are pretty good. Cheap, easy to use, work reasonably well to simply fire the flash.

Using off camera flash, the key thing to remember is aperture affects your flash strength, not shutter speed. Longer shutter speeds allows more ambient light in, shorter shutter speeds will darken the areas not hit by your flashes.

I found outdoors in Ireland, my little Nikon SB800 flashes would cope OK against ambient light. Here in Australia, its simply too bright for them most of the time. They don't have the output or range to highlight anything at regular sync speeds. Also at full 1/1 output, the flash duration is longer with my small flashes, so even at max flash sync speed, it doesn't "freeze" the action. You get stuck trying to balance flash power/flash duration, ISO, aperture for the flash to let as much light in and always get limited by your flash sync speed on the camera.

Thats why the TT6 for Canon with pocket wizard is fantastic. Shooting at 1/8000th you can literally turn day into night with your flashes highlighiting what you want.

My current set up are 2 Paul C Buff Einstein flashes, indoor studio flashes. I use these outdoors with rechargable battery sine wave inverters to give me 240V and plug into my strobes. I have a paul C Buff wireless transmitter for them that I can remotely change the output for each strobe individually. I also have the Pocket Wizard TT5 and receivers for the strobes (specific receivers for my flash heads) and this allows me to shoot up to 1/8000th second sync speed (but only at full power, but they have a very short flash duration....I don't really understand why it needs to be full power).

Oletimer

pete4130 wrote: »

The 3rd party radio triggers I linked in my post for AU$80 that I paid are pretty good. Cheap, easy to use, work reasonably well to simply fire the flash.

Using off camera flash, the key thing to remember is aperture affects your flash strength, not shutter speed. Longer shutter speeds allows more ambient light in, shorter shutter speeds will darken the areas not hit by your flashes.

I found outdoors in Ireland, my little Nikon SB800 flashes would cope OK against ambient light. Here in Australia, its simply too bright for them most of the time. They don't have the output or range to highlight anything at regular sync speeds. Also at full 1/1 output, the flash duration is longer with my small flashes, so even at max flash sync speed, it doesn't "freeze" the action. You get stuck trying to balance flash power/flash duration, ISO, aperture for the flash to let as much light in and always get limited by your flash sync speed on the camera.

Thats why the TT6 for Canon with pocket wizard is fantastic. Shooting at 1/8000th you can literally turn day into night with your flashes highlighiting what you want.

My current set up are 2 Paul C Buff Einstein flashes, indoor studio flashes. I use these outdoors with rechargable battery sine wave inverters to give me 240V and plug into my strobes. I have a paul C Buff wireless transmitter for them that I can remotely change the output for each strobe individually. I also have the Pocket Wizard TT5 and receivers for the strobes (specific receivers for my flash heads) and this allows me to shoot up to 1/8000th second sync speed (but only at full power, but they have a very short flash duration....I don't really understand why it needs to be full power).

Wow, thank you Pete4130 all the way from Australia, for such an explanatory post. Luckily, a lot of what you have posted, i.e. high speed flash sync, aperture control, etc, etc does not wash over me in a baffled state of wonder. The two Paul C Buff names you mention are not names I have come across before here in the UK, but as I have already posted that I managed to acquire a Canon ST-E2 to enable me to fire via Cameraman's elucidating 'wireless optical trigger' method my trio of Canon 430EX-II Speedlites, for indoors portrait photography, I think I will stick to that.


For outdoors, if needed, and if I ever get that far, I have the Canon 430EX-III-RT for which I can use the Canon ST-E3-RT.


Nevertheless, I will pay attention to your 'high speed flash sync' tips.

Cameraman

Oletimer wrote: »

Nevertheless, I will pay attention to your 'high speed flash sync' tips.

Just to note that the ST-E2 caters for HSS (High Speed sync).

If you're interested in a great intro/guide to lighting using strobes/flashes - have a look here : https://strobist.blogspot.com/

Oletimer

Cameraman wrote: »

Just to note that the ST-E2 caters for HSS (High Speed sync).

If you're interested in a great intro/guide to lighting using strobes/flashes - have a look here : https://strobist.blogspot.com/

Once more, Cameraman, you have me indebted to you for your tips, and links. Thank you. Moseying over there right now.

Oletimer

Cameraman wrote: »

Just to note that the ST-E2 caters for HSS (High Speed sync).

If you're interested in a great intro/guide to lighting using strobes/flashes - have a look here : https://strobist.blogspot.com/

That link was most interesting, Cameraman, Thanks.