Canon Wireless Flash

<p>I was reading the 7D manual today to get myself accustomed to the wireless system the camera offers. In my opinion, the 7D offers the easiest way of setting up a wireless system with Canon speedlights so far. However, I was wondering if anybody has tried using the lighting patterns that are in the Manual. These are the same lighting patterns that were in previous manuals.<br>

Canon recomends placing one light at a 45 degree angle on the left of the subject, another light at a 45 degree angle to the right of the subject, then adjusting the ratio from the camera position. You can also add a background light to lessen the shadows from the other two lights.<br>

I'm supposing this might work, but most lighting books(the ones I read anyway) recomend a mainlight at a 45 degree angle from the subject and a fill light next to or close by the camera to open up the shadows. Not sure what kind of lighting canon's system would produce, has anybody tried it ?</p>

<p>Harry, don't take the flash diagrams so literally. The rest of the manual is equally poor at delivering artistic vision, but does a fair job of explaining the mechanics and what the buttons and menus do. ;)</p>

<p>Almost any book on photographic lighting will give better setups. Google for the Strobist blog if you haven't found it yet. But be careful there, else you'll find yourself collecting little Speedlites. Three, I think, is a good limit for yourself. Beyond that, look at monolights if you do any amount of work in your home or studio. They cost about the same as Speedlites, but have the important addition of modeling lamps and, almost incidentally, have better power. Last, I now find the 7D's little flash more limiting than enabling. Its limitations will eventually hold you back, but by then, you'll have found other ways to trigger the remotes.</p>

<p>Have fun!</p>

<p>Look at Chuck Gardner's tutorials. He talks about the manual diagram.</p>

<p><a href="http://super.nova.org/DPR/#Canon">http://super.nova.org/DPR/#Canon</a></p>

<p>If you take the manual's diagrams literally, they suggest that the wireless flash system is designed for taking pictures of penguins :-)</p>

<p>As you suspect, if you want good information on lighting setups, go with what you find in books (or magazines or courses or instructional videos or whatever) on photographic lighting setups. That should give you good ideas on how many lights to use, where to put them, and at least a general idea of how strong the lights should be relative to one another. (And, of course, since photography is an artistic pursuit, the "rules" you read about are really starting points for you to adjust to suit your own vision of how the scene should be portrayed.) Then use Canon's wireless system to set the ratios that achieve the appropriate balance between lights.</p>

<p>You may need to convert between units when it comes to balancing the output of your flash units. Canon's wireless system uses ratios such as 2:1 or 8:1. Chances are that a lot of the sources you'll be consulting for lighting information instead use stops (e.g. "make the main light X stops brighter than the fill light"). Remember that one stop is a 2x change, so 2:1 is a one-stop difference, 4:1 a two-stop difference, and 8:1 a three-stop difference.</p>

<p>One area where Canon's setup is simpler than a lot of traditional studio lighting setups is that it automatically accounts for how far the subject is from the light. In a traditional setup, you configure how much light each of your strobes produces; since light falls off over distance, this means that you have to figure out how much of that light will actually end up illuminating the subject, and if you move the strobe closer to or farther from the subject, you have to change the strobe's output to compensate. In Canon's setup, you configure the ratio of how much light reaches the subject from each light, and the camera is responsible for figuring out how to achieve it, based on metering a pre-flash a fraction of a second before the picture is taken. If you move a flash unit closer to or farther from the subject, this affects how much light hits the subject during the pre-flash in exactly the same way as it will affect the actual exposure, and so the camera will compensate.</p>

<p>I don't have a 7D yet.<br>

<br />Question: Is the wireless flash capability of the 7D basically the same function as the overpriced, yet fun to use, ST-E2? <a href="http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/164264-REG/Canon_2478A002.html">http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/164264-REG/Canon_2478A002.html</a></p>

<p>Jim, it's similar, except the 7D's popup flash isn't filtered and can be quite irritating. In that sense, it's more akin to the 580EX, but without the really useful focus assist. </p>

<p> </p>

<p>Ah. I see. Thanks.</p>

<p>The ST-E2 is in my bag as an "infrequently used, but really cool toy".</p>