Canon's wireless strobe system: thumbs up or down?

<p>So Iﾒm trying to learn about lighting, in particular using strobes

off-camera. I currently own a Canon 420EX to go with my 20D. Itﾒs been great so

far in camera-mounted TTL mode, but it has no manual controls, no synch cord

plug, and can only function as a slave using Canonﾒs IR scheme.

<p>If I really get into off-camera lighting, I will eventually want to be able

to trip strobes wirelessly. It seems to me that I have two top-level choices here:

<ul>

<li>If I buy Canon strobes, I am stuck with Canonﾒs IR signaling scheme, since

Canon strobes (as I understand it?) donﾒt have synch cord inputs or

general-purpose slaves. On the plus side, I can get full TTL metering and

on-camera control of lighting ratios for the whole multi-flash setup. On the

downside, Canon strobes are expensive, and Iﾒve heard complaints about the IR

signaling reliability outdoors.

<li>If I switch to third-party strobes (Nikon ﾖ gasp ﾖ seems to have a nice

range) that feature synch cord inputs and manual controls, I can independently

select a slaving system. I could go cheap with optical slaves (some strobes have

these built in) or more expensive with something like Pocket Wizards, but the

point is that the slave system is independent from the strobes. Downside: no TTL

metering; strobes get set manually.

</ul>

<p>The whole point is to learn about lighting, so Iﾒm not sure that having to

set strobes manually is actually a problem. I think it boils down to whether I

want to be married to Canonﾒs IR slaving scheme or not. I don't want to set off

down the wrong path and have to replace gear later.

<p>Anyone have any words of advice for me here? People shooting Canon bodies

with strobe lighting: have you stuck with Canonﾒs system or gone third-party?

<p>Thanks,

<p>Mark

I never liked using flash.

Never until I took two courses with a great teacher.

I own a 20D and two 580EX flashes and have borrowed a third.

It is truly amazing what you can do with Canon's TTL system.

He has been photographing for over 30 years and has been using the Canon TTL system since introduced in the 80's.

He no longer uses his studio strobes and hasn't for about 1.5 years.

From what I've seen, he easily has 5-6 550/580 flashes.

Although most of us can't afford or justify that many, he in a pro.

He likes the fact that he went from a van load of equipment to carry around to something he can carry all in one trip.

I vote for the 550/580/430 flashes if you can afford to.

I'm glad I did...

Just my 2 cents...

-Mario

canon's wireless ettl system is useful if limited. Range and triggering reliability are not great, and imo the interface for adjusting ratios etc is fiddly. I almost never use it.

you can use canon units and trigger them with pocket wizards if you like. I often do this. It does require a miniplug to female hotshoe cord for each unit. they can be purchased from paramountcords.com

if learning to use multiple off camera strobes is your goal it'll be much easier to work with real strobes.

A dynalite pack/head system is a great place to start, or you can look to some of the more affordable monos (alien bees etc).

camera flashes are great. they're small, most run on AAs and of course can be used on your camera if you need but......

they're not all that powerful, they recycle slowly compared to real strobes and your range of off the shelf modifiers is limited.

if you really need to run on batts, you can pickup used norman 200b or lumedyne units for considerably less per unit than a new 580ex.

cheers