550 slave, 580 master problem

[walang_pangalan]

I can not get my 550 to slavishly obey the orders of a 580 master, at least

consistently. Experiment:

 

<p>1. setup the 550 as a slave

<p>2. set 580 as master

<p>3. first trigger works fine, but master does not recycle

<p>4. if you manually cycle the master/slave switch on the 580 (from "master" to

"off" and back to "master"), it resets for another single-shot

<p>5. power is abundant to both flashes (DCB unit powering master, etc)

 

<p>Just to run salt in, occasionally the entire system works fine for many flashes!

 

<p>Now, the other way -- 550 master, 580 slave -- <i>always</i> works fine, as

does an ST-E2 mastering the 550 and 580 together. When old can control the new,

but the new can't control the old, it makes me think that the problem is with

the new -- probably some kind of fancy new stuff in the 580. However, others in

this forum report no problems. Have I just missed the special instructions in

the manual?

[steve_crist]

I have the same combo you have - 550, 580 and ST-E2. I have no trouble at all under any combination of master/slave. It's a fairly simple setup but nevertheless try reading your owners manual for the 550. You may have something mis-adjusted. I use 5D and 20D bodies and no problems.

[robyn_s]

I noticed that the IR window that talks to the other flashes (not the IR window that assists focus) is much narrower on the 580 than it is on the 550. I wonder if that has anything to do with what you experiened, in combination with how you positioned the flash bodies?

 

The 580 window does protrude forward slightly more, (presumably to tald to flashes that are more in the peripheral profile, but this is my unverified supposition only) but the fact remains that the 550 IR flash communication window is still more than twice as wide.

 

Since you said that the system (580 master, 550 slave) occasionally works no problem, and since this combo works fine for others, I wonder if on the occassions that it doesn't work for you, that the reason lies in less forgiving slave placement relative to the master when the master is the 580?