Issues with Slave jumping to M mode after every fire...

[PhotoWorksbyDon]

<p>Hello, I have a couple questions, actually, and they both relate to my speedlight functions...</p>

<p>I have three 580exii's and a 320ex. I've been having a bugger of a time getting this set up to fire properly for portraits. I use a 30' sync cord so I can have the Master off-camera, but it's done the same when the Master is in the hot-shoe.</p>

<p>Anyway, the slaves don't always fire, even when I have fresh batteries and they are all within "sight" of the master. I'm baffled by this one, but I'm even more bipped by one that always resets to M mode, from ETTL mode after every fire, therefore it won't fire unless I reset it to ETTL mode. </p>

<p>I have the Master as the main light at full M, the slave that doesn't fire is my B, and the others are on C. When I move the funky slave and make it the master, it won't show the C.</p>

<p>These are fairly new flashes. Is there some sort of reset button? I assume they reset when I replace the batteries since I have to set them up again as Master and Slave.</p>

<p>I hope this makes sense to someone and I can get some direction. It sucks when this happens in the middle of a sitting.</p>

<p>Thanks for any and all help.</p>

[cabbiinc]

<p>Does it jump to M mode when the Master is in eTTL mode?</p>

[john_deerfield]

<p>Let's start simple: using a 30' sync cord will NOT work if you are using your flashes ETTL. The <em>controller</em> for ETTL is the camera. The camera decides if it wants more or less light. The PC port is simply a triggering mechanism, cutting the camera out of the process. Now, that might seem to suggest that you should put the camera in the hot shoe, or use an off shoe cord, so that you can use ETTL for your portraits. However, I am not so sure that using ETTL for portraiture, especially involving more than one flash, is really the way to go. You have no idea if simply turning a head will result in more or less light reflectivity which in turns alters the flash exposure via ETTL. There simply isn't any consistency between exposures. </p>

 

<blockquote>

<p>It sucks when this happens in the middle of a sitting.</p>

 

</blockquote>

<p>If you are charging for these sittings, then I might suggest using something like Pocket Wizard Flex triggers (Radio Poppers also come to mind). For starters, these are /radio/ triggers which eliminates many issues associated with Canon (or Nikon) built in wireless system. Again, it all boils down to consistency and reliability. </p>

[cabbiinc]

<p>Hmm, I had just assumed that your 30' cord was an eTTL cord. If it's not, then you have no eTTL to speak of. I guess I had assumed that it was eTTL since the master was firing the slaves and that requires eTTL communications with the camera body to work from what I've read (even in M mode on the flashes). The longest eTTL cord that I know of is actually only 24 feet long.</p>

[PhotoWorksbyDon]

<p>@ Dan - Yes, my bad, it's an ETTL cord - http://ocfgear.com/ettl-cord-extra-long/</p>

<p>It does the same in ETTL. I need to go to the light, hold the Mode butting until the M blinks, then put it back to ETTL Fire. Repeat. If the slave is in M mode it won't fire.</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

<p> </p>

[john_deerfield]

<p>For the record, I haven't ever been able to get Canon's (or Nikon's) wireless systems to work flawlessly. This is why there are third party solutions and why they cost a bit of money. If it were me, the first thing I would do is set up the whole system <em>without</em> using the 30' off shoe cord. And then start adding one flash at a time, changing groups on one flash at a time to see if you can narrow down exactly where the problem may exist. Test one flash at a time, then add another flash, and so on. And if it were me, I would be testing everything in manual flash mode (you can still use the Canon wireless system). Because again, you have no idea what eTTL is metering: each time you press the shutter, it could be different and then you don't know if it is simply a metering issue or a communication problem or something else.</p>

[cabbiinc]

<p>If it's just one flash that does this then you may want to give Canon a call. You may have a bad unit. If it's all of them then you likely have a different problem. You may want to also try posting this question at other forums like http://speedliting.com/forum/forum.php or or even http://photonotes.org/forum/</p>

[PhotoWorksbyDon]

<p>Thanks to both of you. I'll run through all of them and nail down whether it's one or all.</p>

<p>If I get more of an idea of where the problem lies I'll post the question on those other forums, thanks for the links!</p>

[PhotoWorksbyDon]

<p>Well, wouldn't you know it I ran the whole thing tonight and it worked like a charm. Even used the 30' ETTL cord and all four speedlights fired like clockwork and they all ran on the proper channels. Nothing changed other than I removed and charged all the batteries again, but they were charged when I was using them before.</p>

<p>Anyway, thanks again for the help. If it happens again I'll hit those other forums and/or call Canon.</p>

<p>D</p>