Sync with Canon7D

[NimArt]

<p>Hi everyone</p>

<p>I have got a Canon 7D with a Canon 430EXII speedlite.<br /> As you know the speedlite can sync with the camera, but my problem is that when you sync the speedlite with the camera ,the pop up flash of the camera shoots as well as the external flash..<br>

Does anybody knows ; How can I turn my pop up flash off while I use the extenral flash to shoot?</p>

<p>Thank you in advance<br /> Nima</p>

[fmueller]

<p>You can do that by using a cable to trigger the flash, such as the <a href="http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/498744-REG/Canon_1950B001_OC_E3_Off_Camera_Shoe.html">Canon OC-E3</a>; or by using a wireless flash trigger, such as the <a href="http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/164264-REG/Canon_2478A002_ST_E2_Speedlite_Transmitter.html">Canon ST-E2</a>.</p>

[philip_wilson]

To add to Frank if you use the 7D built in flash as a trigger it will go off. If you do not have an ST-E2 or cable then you can

deflect of soften the pop up flash light with card or tissue if you do not want it,s rather harsh illumination

[Marcus Ian]

<p>Since the popup is how the 7D triggers the 430ex, it kind of is a requirement unless you use some extra eqp.</p>

<p>Frank's suggestions make sense, but you could also use a 550ex or 580ex/exII as a master. Either can be set to not fire while triggering your 430ex.</p>

<p> </p>

[wayne_woodruff]

<p>If you go in the Flash Control menu, Built-in Flash control and set the Wireless Function to external-only (the option below Disable), the built-in flash will trigger the 430, but not interfere with your exposure.</p>

[mark_ethridge]

<p>What Wayne said. It took me a while to find this, tool. You can also change the flash ratio between the pop-up flash and the off camera flash this way.</p>

[fmueller]

<p>Wayne - pretty cool. I did not know the 7D could do that.</p>

[michael_young3]

<p>Wayne, et al. The 7D pop-up still flashes even when the wireless function is set to external only. You can test this by shooting yourself in a mirror. The popup flash hotspot is very evident. It contributes very little light to the scene, but it still must "fire" to trigger the remote, and it must do so only after the shutter is fully open. The ST-E2 has an near-infrared filter over its flashtube, but as with the popup, it triggers the remote with a coded flash pulse. I don't recall noticing if the 580EX uses a visible flash for its trigger. I would think it does.</p>

 

[NimArt]

<p>Thank you very much ALL of you for useful suggestions.<br>

@Wayne: I did it, but still the built in flash will shoots and my problem is that i don't want it to shoot, i only need the external flash to shoot. Thank you<br>

@Philip: Thank you and yes, I think its better to use some card or tissue to soften the harsh light , but sometime the tissue or card is avoiding the camera to sync with the external flash and it doesn't shoot..</p>

<p> </p>

[michael.gregory]

<p>Nima,<br>

If the 430EX II is mounted on the 7d, I believe you can disable the internal flash. If you want to use the 430 off camera, You can either use the flash from the 7D to set and trigger it in ettlII mode or you can disable the internal flash and use an off camera sync cord. OCF cords come in a variety of lengths up to about 20 or 25 feet, (7 or 8 meters). Alternatively there are radio devices for triggering off camera flash at considerable distance. a bloke named Syl Arena has written rather a good book on this subject.</p>

[gregcoad]

<p>I don't own a 7D so this is only conjecture. </p>

<p>I often use my 580 EXII on my 1Ds as a trigger only. When the 580 EXII is set to "trigger only", it still flashes. A common misconception with Canon Speedlights is that they use infrared to communicate with one another in the master-slave set up. This is not the case as I understand it. Of course with the ST-E2 infrared is what is used as there is no visible flash in that case. It has been awhile since I read <a href="http://photonotes.org/articles/eos-flash/">http://photonotes.org/articles/eos-flash/</a> but from what I remember from that definitive guide, the Canon speedlight system uses visible light to communicate in most cases other than when the ST-E2 is in use. So when I set up the 580 EXII to master with no flash, the visible flash pulse that is seen is actually a very small fraction of a second before the actual exposure. It is communicating the instructions to the slave unit via visible light, but not actually taking an active role in the exposure lighting. I would be quite surprised if this is any different with the 7D pop up set to commander only. So you will see a flash from the pop-up, but it won't influence exposure at all. </p>

<p>This would be easy to confirm via a simple test by setting up your 430EX to the side or behind a subject and go into the 7D menu and disable the flash as Wayne pointed out. If your subject ends up only lit from the back or side, and nothing in the front, it is working as a commander only. If your subject ends up lit from the front, then the pop-up is also factoring into the exposure.</p>

[gregcoad]

<p>For a very thorough explanation of how Canon's wireless speedlight system works go to:</p>

<p><a href="http://photonotes.org/articles/eos-flash/index3.html#wireless">http://photonotes.org/articles/eos-flash/index3.html#wireless</a></p>

<p>The link above will take you directly to the section of N.K. Guys EOS Speedlight System article that deals with wireless. It doesn't discuss the 7D much (only one brief mention of it), but it helps to understand how the system works in general and then you might try to figure out how it specifically applies to the 7D.</p>

 

[NimArt]

<p>Thank you ALL of you very much for the comments.<br>

@Greg: yes, I did it before; I disabled the pop up flash and then try to shoot, but at this time the slave ( 480EXII ) doesn't flashes and it flashes only when the pop up flash flashes and either they can see each other, otherwise the 480EXII doesn't work as a slave.. thank you..</p>

[ruben leal]

<p>The only way to trigger a remote flash without emitting any light at all from the camera is to use a radio (RF) remote. Other options had been discussed here, like using an off-camera flash cord to connect either the remote or the master flash. Whenever an optical slave system is used, either an ETTL or just a plain old photocell trigger, light emission is needed to trigger the remote flash, but this can be controlled to have minimal effect in the final image, like using the 7D's ability to disable the internal flash when using it to control the remote one.<br>

By the way, I can't recall any 480 EX flash in Canon's lineup, perhaps this is a 430 EX or a 580 EX flash, both available in mark II versions. There was a 480 flash, but it was a "potato masher" with the previous EG denomination.</p>