Canon 580EX II Master Setting Mystery Solved
www.steeletraining.com Photographer Phil Steele explains how to set the Canon 580EX II Speedlite flash in Master Mode to control remote, off-camera flashes. 580EX II at Amazon.com www.amazon.com Also see my video course on shooting headshots and portraits on a budget with small flashes at SteeleTraining.com.
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Posted by BK |
Comments (23)
Hey thanks for the video!
A question for you: can we use the flashgun as wireless in manual mode or only ETTL?
Thank you.
June 6th, 2011 | #
@MrCJ1988 – Yes, you can use the flashes wirelessly in manual power mode. On the master unit, you can specify the manual power of each different flashes (or flash groups). It’s kind of tricky, you set the master in M mode after configuring it as a master. The slaves don’t appear to be in M mode until after they get the first pre-flash commands from the master on your first shot. Until then they look as if they are in ETTL mode. This confused me for a long time!
June 6th, 2011 | #
@steeletraining Uhh! So that’s how it works, this really did mess me up all along until now, and I’ve looked up many websites and forums to find the answer but failed. Thanks so much man for solving the mystery!
One more (sorry I am just getting into flashes now so please do put up with me for a tic) what if I set my 580EX II as the master in M mode and mount it on my cam, can this master my other flash, which is the slave Nissin Di622, while setting the Nissin also in M mode? Thanks in advance!
June 6th, 2011 | #
nice great tips
August 12th, 2011 | #
Very informative video. Can I use 1 x 580 off camera and 2 x 430s off camera and will still act as master and 2 slaves or does the 530 have to be on camera, thank you.
August 29th, 2011 | #
@Normanskie – If you have the 580 on a shoe cord, so it essentially thinks it is “on” the camera, this could work. Otherwise you use the 580 on camera as the master to control the remotes.
August 30th, 2011 | #
you just solve my problem. thx
September 10th, 2011 | #
I have the canon 60d and i want to buy just one flash for off camera shooting… i know that if i wanted to do that i would have to get a pocket wizard but they are too expensive, so i was wndering if there was a setting on either the 430ex ii or the 580ex ii that would allow me too set the flash where i want it and have it sync to the camera with out a pocket wizard or using a master flash to communicate.
September 11th, 2011 | #
@tafftaff44 – You are in luck, because the 60D is one of the new Canons that can use the built-in pop-up flash as a master to trigger off-camera flashes. So, buy your 580EX or 430EX (I would get the less expensive 430 myself) and use the built-in flash to trigger it. Cheers, Phil
September 12th, 2011 | #
I have a question, I usually use my 580 EX II in manual mode but I set the custom function to Fn 05 to 3 that way I can put whatever ISO and f stop on the flash, but where is the ratio?
September 28th, 2011 | #
I shot some pic’s at a wedding inside the church using a canon eos3, 400asa film,580ex speedlite. the pic’s came out blurred because the camera was reading the ambient light, therefor a slow shutter speed. Why didn’t the camera recognize the flash? what did I do wrong?
Richard
October 7th, 2011 | #
Can I use the 580 exii with a yongnuo wireless trigger, to fire and also trigger a 320 ex wireless?
October 16th, 2011 | #
Can I use the 580 exii with a yongnuo wireless trigger, to fire and also trigger a 320 ex wireless?
So have my yongnuo trigger the 580 and then the 580 trigger the 320 or a 430 ex?
October 16th, 2011 | #
Hello Phil! I bought 580ex ii and it works really good. So, i took the 580ex off the camera to do a comparison with the built-in flash of my 60D. The problem is the built-in flash do not work anymore after using the 580ex ii. Why is that? Pls. help! Thank you very much!
October 20th, 2011 | #
good stuff. i like the racer x t-shirt. i heard one may be able to trigger old vivitar 283s with the 580ex. is this true?
October 29th, 2011 | #
i have the 580ex2 and i HATE the menu and button system,it mustive been designed by chimps
October 30th, 2011 | #
@tafftaff44 The Canon EOS 7D is the first camera body to be able to control Speedlites wirelessly without the use of a Master Speedlite or IR transmitter; two other current EOS models, the 60D and 600D/Rebel T3i, also have wireless flash capabilities.
November 1st, 2011 | #
Thanks so much for another great video. I am learning a lot from you.
Regards, Harjinder
November 3rd, 2011 | #
Thanks so much for the video. I just picked up a 2nd hand 580 exII with no manual and couldn’t figure this out without your help…thanks again.
November 29th, 2011 | #
Question: was that a 430ex and not an exII in your video? Because the exII doesn’t have that “on & off” button below the lock.
December 3rd, 2011 | #
Hi… Sorry if this has been asked already… Is there a menu function on my 5D mark II that would allow me to use the 580 EX II as an off camera flash? Or do I have to buy a pocket wizard to do this?
I know cheaper models have such as the 60d and 7d have pop-up flashes, that allow you to use speedlites as off-camera flashes, but would simply buying the 580 EX II, on it’s own, provide me with this same function?…
January 22nd, 2012 | #
I have a 50D and I’m trying to use it off the camera – you know with the shoe stand that it comes with. I’ve turned on the wireless setting on my camera but when I fire my camera the flash doesn’t fire.
January 30th, 2012 | #
@steeletraining Hey Phil, I have a T3i and 580EX, do i need anything else to set the flash on, like a hot shoe or receiver?
February 17th, 2012 | #