Off CameraFlash

[DigiDiva]

Too late - just read spome of the replies but AFTER I bought the Jesspops flash!!!!! Grrrrrr....the guy in there also said I can't use it off camera without a cord, so I bought that too.

I honestly thought my 60D would fire the flash off camera but took advice from him. Have I been conned out of £25? If so, I will complaint!

[OldBoy]

Originally Posted by DigiDiva

Too late - just read spome of the replies but AFTER I bought the Jesspops flash!!!!! Grrrrrr....the guy in there also said I can't use it off camera without a cord, so I bought that too.

I honestly thought my 60D would fire the flash off camera but took advice from him. Have I been conned out of £25? If so, I will complaint!

If it didn't do what you asked for then, yes you've been done. Take it back and ask for a refund which, they have to do.

[DigiDiva]

Not sure I explained, sorry. And maybe the answer is in this thread but I dont understand it. I thought that when I bought the Jessops speedlight, it would fire from the camera remotely (with no lead). The guy in the shop said there's only the canon one that will do that.

I don't undrstand all of the terminology in the manual and am rather confused. Will read it again and look back through what people have said in here to see if I can find the answer.

[wavemachine]

According to the description on their website it will work as a slave so you shouldn't need the flash cord.

[DigiDiva]

I tried last night. Read my manual and the instructions on the speedlite. It tells me to set the channel on the camera to match the channel on the speedlite. I can'tfind a channel on the speedlite!!!!!!!!!!!! It's driving me nuts.

[greenwing]

Originally Posted by DigiDiva

I tried last night. Read my manual and the instructions on the speedlite. It tells me to set the channel on the camera to match the channel on the speedlite. I can'tfind a channel on the speedlite!!!!!!!!!!!! It's driving me nuts.

There will only be a limited number of channels, so why not try them all? It should only take a few minutes. It's difficult for anyone who doesn't have the specific model to be very helpful, as there doesn't seem to be a manual or anything specific online. I always shy away from recommending off-brand flashes for this reason. I know some of them have the channel & group printed on the back of the gun, if they're fixed. Otherwise, the gun's manual should tell you how to set the channel & group, or which ones it's fixed at.

Chris

EDIT: We might possibly be expecting too much of the gun. 'Slave' need not mean that it does what we Nikonians call Advanced Wireless Lighting, or whatever the Canon equivalent is. It could just be a built-in optical trigger. What does it say in the 'SLAVE' section of the flashgun manual, Chris?

[wavemachine]

Hmmmm looking at this it seems you will be better sticking with the cord.

[DigiDiva]

The flashgun came with one sheet of information and mentioned nothing about channels. I am wondering (also), if my flashgun isn't working properly as the LDC screen doesn't seem to shot all of the settings (as in, they don't all light up. Maybe it shouldn't. Tried ringigng today for advice but after being on hold for 30 m8ins, I gave up.

Gonna have to swallow my pride and go into the shop and admit to being a blonde bimbo!

Instructions say "Slave Function - the flashgun can perform as a wireless slave by switching the 'slave mode' switch to the S position. The flashgun will auto switch to M mode with a power ratio of 1:1. When the sensor detects an external flash fire, the flashgun will synchronise and fire. The amount of light output can be controlled by selecting the power ratio from 1/1 to 1/16".

This (to me) suggestsI an use it as a wireless slave, yet the guy had me buy the off cameraflash cord. I really am struggling :-(

[greenwing]

Originally Posted by DigiDiva

Instructions say "Slave Function - the flashgun can perform as a wireless slave by switching the 'slave mode' switch to the S position. The flashgun will auto switch to M mode with a power ratio of 1:1. When the sensor detects an external flash fire, the flashgun will synchronise and fire. The amount of light output can be controlled by selecting the power ratio from 1/1 to 1/16".

So yes, in slave mode it's just a manual flash with an inbuilt optical trigger, not a sophisticated wireless TTL system. Use the cord and it will let you have TTL flash off-camera, but that may not be what you intended, and if you ever want to add more off-camera wirelss TTL units, it will be redundant. You probably need to decide whether to return the flash & cord, if you can, and get something that's more like what you wanted, and is more future-proof should you want to add more units.

The Nissin Di622 is the cheapest I can see at Jessops that goes any way to proper wireless TTL, though it's limited to a single channel and group. The next seems to be the Metz 50 AF-1. Both of these are 'slave only', they can't be a commander but since your camera can I don't see that as a hardship.

Chris

[DigiDiva]

So why does it say 'wireless' if you need a cord? Wireless to me, means no wire....