I just bought a 7D and it came in today. It is a Canon 430EX II. I am using it with my 7D and when trying to get the built in speedlight transmitter to work I couldn't. It might be that I misunderstood the concept, but I can only get the speedlight to fire when it is triggered by another flash. I have read both manuals looking for help and tried what they said but with no success. How do I get this to work. If someone could please explain it to me very detailed, step-by-step, it would be very helpful. Thank you.
Your 7D and 430EX II are only capable of optical transmission. In order to fire your flash off camera you need to have the pop up flash activated. You can set the 7D it is powered down so it just transmits the optical signal to fire the 430.
There is no camera on the market that is capable of RT yet. Optical only of there is a pop up flash. If no pop up is available then you need triggers.
"There is no camera on the market that is capable of RT yet. Optical only of there is a pop up flash. If no pop up is available then you need triggers".
If there is no pop up flash you can also use another flash on you camera to fire your off camera flash. It can't be a 430 as it is only as slave. You need a flash like the 580 or 600 that can be a master. 3rd party flashes also can be used as masters to fire your 430. If you choose this path do some research.
Ian.Dobinson wrote:
Luke , let me make sure you do have the 7D's onboard flash up don't you?
I do, I just thought I could do it without the pop up flash.
Zenon Char wrote:
Your 7D and 430EX II are only capable of optical transmission. In order to fire your flash off camera you need to have the pop up flash activated. You can set the 7D it is powered down so it just transmits the optical signal to fire the 430.
There is no camera on the market that is capable of RT yet. Optical only of there is a pop up flash. If no pop up is available then you need triggers.
Thank you. I thought the 7D could radio transmit. Turns out I was at least doing it right then.
p.1 #10 · Help with 7D built in flash transmitter.
gome1122 wrote:
I thought the 7D could radio transmit.
Currently, only the Speedlite 600EX-RT and the Speedlite Transmitter ST-E3 use radio wireless; all the older Speedlites, the ST-E2, and the Master-capable cameras like the 7D can only use optical wireless.
As Zenon Char mentioned, you can use the 7D's Flash Control menu to set the pop-up to fire only the command and metering pre-flashes but not a flash for exposure. You can also set it to fire an exposure flash, and you can vary the level of that flash from weak fill to full key.
I currently run three off-camera Speedlites, with various modifiers, controlled by my 7D's pop-up, and it works really well even when one of the Speedlites is in a softbox.
