cgardner
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 p.1 #5 · Can the STE2 fire Alien Bees? | |
Yes, triggering an Alien Bee with a ST-E2 is possible. What you need to do to prevent pre-flash from prematurely triggering the ABs is to mask the TTL contacts in the hot shoe with tape or mylar so only the center pin which sends the "fire main flash" signal contacts the ST-E2. That prevents the ST-E2 from transmitting pre-flash signals. But the slave cells in the ABs are not too sensitive so you'd want the back of one of them pointing towards the ST-E2.
The ST-E2 isn't actually IR, but rather near-IR. It's a flash tube with a red filter. It capitalizes on the fact the rod cells of the eyes, which are about 3000x more sensitive than the cones, only react to blue-green wavelengths. So we don't see red as well as we do blue and green. It why red lights are used on ships at night to preserve night vision and why you can see better at night out of the corners of your eyes.
What you'd need to do to also trigger a Canon flash at the same time would be to force it into "dumb" slave mode. Set the wireless switch to "SLAVE" then press the mode button for 2 sec. until the M indicator starts blinking. Set power level manually on the flash. That's how to configure an EX flash to be triggered by a ST-E2 in manual mode. I'm not sure if it will work with the TTL pins taped to trigger the ABs, but suspect it will. Please try and report the results.
A 580ex in the hot shoe and set the wireless switch to OFF and mode to M it can also be used to trigger the ABs. There is no pre-flashing in that mode.
Chuck
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