STE-3 and EL-1 OCF No Good

Photosbydave
Offline
•
Upload & Sell: On

p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · STE-3 and EL-1 OCF No Good

"I've been having consistent issues when shooting with off-camera flash (OCF) and wanted to see if others are experiencing the same or if there's a fix. My problem is that the connection between my camera and flash keeps dropping during shoots, forcing me to repeatedly turn the flashes off and on to get them working again. This is happening far too often, and I really need a solution. What could be causing this? I’m urgently looking for answers."

flash: Canon EL-1
Sometimes I use 600ex or ste-3-rt

Camera I use is the 1dx Mark ii my other camera is the R6 Mark ii

Aug 26, 2024 at 10:21 AM

rscheffler
Offline
• • • • • •
Upload & Sell: Off

p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · STE-3 and EL-1 OCF No Good

You're not alone. There have been threads about this over the past 2-3 years. Something in the RF environment, both in the US and Canada (and probably elsewhere), changed around 2020-2021 and has seriously degraded the RT system's reliability. Prior to this I shot a lot of events with the 600EX-RTs and they were extremely reliable.

From my own experience, I think the problem is when the Canon RT units are on the receiving end. I can use the STE3-RT, 600EX-RT or EL-5 as a sender and it will reliably trigger third party devices (that are now discontinued) operating on the RT network.

One suggested solution is to use the Godox X1R radio system as it will TTL control Canon brand flashes, but you will need to use a Godox sender unit or flash on the camera as the master. There is brief recent discussion about this here.

Aug 26, 2024 at 10:32 AM

Photosbydave
Offline
•
Upload & Sell: On

p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · STE-3 and EL-1 OCF No Good

Thank you for the input. I will look into that.

Aug 26, 2024 at 01:10 PM

jjoejr
Offline
• • •
Upload & Sell: Off

p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · STE-3 and EL-1 OCF No Good

Join the radio interference club. Have been shooting hummers at house with 4 flashes 600ex rt and 1 ste-3. Then couple years ago. Misfired and dropouts happened. Spent months off and on with canon. Sent 4 flashes in to update software even though warranty ran out and they paid for it. Talked with many people about this. I even disconnected power to my house and surrounding houses to see if wifi or cell phones were doing it as we are about 150feet apart. Nothing worked except when I located units approx. a mile from my house and they stayed linked. Take a flash unit and ste-3 and link together. Put in microwave, (don't turn on) and it will never drop the link. Because of the shield in front stopping interference. I won't buy another radio transmission flash from canon no matter what model until they address or fix it.

Aug 27, 2024 at 05:19 PM


FM Forums \| Canon Forum \| Join Upload & Sell

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.