Anyone who has used this, some advice would be appreciated.
Can this transmitter be used to fire a "primary" flash such as a 550EX mounted on a camera bracket? I want to eliminate using an Off camera cord. Firing "slaves" from the device I can see, but with the 550 being used as a primary & no slaves, will it work that close to the transmitter?
Any suggestions welcome.
It will fire an off camera flash. Actually, it will fire more than one. I do not know what you mean by "mounted on a camera bracket". The St-E2 mounts into the hotshoe and you just have to keep your flashes within a reasonable distance.
If you mean that you have a flash bracket to mount the flash beside the camera rather than the hotshoe and fire it by an ST-E2 rather than the OC-E3 cable then this will work so long as the subject is quite close as the IR signal must leave the ST-E2 and bounce off the subject to return to the speedlight. It will work fine for portraiture ect but not far away subjects such as landscapes - generally the speedlights IR sensor must be able to "see" the ST-E2's IR transmitter or at least recieve a bounced IR signal
Hope thats what you meant, sorry if I misinterperated
If you are just shooting indoors in your home, then it will control the flash just fine. When you use the ST-E2, the signal can bounce around in the room and reach the flash. This is true if the flash is on a bracket or on a lightstand/umbrella/softbox. But, if you want to shoot in an environment where the IR signal can not easily bounce back to the flash, then it will not work.
I own the ST-E2 and OC-E3 flash cord and always use the cord when using my bracket. If you don't own the OC-E3 and want to get the ST-E2 and use it for a dual role until you can get the flash cord, then you should be OK in typical home environments.
Freetime101/UCSB - Thanks, that's what I was wanting to know although I didn't make it to clear! I have a Custom Bracket CB Junior and want to use my 550EX, but wanted to fire it without the OC-E3 cord (if that was possible). That was my question, whether or not the ST-E2 would fire the 550 in place of the cord. Was concerned with the two units that close (over/under), would the signal from the transmitter trip the flash. And yes, it would be for indoor work, not landscape, etc. Wanted an option to the cord as this is the second cord I have gone through with the other doing as I have read on other sites and that is the flash module breaking apart for no apparent reason other than its construction makeup.
Thanks to you both for info.
