580EX and Bowens Combination

[bigberd]

Hi. Would appreciate if anyone can shed some light on this situation which I found myself in.

Situation:
Bowens Espirit Strobe (as main) with 580EX on camera (as fill). Metered as f11 @ 1/60.

Took shots and all underexposed. played around with Aperture and Shutter speed by 2 stops and still underexposed.

But when shooting with 580EX in ETTL, exposure is more or less ok.

I'm stumped by this. Anybody can help? Thanks.

[Splutter]

How did you trigger the strobe? PC-sync?

[darrelchia]

I think the problem is coz the 580ex is mounted on the hotshoe of the camera and used to trigger the strobes, as well as fill flash?

ETTL makes use of a pre-flash to calculate the required output for the flash, so the pre flash of the 580 (and all other canon flashes) will actually trigger off the strobes.

[xl1]

you cannot use 580 with bowens together, you need to modified the hotshoe for 580 to work with iR reciever.

but you can use 580 to trigger bowens, but you need to use manual in your 580EX

[canturn]

Originally Posted by bigberd Hi. Would appreciate if anyone can shed some light on this situation which I found myself in. Situation: Bowens Espirit Strobe (as main) with 580EX on camera (as fill). Metered as f11 @ 1/60. Took shots and all underexposed. played around with Aperture and Shutter speed by 2 stops and still underexposed. But when shooting with 580EX in ETTL, exposure is more or less ok. I'm stumped by this. Anybody can help? Thanks.

In studio, shutter speed doesn't matter if you're using the studio light as a main light.

I wouldn't advise using 580EX as a fill cos you'll get colour temperature difference between the bowen and canon flash. Best is to use a reflector actually. Which is the reason why I prefer to work with one key light for the subject and another for the background.

And yes, if u want to use the 580EX as a trigger, point the flash backward, set to manual 'M' mode at 1/256th output. I do that all the time in the studio.

[bigberd]

Originally Posted by canturn In studio, shutter speed doesn't matter if you're using the studio light as a main light. I wouldn't advise using 580EX as a fill cos you'll get colour temperature difference between the bowen and canon flash. Best is to use a reflector actually. Which is the reason why I prefer to work with one key light for the subject and another for the background. And yes, if u want to use the 580EX as a trigger, point the flash backward, set to manual 'M' mode at 1/256th output. I do that all the time in the studio.

Thanks Canturn for sharing. But may I know how u set it to 1/256th output? The minimum i can do down to is 1/128 for the 580EX.

Also, does it work if I set it to TTL instead of ETTL or will they yeild the same result?

[bigberd]

Originally Posted by xl1 you cannot use 580 with bowens together, you need to modified the hotshoe for 580 to work with iR reciever. but you can use 580 to trigger bowens, but you need to use manual in your 580EX

I got a reply from one of the photographers in Bowens. They suggest covering up the 580EX's 4 pins (that form a box). Apparently that fires the preflash for the ETTL. I haven't tried it yet but will do so and soon and share with everyone my findings.

[canturn]

Originally Posted by bigberd I got a reply from one of the photographers in Bowens. They suggest covering up the 580EX's 4 pins (that form a box). Apparently that fires the preflash for the ETTL. I haven't tried it yet but will do so and soon and share with everyone my findings.

Don't try to do anything to the electronics.

My bad, min is 1/128th... 1/256th output is another metz flash of mine.

If you're using it as a trigger, doesn't matter what mode u use, frankly. You only have to worry about that if you're using the 420ex whereby there isn't any M mode to set...

As I mentioned early on, try not to mix flash lights from different source. Unless you're using it just for the catch light (eg. when your subject is lit from the sides or back) .

[mpenza]

yup, just use manual mode on the flash. there's no need to cover the pins.

[bigberd]

Originally Posted by mpenza yup, just use manual mode on the flash. there's no need to cover the pins.

Thanks Mpenza. I have tried that and I know it works. It is this ETTL thingy that I'm not so sure.

[mpenza]

if you cover the pins, set the flash to (E)TTL mode, and fire from the camera, the flash will give the full power output without preflash (vs manual mode where you could control the power and limit it to 1/128 for e.g.). This would trigger the studio strobe but the output from the flash might be too much for the setup.