New Canon Speedlites and ST-E3!

[justsomedude]

Cool!!

http://www.usa.canon.com/cusa/consumer/products/cameras/speedlite_flash_lineup/speedlite_600ex_rt#Features

http://www.usa.canon.com/cusa/consumer/products/cameras/speedlite_flash_lineup/speedlite_transmitter_st_e3_rt

[mr.ranger]

any idea on prices?

[thure1982]

So Canon still have to take our money. ST-E3 wont be cheap.
I hoped that the 5D3 would have the transmitter built in.

Edit: Also, there seem to be no af-assist light.

[ronderick]

Cool... the Speedlite 600 EX has arrived in time.

Now I won't need to buy another 580 II to replace my stolen 580 II, and still have 320 for
casual trips.

[SPG]

any idea on prices?

$629 and $479 us list price

[JurijTurnsek]

so, would it now be possible to have a wireless system with no third party addons? I'm using elichrom skyports, but would be very happy if there was no need for the additional setup time, just plain simple camera and flashes...

[JurijTurnsek]

nevermind, just saw a transmitter has been announced too 

so how would a purely canon setup stack up against elichrome and pocket wizards? seems to me it's sitting somewhere in between...

[jel0407]

Edit: Also, there seem to be no af-assist light.

There is a AF-assist light built in:

AF Assist Beam compatible with Canon's new 61-Point High Density Reticular AF.

[Maui5150]

Count me as underwhelmed.    Distance is marked at 100 ft for the most part, though have seen some test as far as 300... Basically if you are in an urban setting they are expecting interference. 

Secondly, no option right now for non-Speed lite triggering... i.e. this system can fire 600 EX speedlites and future speedlights, but that is it.  The 600 EX can be fired optically, but you cannot say do hybrid - 580s Optically and 600s radio.  If you have other speed lights or strobes you want to fire, you are SOL unless you are setting up to fire upon flash. 

While some have had issues with the Flex, I still like the fact that I can fire my Photogenic PL2500DRRs with my Sekonic Light Meter, my PW II, or my Mini or Flex as well as with my 580 on a Flex, fire that, or hook a cord into any other flash and sync of the PW.  the Phottix Odin and Stratos combo can pretty much do the same as well.

Not sure what I am missing other than price, or maybe I have missed something, but I did not see anything this set up could really do that the 580s with Flex or Odin couldn't do, and if anything else, at least the PW and Phottix solution allowed for non speed lites to be included in the mix

[neuroanatomist]

Edit: Also, there seem to be no af-assist light.

There is a AF-assist light built in:

AF Assist Beam compatible with Canon's new 61-Point High Density Reticular AF.

Nope, thure1982 was presumably referring to the ST-E3, which does not have an AF assist lamp (for which many people use the ST-E2 independent of it's ability to optically control flashes, since it's the smallest form factor you can get for a Canon AF assist lamp).

[outsider]

A couple of things I'm surprised about as well.

The fact that the ST-E3-RT doesn't have an AF assist light. I know a lot of people that bought the ST-E2 only because it had an AF assist light. It really comes in handy.

And second, Canon didn't introduce a generic receiver that can be used with all their other flashes. I guess they want to drive sales of the new flagship 600EX-RT flash.
It's certainly not a technological barrier, since I assume the 600EX flashes are backwards compatible with all the other ETTL camera bodies Canon has ever made.

[7enderbender]

It's certainly not a technological barrier, since I assume the 600EX flashes are backwards compatible with all the other ETTL camera bodies Canon has ever made.

That doesn't seem to be entirely clear yet:

"Sync Speeds — I shot at all sync speeds, up to 1/8000″ in High-Speed Sync, on both my 5DM2 and my 60D. I used both a 600EX-RT Speedlite and the ST-E3-RT transmitter to trigger. In hundreds of frames over the past week, I have not had one sync issue. The manual says that on pre-2012 cameras (anything other than 1D X and 5DM3), the system takes a one-stop hit in sync speed and that HSS is not possible. This will be an interesting area to watch as others begin to use the gear."

http://pixsylated.com/blog/canon-600ex-rt-first-impressions/


Looks like it works even though the manual says otherwise. And there were a few other features that are 5DIII/1Dx only, like the control over the 5 wireless groups.

It'll sure be very interesting what this all means in the end, what other products this may trigger, if there will be any other RT flashes from Canon, what PW et al will do next, etc etc.

I'd also like to see a list of countries where they won't be able to sell these - and where technically speaking you're not allowed to use the new radio system. I'm still very surprised that Canon did this even though the latest PW without any TTL capability could have been an indicator of something like this coming.

I'm much more fascinated by the flash and the remote than the new camera (as nice as it looks of course).

[MikeHunt]

Roll-on YONGNUO...give them 5 or 6 weeks and they'll have the YN-600EX-RT for $199

I looked at the 580EX II for 499 euros, then saw a video on youtube for YN565 - a 580ex clone - so I bought that instead. It does everything a 580ex does except for high-speed sync (don't need master as 7d does that)

[Bonnau_Photo]

 So let me get this strait..
In order to do HSS with the new 600 you also have to have the ST-E3 to do a 100 foot wireless trigger and HSS control?

Maybe I am missing something in all the reading I have been doing the past day.. (My eyes are burning) But what is the advantage of this system over what the poket wiz and radio poppers can already do with older flash units? And for less money..

[SPG]

I like the functionality in the system, but I am turned off by the price. You can get an Odin set and an extra receiver for the price of the ST-E3 which will do just about the same thing. 
I wouldn't worry too much about the stated range of 98' as I think that Canon is being overly cautious in promising more than it can deliver. A real working range for a 2.4ghz system is more like 100 meters than 100 feet. They must be working under the assumption that most people will use it in the same area as a wifi setup, microwave, and cordless phone which all can potentially cause interference. I guess that it can still function consistently within 100' under those conditions.