600EX RT & ST E3 RT - issues and testing

[Sycotek]

Undocumented testing – as the Manual failed to explain how this works fully (or I missed it in the manual):

I thought my ST-E3-RT was faulty: Well this is my testing method over an hour last-night:

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Was wondering why my 600EX/STE3RT *beep* isn't functioning? Drove Me mental trying to work it out - initially thought I had faulty units, then thought it was proximity to the strobe.

But then I turned on the *beeps* on the strobes themselves and noticed they weren't beeping... Tried a different body, different lenses, used the 600EX as master, switch to optical, factory reset etc...

Then I stuck the strobes on 1:1 - and there we have it. They don't *beep* unless they are cycling. At low power output they will never *beep*.

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In my mind *ready Beep* should signify the system is ready to fire.
In actuality it only triggers when the capacitors are depleted and recycled.

Nowhere near as useful…

You would expect especially when shooting the flash-head through a window that the beep would tell you it’s ready but if you are on 1/8 power you will never hear it beep as it’s always ready.

But the second I put it on manual 1:1 and it took a second to cycle (12 batts) then it beeped every time.

Have already sent this through to Canon - doubt they can fix it :/

[JerryKnight]

What you're expecting is not unreasonable.

C. Fn 20: You can enable a beep to sound when the Speedlite is fully charged, or when a slave unit is fully charged during radio wireless transmission flash shooting.

That's a little vague, but it seems to mean that they only let it beep when it's done recycling. If you shoot with a low enough power, it might not always trigger the recycle sequence. I guess one way to interpret their explanation is exactly what you suggest - beep when fully charged, no matter what power setting was used. If the flash was triggered and is now recycled, then beep.

Worth pursuing, but I'm not sure if they have a firmware update procedure for Speedlites. If they do, it's a factory thing, I bet.

[Strobe the globe]

Thanks for this heads-up!

[Jamesy]

Any idea if an on camera 600EX-RT contributes to the exposure if it is set to merely control (master) a second one(slave)? This is pretty common phenomenon with the legacy Canon wireless system.

[hawkins132]

If you use a 600EX RT merely to trigger a slave, it won't contribute to exposure. It's two clicks to turn it off, pretty simple.

[Jamesy]

If you use a 600EX RT merely to trigger a slave, it won't contribute to exposure. It's two clicks to turn it off, pretty simple.

Have you confirmed that with your setup? The reason I ask is my two 580EXII's are supposed to behave the same way but the fact that they communicate with light - the master on camera flash always add to the exposure which is a pain.

[hawkins132]

I used to use 580 EX II as a master to trigger slaves as well, and I turn the 580EX II master flash to off. It will still pre-flash. It shouldn't contribute to exposure, as I've never noticed as issues in the end result.

I have two 600EX RTs now along with the ST E3 RT, I haven't used them in conjunction with my 580 yet in wireless mode. I will give it a test.

[FunPhotons]

I haven't noticed that behavior using a 600 as master.

[Jamesy]

I used to use 580 EX II as a master to trigger slaves as well, and I turn the 580EX II master flash to off. It will still pre-flash. It shouldn't contribute to exposure, as I've never noticed as issues in the end result.

I tested this last week when someone else had posted it - I pointed my two 580EXII's at a mirror, one on camera and one off camera. I changed between the master being on and off and in both cases there was a hot spot in the frame - the only difference being when off the hotspot was slightly smaller. I tried it with both a 40D and 5D3. Someone else chimed in to say their 5D2 and 5Dc behave the same way.