600EX-RT + ST-E3-RT remote zoom setting?

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scottkinfw

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Ah yes, the Mitros+, a Mitros with an Odin receiver built in.

Now how did we get to the stage of cheap knockoffs and Chinese clones costing $399? You can get Canon refurb 600EX-RT's for $373 two or three times a year or $423 standard price, and non refurbs for between $475 and $499, for that kind of "saving" I am OEM all the way.
 
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I figured out that there is a remote zoom head control for the 600EX-RT. Turns out it's the same remote control we had for the TV when I was a kid.

feet.jpg
 
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I am here because of the same... in June 2015...
I can't have my 600EX-RT in Auto Zoom when using ST-E3-RT. Nothing happens when changing focal lenght.

Then I tried my way much cheeper Chinese triggers: Yongnuo YN622C-TX (on camera) and YN622C underneath the speedlights.

An guess what... nicely (and sadly for Canon) I can manually ajust the zoom on each speedlight from the YN622C-TX trigger. But that's not all. The 600EX-RT even autozoom when I change focal lenght and touch the release button light on my camera.

So with my cheep Chinese Yongnuo triggers I make my expensive Canon 600EX-RT speedlights auto zoom, but with my expensive Canon ST-E3-RT trigger nothing happens...
 
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tomofoslo said:
I am here because of the same... in June 2015...
I can't have my 600EX-RT in Auto Zoom when using ST-E3-RT. Nothing happens when changing focal lenght.

Then I tried my way much cheeper Chinese triggers: Yongnuo YN622C-TX (on camera) and YN622C underneath the speedlights.

An guess what... nicely (and sadly for Canon) I can manually ajust the zoom on each speedlight from the YN622C-TX trigger. But that's not all. The 600EX-RT even autozoom when I change focal lenght and touch the release button light on my camera.

So with my cheep Chinese Yongnuo triggers I make my expensive Canon 600EX-RT speedlights auto zoom, but with my expensive Canon ST-E3-RT trigger nothing happens...

Why would you want remote lights to zoom with the lens setting? I would consider that a negative 'feature', when I set up a remote I set it up one time and am done with it, being able to adjust the power and turn it on or off is all I ask.

I can understand liking being able to remotely zoom the remote flash, but not auto.
 
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Marsu42

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neuroanatomist said:
The purpose of the flash's zoom head is to match the region of illumination to the FoV of the lens. The only way that's possible is if the flash is on the camera. Granted, we co-opt the zoom head function for creative uses, but that's not the design intention.

I dunno, for such a radio flash designed for multi-flash setups I don't think the lack of remote zoom can be explained like with a 90x for occasional on-hotshoe flash. Canon well knows that people use it for directing light on brackets and off camera, which explains statements like this:

iam2nd said:
Not a reply to anyone particular, but rather a coincidence that I see this thread after having just recently watched a video from CanonUSA's Bruce Dorn talking about using the zoom off camera. At 1:43: "...the expanded 200mm tele zoom setting is expecially useful for wireless flash when the speedlite is used off-camera."

My guess is that Canon wanted to get their rt protocol on the market asap and simply opted to transfers ettl2 over radio for the time being as the "just works" option. I'd be surprised if there wouldn't be a new flash lineup with ettl3 (remote zoom & 2nd curtain remote) down the road to expand on the existing system.
 
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YuengLinger

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Marsu42 said:
neuroanatomist said:
The purpose of the flash's zoom head is to match the region of illumination to the FoV of the lens. The only way that's possible is if the flash is on the camera. Granted, we co-opt the zoom head function for creative uses, but that's not the design intention.

I dunno, for such a radio flash designed for multi-flash setups I don't think the lack of remote zoom can be explained like with a 90x for occasional on-hotshoe flash. Canon well knows that people use it for directing light on brackets and off camera, which explains statements like this:

iam2nd said:
Not a reply to anyone particular, but rather a coincidence that I see this thread after having just recently watched a video from CanonUSA's Bruce Dorn talking about using the zoom off camera. At 1:43: "...the expanded 200mm tele zoom setting is expecially useful for wireless flash when the speedlite is used off-camera."

My guess is that Canon wanted to get their rt protocol on the market asap and simply opted to transfers ettl2 over radio for the time being as the "just works" option. I'd be surprised if there wouldn't be a new flash lineup with ettl3 (remote zoom & 2nd curtain remote) down the road to expand on the existing system.

Safe bet!
 
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Marsu42 said:
I'd be surprised if there wouldn't be a new flash lineup with ettl3 (remote zoom & 2nd curtain remote) down the road to expand on the existing system.

What does E-TTL flash metering have to do with remote zoom or remote 2nd curtain sync? I suspect Canon could have implemented those in the -RT protocol had they wanted to do so.
 
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neuroanatomist said:
Marsu42 said:
I'd be surprised if there wouldn't be a new flash lineup with ettl3 (remote zoom & 2nd curtain remote) down the road to expand on the existing system.

What does E-TTL flash metering have to do with remote zoom or remote 2nd curtain sync? I suspect Canon could have implemented those in the -RT protocol had they wanted to do so.

I'd be very surprised if they introduce an RT II after one flash model to address such minor 'issues' as remote SCS and remote zoom.

The RT system was a blank paper build, sure the 600-EX-RT also has older optical protocols built in, but that doesn't impact the radio system. We got a lot of new tech in the RT protocol based around the foundation of two way communication, as opposed to the optical one way system. This enabled five Groups, mixed Modes, ready beeps from the Master etc etc. I still haven't been impacted to any appreciable degree by not having remote flash zoom (and I would certainly never implement auto remote zoom) or SCS, though I do accept there are times when remote SCS might make sense, though I also maintain it is nowhere near as often as people speculate due to the fact that more often than not the direction of motion in a dragged shutter shot is not obvious or important.
 
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Marsu42

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neuroanatomist said:
Marsu42 said:
I'd be surprised if there wouldn't be a new flash lineup with ettl3 (remote zoom & 2nd curtain remote) down the road to expand on the existing system.
What does E-TTL flash metering have to do with remote zoom or remote 2nd curtain sync? I suspect Canon could have implemented those in the -RT protocol had they wanted to do so.

I was taking of "ettl3" in the sense of a new camera-flash protocol, not in terms of different metering - so it could also be called "rt2" if you like that better, though they might want to have remote zoom & 2nd curtain remote for optical link, too.

I don't know if it would have been possible to implement this over the current rt protocol just like that, if so, I really wonder why they didn't at least allow for remote zoom that doesn't have timing problems like 2nd curtain sync might. The argument "the zoom is there to match the lens' focal length" doesn't quite cut it for me, I suspect a lot of people use the zoom for directed lighting instead of "light everything from the hotshoe".
 
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Marsu42 said:
neuroanatomist said:
Marsu42 said:
I'd be surprised if there wouldn't be a new flash lineup with ettl3 (remote zoom & 2nd curtain remote) down the road to expand on the existing system.
What does E-TTL flash metering have to do with remote zoom or remote 2nd curtain sync? I suspect Canon could have implemented those in the -RT protocol had they wanted to do so.

I was taking of "ettl3" in the sense of a new camera-flash protocol, not in terms of different metering - so it could also be called "rt2" if you like that better, though they might want to have remote zoom & 2nd curtain remote for optical link, too.

I don't know if it would have been possible to implement this over the current rt protocol just like that, if so, I really wonder why they didn't at least allow for remote zoom that doesn't have timing problems like 2nd curtain sync might. The argument "the zoom is there to match the lens' focal length" doesn't quite cut it for me, I suspect a lot of people use the zoom for directed lighting instead of "light everything from the hotshoe".

Got it.

Personally, I've never found a need for changing the head zoom setting remotely, but I can see where some might find it useful. I have tested different zoom settings with a variety of modifiers, and I find that each modifier has an optimal zoom setting. That setting certainly differs by modifier, from snoots to grids to softboxes, and even within modifier type (length of snoot, fineness of grid, etc.), but doesn't change for a given modifier. So it's set-it-and-forget-it, e.g. 135mm zoom for my 1/8" speed grid, it goes up on the boom, done. Or, with bare flash I'm bouncing off a ceiling, and again the zoom is set based on the bounce distance, which is fixed. I change the power, of course, but that's by RT remote. If I shot with off-camera direct bare flash, maybe I'd find remote zoom useful – but the point of getting flashes off camera is to shape the light, and that generally means a modifier.

Thinking further, I do see some future-proofing in excluding remote zoom. The 600 zooms to 200mm, if they come out with a 4x0EX-RT, it likely won't zoom to 200mm. How do you fully control zoom on both if they're in the same group? (Yes, the 600 could be capped at less in that case, but that's a kludge).
 
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