Any new wireless Speedlites on the horizon?

[jhanken]

I have been playing a lot with off-camera flash using a 580EX and a pair of 430EX Speedlites. I have been triggering them with four Cactus V5s, which are nice, simple radios, but no E-TTL, but maybe the most annoying feature is that you have to climb ladders to adjust settings manually or wake them up when they go to sleep. [

I would love to perhaps upgrade my wireless flashes, was considering taking the plunge into Pocket Wizard land, but could also go the way of a 600EX-RT and the ST-E3-RT trigger. I love my 430EX flashes and I am wondering whether Canon can be expected to come out with a 430EX II replacement with RT any time soon.

I have scanned the Lighting section of the forum, have not seen any good rumors or gossip, so I thought I would throw out the question for those who may know or have an informed guess.

 

[RC]

...I am wondering whether Canon can be expected to come out with a 430EX II replacement with RT any time soon.

Seems Canon wants us to keep buying the 600EX RT for a while longer. I too have been waiting for an RT replacement for the 430EX II but I've decided I'm going to get another 600 before the Canon rebate (USA) expires on 7/6. At $499.00 this will be considerably cheaper than what I paid for from my previous 600s and about the same as what I had paid for my 580EX II.

 

[Wildfire]

There's a lot of speculation on an RT slave unit but no official word from Canon and nothing from Canon Rumors Guy either.

I would definitely love an RT slave unit but Canon sure doesn't have an incentive to release one when everyone seems happy to buy $500 units as slaves.

 

[pwp]

If you genuinely need the functionality of the 600 RT I'd say just go and get them.

Others will follow, but that doesn't help you in the meantime. There will be an RT 430EX replacement, it could be a few months or a couple of years away.

An almost certain RT clone is likely to come from Yongnuo. They have shamelessly copied Canon Speedlights for years and are unlikely to stop anytime soon. But if you need RT now, why wait?

-PW

 

[Loswr]

It's also nice having all your flashes at the same max power. I've got an ST-E3-RT and three 600's, and it's a great setup.

 

[distant.star]

.
The 600 is now listed in the Canon refurb shop. On sale at $374 -- but out of stock as you'd likely expect.

 

[Mt Spokane Photography]

.
The 600 is now listed in the Canon refurb shop. On sale at $374 -- but out of stock as you'd likely expect.

They have been restocked a couple of times during the current sale, but sell out quickly, you have to keep checking or signup for a monitor program to notify you when they are back in stock.

 

[cnardo]

Re: Canon refurb shop.... Just picked up 2 600EX RTs.... Even though it said " out of stock"......what I did was to refresh page or update page every 10-15 seconds and on the 3 rd refresh, there it was..." in stock". Try it!