Dual ST-E3s

[acoll123]

Does anyone know if you can use two or more ST-E3's to control the same flashes? I usually use two cameras (1DXs) and would like to be able to use both at the same time (different lenses) to control my 3 off-camera 600's. I don't have two ST-E3's right now so I can't test it by manually selecting the same channels . . .

Thanks,

Andy

 

[neuroanatomist]

I think so - you can have a master and other sub-masters in the setup.

 

[danski0224]

I think so - you can have a master and other sub-masters in the setup.

Uh-oh...

;D

 

[neuroanatomist]

Lol, ok - yes, you can...according to the manual (p.30).

 

[Jim Saunders]

If you have four devices you can try it with two lights as slaves and the rest as masters. Whichever one comes up as master second I think defaults to an amber connection light. I haven't tried it to see how it handles precedence, but I'm curious to hear how it goes for you.

Jim

 

[privatebydesign]

Absolutely you can.

As Neuro says, you have one Master, (it is just the first one switched on) and it displays a green light, and any number up to a total of 16 units as Sub Masters, they display an orange light, they all have complete control over the remote flashes and 600's can be the Master, or Sub Masters in a collection. The Master and Sub Master/s do not have to have the same settings, you can even mix and match pre and post 2012 bodies, you can have one camera in ETTL, the other in Group Mode and all the remotes will behave as they should from the camera that is firing, it really is an amazing system when you use multiple bodies.

 

[wickidwombat]

thats a pretty cool feature.
cant do that with odins the flashes all freak out if you have 2 cams on the same channel
and you can hear the zoom heads going crazy freaking out over the different focal lengths

 

[privatebydesign]

thats a pretty cool feature.
cant do that with odins the flashes all freak out if you have 2 cams on the same channel
and you can hear the zoom heads going crazy freaking out over the different focal lengths

Well we could chalk that up to being a very good reason to not have remote zoom! Though I can't help thinking that isn't the reason Canon have never done remote zoom, and a way of disabling it for the Sub-Masters shouldn't take too complicated coding skills.

Just a very small aside, don't know if my manual is different from Neuro's, or if he made a typo, but my manual has this info on page 60 (not p. 30).

Also, the system is smart, all the Masters, Main Master and Sub-Masters, are in Group A, but even if the on camera flash is set to fire, when it is triggered by another Master it doesn't, so no fires down into the floor next to you messing up exposures.

The RT system really is a very good flash system.

 

[neuroanatomist]

Just a very small aside, don't know if my manual is different from Neuro's, or if he made a typo, but my manual has this info on page 60 (not p. 30).

In the ST-E3-RT manual it's on p.30, in the 600EX-RT manual it's on p.60.

 

[privatebydesign]

Ah, it is funny, of the three possible options, me being wrong was the one I expected! ;D

As it was a question on the ST-E3-RT I probably should have used that manual. DOH!

 

[StudentOfLight]

As a side note, if you need to take shots freely between the two bodies then using speedlites can be tricky because of their slowish recycle times. A useful accessory will be CP-E4 battery packs which will speed up recycle time. And in terms of camera settings you can also use higher ISO and wider apertures to reduce the flash output requirements.

Let us know how you setup and what the results are like. Best of luck