Paul C. Buff, Inc. Technical Forum

Hi

I'm looking to make my Canon flashes wireless. I have a 580EXII a 580EX, and a 430 EXII. I shoot with a 5DkII.

I'm looking at the basic cybersync option ( i.e. one standard trigger and one standard receiver )

Could you please tell me what the likely sync speed I will get with my 5DmkII shutter will be.

Thanks

wooster

The Canon 5D Mark II is known for its poor sync speed and inconsistencies between bodies. Some people can sync fine at 1/200, but many can not.

My "safe" sync speed is 1/160. With a flash on camera I can sync at 1/200. Using radio triggers I can usually sync at 1/200, but sometime see black bands at the edge of the frame so I stick with 1/160.


See this post where another 5D Mark II user can only get 1/160.
http://www.flickr.com/groups/strobist/d ... 691029188/

My experience is similar to CanadianEh... 5D mkII syncs at 1/200 with CyberSync and 1/160 with RF-602 "E-Bay" triggers.

I'd consider the brand new Phottix Odin TTL trigger for Canon. They'll begin taking orders on 9/20. I've used their Strato 4-in-1 and have been very pleased. I bought mine direct from China but some US dealers keep Phottix products in stock now.

The Odin will sync at up to 1/8000 - though flash power would be drastically reduced as it is with any HSS type of technology. Still, it appears to preserve all the function you'd have with an on-camera speedlite - just off camera and radio controlled.

It's also backwards compatible with their Strato line, which you could use to trigger PCB lights as well. The Odin receivers may also be able to trigger PCB lights but that would be an unnecessarily expensive route.

http://www.phottix.com/en/studio-accessories/phottix-odin-ttl-flash-trigger-for-canon.html

My experience is that 1/160 is safe, anything faster is not.

A couple of points:

First, the 5DmkII's seem to vary from one specimen to the next, as stated above. CyberSyncs will sync as fast or faster than any other non-TTL based trigger, though that speed can vary. Good triggers will sync at the 1/160 or 1/200 mark, while other, cheap models can struggle to reach 1/80.

Second: most people get into the mindest of automatically going to the sync speed, and that faster is better or even required. This is true for many cases, but not always. In most sudio situations, 1/30 of a second to 1/8000 of a second won't matter as far as ambient light and its resulting blur is concerned. At these speeds and normal ISO and aperture settings, ambient light is virtually blacked out. Any blur or action stopping is caused soley by the flash, making a one stop difference in sync speed a non issue.

Additionally, the black banding that occurs from exceeding your sync speed is only evident on portions of the scene lit by flash. Indoors, it is imperative to stay below that speed, however, outdoors it may not be necessary.

Lets say you are outdoors with sky in the upper 1/3 of the scene. Flash is not going to light the sky, so who cares if it is covered by the shutter when the flash fires? Some cameras band from the top, some from the bottom, so you may have to rotate your camera to adapt. Or, you can use the lower banding for a vignette effect. In bright light, the transition will be less noticable. Granted, this will only gain you one stop or less.