Paul C. Buff, Inc. Technical Forum

Hello all. As indicated, I finally bought a DSLR, a T3i, and am now trying to get things going with the B800 kit I bought several years ago and used briefly with my film SLRs.
I'm having trouble finding a setting that will reliably trigger my B800 in slave mode.
Is there a resource somewhere that will help me sort this out? Or, if anyone has any tips to get me going, that would be greatly appreciated as well.

Beyond that, my T3i does have the wireless control built in, so if there is a simple receiver that will interface with that, I would be interested in hearing about that as well.

Thanks a lot,
Matthew

The T3i, like all digital cameras, utilize a preflash metering method for automatic adjustment of the built in or dedicated external speedlite. To my knowlege, the Rebel series cameras do not allow the preflash to be defeated, similar to most other sub-$1000 cameras, nor do the same provide a PC terminal for studio flash. Additionally, the wireless commander built into any camera is geared for wireless automatic flash. This uses a series of flash commands before exposure to set the appropriate levels. There is no effective way to use the wireless commander of your camera with the Alien Bees or other studio lights (there are ways, but there are better means of triggering).

The most cost effective route would be to use a hotshoe adapter to allow the sync cord included with the lights to attach to the camera. These run in the $15 range, and are available through us, or through most camera stores: http://www.paulcbuff.com/hsa.php

Generally regarded as a better way is to use a radio remote system. We offer a system known as CyberSync. Radio remotes both eliminate teh long wires as well as by pass the easily defeated optical triggering methods. http://www.paulcbuff.com/cybersync.php

In the interim, but not recommended for long term use, you can use the FEL (flash exposure lock) feature of your camera. If I recall correctly, the asterik button, when pressed, will fire the preflash. This will allow enough time for the Bee to recycle for the actual exposure flash. If the option exists, I would have FEL set to toggle and not hold. This means you press the button to activate, and again to deactivate. This is opposed to hold, which means it is only active as long as the "*" button is depressed.

Alternatively, if you have a speedlite with manual control, you can set it to manual and dail the power as low as it can go. This will both eliminate the preflash as well as not impact the image with its own flash contribution. If you can tilt or swivel the head of the speedlite, doing so can contribute even less to the scene.

Thanks so much for your prompt and very helpful response.
I was afraid of that. The preflash has been my bane on my previous digital cameras as well, but I had hoped there would be a way on this camera, advanced as it is, to deal with it. However, your "work around" of pushing the * button did work quite well, thanks! I can at least "play" with my light until I find a more permanent solution. And, a pulling down the built-in flash helped minimize its effect.

I'll probably start with the hotshoe adapter and go from there, but your wireless system is pretty attractive as well. When I recover from camera and lens purchases I will have to give that another look.

Thanks again,
Matthew

I believe you can set the T3i flash to manual mode, where the preflash is turned off. This would be burried somewhere in the menu settings.

I know that entry-level Nikon dSLR cameras can be set so, and I'd be suprised if it didn't work the same way for Canon.

Ok, so after looking closer, the T3i does offer manual mode. This is the first Rebel model I have seen with it.

you can refer to page 182 in the manual for details.

Thanks to both of you. This is very good to hear. I know a radio will be my best bet long term, but this should be perfect for my needs right now.