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Fri Apr 05, 2013 3:57 pm

Joined: Fri Apr 05, 2013 3:36 pm
Posts: 5

Hello everyone. I have seen some posts similar to what I am about to ask, but I still can't find the right answer.

I am trying to mix my 430 exl2 Canon speed light and an Einstein. I have a Phottix odin trigger system. I don't mind that everything is manual. Here is what I have tried so far.

Speedlight sitting on a phottix receiver hot shoe and the Einstein is connected via the 1/8 wire to the phottix receiver. Receivers are triggered by the Phottix Transmitter controller sitting on the camera hot shoe. Everything is in Manual setting. When fired, it seems that both units flash, but on the exposure only speedlight is viable.

I tried the second option. I turned off and unplugged the phottix receiver from the Einstein and tried to trigger the Einstein optically. Still, I only see the light from the speedlight during the exposure.

I played around with power settings on both units and nothing.....always seems that the Einstein is shoots after the exposure because it is not viable in the exposure that it's eliminating the subject. I turned off the Einstein completely and the exposure still looks the same as it does when both units fire.

My thinking is that they are just out of sync and the Einstein due to its flash duration does not make it into the shot. I saw someone suggest on a post here to put a CST onto the hot shoe of a phottix receiver and trigger Einstein wirelessly with PCB transceiver together with the speedlight so that everything is triggered at the same time.

I don't know if I should try that and buy the PCB CST, The phottix odin system has been great so far for everything else.

I would love to hear your thoughts on this.

Thank you!




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Fri Apr 05, 2013 4:14 pm

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Joined: Tue Dec 08, 2009 10:43 am
Posts: 5266

1- Are you below your sync speed?
2-What is the power setting of the Einstein?
3-What happens if you leave the Einstein, but remove the speedlite?
4-Is the optical slave eye on on the Einstein, even though it is still plugged into the sync cord?




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Fri Apr 05, 2013 4:28 pm

Joined: Fri Apr 05, 2013 3:36 pm
Posts: 5

1. Yes, I am 1/200th of a second. Max x sync for canon7d. At f16.
2. I tried different settings, but most testing was done with half the power.
3. When that happens the shot is greatly eliminated as it would be expected with the great and powerful Enstined and its medium size soft box :). When the flash is firing the subject is poorly eliminated as one would expect a single speedlight to do.
4.i was not aware that there am on/off capability of optical slave eye on the Einstein. Could it be that simple....or stupid of me? :) I'll be in my studio in about an hour....very curious.


Thanks for quick answers, sorry for spelling or grammar....typing on a phone.




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Fri Apr 05, 2013 4:46 pm

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Joined: Tue Dec 08, 2009 10:43 am
Posts: 5266

shutterWhisper wrote:
4.i was not aware that there am on/off capability of optical slave eye on the Einstein. Could it be that simple....or stupid of me? :) I'll be in my studio in about an hour....very curious.


If the Canon speedlite was triggered too early, it is possible it could have preflashed (even if in manual mode, depending on other modes). The preflash could have set off the Einstein too early, resulting in no exposure recorded.

However, this does not explain why there is no image when only the Einstein is used.




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Fri Apr 05, 2013 4:54 pm

Joined: Fri Apr 05, 2013 3:36 pm
Posts: 5

I misspelled in my previous post. I meant to say "Eluminated". When the Eisntein is on its own with the phottix connected via the cable it works perfectly! Even 2 Einsteins and 2 Phottix.

So if the flash is in manual it still sends out a preflash wich triggers the Einstein early. Ok. That makes sense....would you then suggest putting on a cst on the phottix. This way the Einstein and the Speedlight would be triggered with a radio signal?




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Fri Apr 05, 2013 4:56 pm

Joined: Fri Apr 05, 2013 3:36 pm
Posts: 5

To add...I started experimenting with an Einstein and a Speedlight mix because I read posts and saw videos that it was possible. Not with Einsteins in particular, but strobes in general. So I was surprised and baffled that I could not get both of these units to sync up with radio or via optical.




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Sat Apr 06, 2013 11:25 am

Joined: Fri Dec 18, 2009 11:50 am
Posts: 306

which Phottix trigger are you exactly using? They make a few including ones w/ ttl support...




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Sat Apr 06, 2013 1:44 pm

Joined: Fri Apr 05, 2013 3:36 pm
Posts: 5

kenyee wrote:
which Phottix trigger are you exactly using? They make a few including ones w/ ttl support...



I am using Phottix Odin. It has full TTL support, but it does not work with the Einsteins. So with the Einstein they work as a simple radio trigger and connected via 1/8 wire.




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