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Canon 550 flash slave question

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by Jim Zipp on Sat Aug 30, 2003 2:31 pm

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I just hooked up one 550 unit as master and one 550 as slave. I must have some setting wrong as when I fire the shot, the slave goes off about a half second later. I have both set for normal curtian. I don't have access to my manuals this afternoon and am hoping someone can bail me out! Thanks.

Jim Zipp
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by E.J. Peiker on Sat Aug 30, 2003 3:17 pm

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Jim, are you sure you aren't just seeing the preflash and then the main flash? With one 550 as Master, and the other as slave, or both as slave with an ST-E2 IR trigger, the main flashes fire simultaneously. I use this set-up all the time.

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by Jim Zipp on Sat Aug 30, 2003 3:32 pm

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E.J.,
I have one hooked up directly to the camera as master and the other set as slave. Both are set to ETTL. I am using 1/250 sec on a 1D and -2/3 comp. When I take the shot, the main flash fires and then the slave pops after the shutter has closed! I figured I had some setting screwed up and you would set me straight. Maybe there is something wrong but I can't imagine. I used the same setup the other day and no problem. Thanks for trying.

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by Greg Downing on Sat Aug 30, 2003 3:47 pm

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Sounds weird to me Jim. Did you try switching the flashes? It's probably a long-shot but I can't understand what is going on other than maybe the transmitter is not working correctly.

Greg Downing
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by E.J. Peiker on Sat Aug 30, 2003 3:59 pm

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Something is very wrong. Unfortunately I'm on the road right now and don't have access to my manuals but I am wondering if some weird function got enabled. Try pulling the batteries out of both flashes while they are on to wipe out the memory in the flashes then turn the flashes off and reinstall them. Make sure one flash is set to master, the other to slave, make sure they are both on the same channel and try again.

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by Jim Zipp on Sat Aug 30, 2003 3:59 pm

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Greg, Tried that and it works exactly the same way! It's driving me crazy and I'm sure I'm going to feel really stupid when I find out what's wrong

Jim Zipp
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by Jim Zipp on Sat Aug 30, 2003 4:08 pm

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Greg and E.J.,
Took the batteries out and reinstalled. Both on same channel and the unit hooked to the camera is on master and the other on slave. Same results.

Then I tried one last thing..... removing the off camera flash cable and putting the flash directly on the hot shoe........SUCCESS!!!!!!!!!! Looks like I've gone through another flash cord. I can't believe how bad they are. I bet I've had at least 4 cords in the last couple of years and my Nikon lasted as long as I owned it. Thanks for you help guys.... I really appreciate it. Where else can you get this kind of help when you need it?

Jim

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by Greg Downing on Sat Aug 30, 2003 4:08 pm

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Try doing what E.J. said by removing the batteries. It is like re-booting the electronics of the flash units. If that doesn't work I will look through my manuals. You can e-mail me and I will give you my phone number (you should already have it) if you want.

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by E.J. Peiker on Sat Aug 30, 2003 4:13 pm

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Jim, glad you resolved the problem. I am still on my first two but I have taken the hot shoes on both apart and lock-tited the screws that are beneath the metal ground strap on the hot-shoe side. If you don't do that they work themselves loose and after a while, even tightening won't help because the wires develop cracks from moving around too much. By lock-titeing it when you first get it, the wires are never stressed and they will last much longer. the Canon cords are poorly manufactured - that is for certain. They are made by a sub-contractor for Canon.

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by Jim Zipp on Sat Aug 30, 2003 4:21 pm

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Thanks again guys, On the cords, I have taken mine apart and done the locktite thing already but this one may be the one that loosened up a bunch before I did that. I do have a backup for just this reason. I'm still surprised that the cord would cause this problem but I guess there are signals going through it to the master flash that are then forwarded to the slave. I even tried going back to the cord again with the same results. In a way I'm glad it was a mechanical problem and not some stupid mistake I was making!!

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by Greg Downing on Sat Aug 30, 2003 4:27 pm

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That's good Jim! I was just playing with my flash units and was able to get them to do the same thing (2 second delay), but only with both flashes OFF THE CAMERA, so the cord makes sense as the culprit. I have put lock-tight on all mine and I have even gotten cords with loose screws right from the factory!

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by Ron Niebrugge on Sat Aug 30, 2003 5:48 pm

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Jim what cord were you using when you had the problem?

Make sure you use the Off Camera Shoe Cord 2 and not the identical looking Connecting Cord 60 with the adapters on each end, because the 550 won’t work as a master on the latter despite there similar use and appearance.

Ron Niebrugge

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by Jim Zipp on Sat Aug 30, 2003 8:11 pm

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Ron,
Yes I'm using the right cord. Just got home and tried my backup cord and all is well. I was trying the old one agian and had a puff of smoke come from the middle of the cord

. No doubt now what the problem was. Thanks for all the suggestions everyone. Even though the problem was from the cord I learned of more ways to eliminate potential trouble areas that I'm sure will help me (and hopefully others) in the future.

Jim Zipp
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by Larsen on Sun Aug 31, 2003 9:23 am

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E.J. Peiker wrote: ..... I have taken the hot shoes on both apart and lock-tited the screws that are beneath the metal ground strap on the hot-shoe side ....By lock-titeing it when you first get it, the wires are never stressed and they will last much longer....

E.J., I'm trying to figure how to duplicate on my flash cord what you do to yours. I took out the three screws that surround the 1/4 x 20 threaded hole on the hot shoe end, and inside I couldn't find any more screws - all I could see inside the plastic housing are leads soldered to the metal plate that makes the contacts. Is it the three screws that I removed that you lock-tite?

Thanks,

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by Greg Downing on Sun Aug 31, 2003 9:33 am

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Peter, you need to get a small, thin screwdriver or, better yet, a knife blade under the metal cover near the rear of the hot shoe and pry it straight up in order to slide it forward. You need to lift it at the rear only, until it clears the metal pieces that the flash slides into, then it will come forward and out. This will expose the 4 tiny screws under it. Tighten them and then slide the metal cover back (it will snap back in place).

We are going to be writing an article about this with pictures soon. Meanwhile I hope this helps you figure it out.

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by Larsen on Sun Aug 31, 2003 2:10 pm

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Thanks Greg. I'm not home now to look at it, but I'll tinker with it later. Although I hate paying the sort of money we pay for flash cords, I suppose having a spare is a wise thing.

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by Brian K. on Mon Sep 01, 2003 10:42 pm

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Greg and EJ,

Thanks for the info on the Flash Cord 2. I just did mine without a hitch! The screws were still tight, so I hope the wires have not been stressed as EJ stated. I'm sure I don't use my equiptment as often as you do. Time will tell.

If the wires do break, is it something we can do ourselves? I have the backround, just wondering if the wires and contacts are accessable.

Thanks again.

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