How do I reliably trigger Hensel studio strobes with a Canon 580EX and Yongnuo transceivers?
Asked 12/18/2016
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2 answers
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I’m shooting with a Canon 5D Mark II and want to use a Canon 580EX (Mark I) on-camera while also triggering two Hensel strobes via Yongnuo transceivers. Right now the studio strobes only fire intermittently.
What is the correct way to set this up? Should the 580EX be in manual or E-TTL mode? What settings or connections should I check to make the triggering reliable?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
9y ago
2 Answers
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The main issues might be how the studio strobes are set up with the transceivers you say you are using. The studio strobes also have an optical slave mode, so they should be out of that if you are using the radio triggers. And you probably also need to check that the transceivers are set on the same group as the on-camera transmitter, that all the batteries are good, and that the cables you are using to connect them to the Hensel strobes are good and have the correct connectors. I think you might need a 6.3mm to PC cable for each strobe.
The other possible issue is that you may not be waiting for the strobes to recycle completely between bursts. For example, a Hensel Integra 250 Plus takes 1.3s to recycle between full-power bursts (0.3s between minimum power bursts).
The on-camera 580EX, mounted on the passthrough shoe of the on-camera YN-622 can be in either TTL or M. On an RF-603/RF-603II/RF-605 transceiver, however it cannot be in TTL or HSS or anything other than M and all settings must be changed on the 580eX itself, as the hotshoe on the 60x transceivers is not full TTL passthrough, and can only communicate the sync (fire) and wakeup signals. The 580EX should be set as an on-camera flash, not a wireless slave in Canon's optical system.
Originally by user27440. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user27440
8y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
Intermittent firing is usually a setup issue rather than the camera body.
Check these basics first:
- Make sure every Yongnuo unit is on the same channel/group.
- Use the correct sync cables/adapters for the Hensel heads; bad or wrong cables are a common cause. A proper 6.3mm-to-PC style sync connection may be required.
- Make sure fresh batteries are in all transceivers.
- If the Hensels are connected by radio trigger, turn off optical slave mode to avoid conflicts.
- Wait for the strobes to fully recycle before shooting again; if you fire before recycle is complete, some pops will be missed.
For the on-camera 580EX, use it in manual if you want predictable behavior in a studio setup. E-TTL/pre-flash behavior can interfere with slave triggering and consistency. If the 580EX is only there to help trigger the system, keep the setup simple and manual.
So: verify channel/group matching, correct cabling, good batteries, optical slave disabled on the Hensels when using radio, and allow full recycle time. That should make the setup much more reliable.
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