Paul C. Buff, Inc. Technical Forum

Hi.

I just received two brand new Alien Bees 800 and, to my dismay, neither the Canon 6d nor my T3i have PC connections.

What do I need to:
A) connect the pc cord to the Canon, and
B) allow for remote controlled firing.

I'm wanting both options. Please spell it out for me with links so that I can just go ahead and purchase ASAP. Do I just need ONE transmitter and ONE receiver if I have TWO strobes?

Many thanks.
Kirsten Young

This is what you need to connect the cord. http://www.paulcbuff.com/hsa.php

For remote triggering only (as opposed to remote flash power control), you will need one of these for the camera: http://www.paulcbuff.com/cst.php

And at least one of these for one of the flash units (either will work, but I would recommend the AC option): http://www.paulcbuff.com/csr.php

The second flash can trigger via the optical slave, but there are drawbacks to that. One is the slave eye needs to see the master's flash. If you are using low power, have large rooms you are working in, or are using large modifiers, the master flash may not hit the slave eye. Another problem is if you are shooting near other photographers, their flashes can set off yours.

In the mean time, until you get your remotes or hotshoe adapter, if you have a speedlite, you can put it in manual mode, dial the power down and bounce/swivel the head and trigger the AlienBees via the optical slaves.

Thanks.

If I get 2 receivers, will that work with the one transmitter?

Yes, two receivers will work fine with one transmitter. There is not a practical limit on the number of receivers you can use. This is not unlike a radio station with thousands of radios tuning in to listen.