Paul C. Buff, Inc. Technical Forum

Forgive my ignorance here, but I have been spoiled with using my 2 Einstein/Cyber Commander lighting set-up (It was a no brainer, which now is making me struggle to figure out something else)! I currently have one of my Einsteins being worked on for the fingers slipping, so I'm trying to come up with a fill light solution (I'm using a reflector right now, but I really need a little more power)... My only other two options are either a 580EXii or a 430exii off-camera flash... My question is since I use my Cyber Commander to wirelessly control my Einstein... I can't use anything else in my hotshoe to control my slave speedlight. Is there any set up that I can use to get my speedlight to work in combination with my cyber commander?

My camera is a 5dMrkII - so there isn't an on-camera flash to use as a master.

Any help is REALLY appreciated!

CyberCommander will not control power output or other parameters of the speedlite. It can however, trigger the speedlite, group the speedlite, and meter the speedlite. All power adjustment would need to be performed on the light itself.

So what exactly do I need to do to set it up to trigger the light... I knew I couldn't control it, I just want it to trigger it. Do I need to have a receiver connected to the speedlight then or will a PC cord of some type work? The directions don't explain setting up anything other than a PCB product.

Thanks!

For wireless triggering, yes - you will need a receiver. For a speedlight, this will more than likely be a CSRB+.

Link: http://www.paulcbuff.com/csrplus.php

You then connect the CSRB+ receiver to the speedlight via it's included sync cord. Just make to match up the frequencies on both Trigger (in your case CyberCommander) and the CSBB+ Receiver (I'd suggest to use the same frequency as your Einstieins). You may also have to setup a channel on the CyberCommander and define it as a Speedlight for metering & grouping purposes, as needed.

Another more frugal approach (a bit of a compromise), you also could setup the speedlight to fire in optical slave mode (if it supports this, I'm not very familiar with Canon offerings) and it will fire automatically when it sees the other Einstiens fire, but please note that using this method you won't get the speedlight to meter from the CC, nor will you be able to independently fire or group the light.

hope this helps!

Canon flashes do not have a standard "dumb" optical slave function like Nikon.

What you would need is a CSRB+ and if you use the 430EXII, our speedlite foot adapter: http://www.paulcbuff.com/slfa.php. this will provide a means to connect the remote to the flash. It can also be used for the 580EXII to provide a 3.5mm connection, which is more reliable than the 580's PC connection, however it would not be absolutely necessary.

There are more frugal ways to trigger the speedlite, but they will not only bring down the features availble from the Commander for that light, but the other lights in use as well, so I do not recommend using other methods.

Option 1) CSRB+ to your 580ex (although i don't believe you can do this because the 580ex doens't have a sync port, only the 580exII)

so your only real option is to go with option 2

option 2) since you have triggers with your 580ex and 430ex, you'll notice that there is a 2.5mm sync port on the trigger (i'm assuming you have a pt-04 or rf-602) you'll have to get a 2.5mm to female sync port from the internet so that you can trigger using your 5d2's sync port. that way, the cybercommander will be in the hotshoe and you'll still be able to trigger both the einstein and your speedlites.

Sorry, I just reread your question, and none of the above answers are really helpful for the relative short time your are down one light, including mine. This is actually easy, and only requires the equipment you have. Set the 580EXII in the hotshoe, set as master, and set up the 430EXII as a slave. Connect the Cyber Commander to the camera's PC port, and I would rubber band the CC to the 580. The Camera will still trigger the CC via the cable, and the 580 via the foot. Bothe the 580 and the CC will then trigger the corresponding flash. If you ensure the E640's slave eye is off, then all will sync at the same time. I would suggest dialing the speedlite manually to prevent confusion to the flash metering system of the camera. Unfortunately, you will not be able to meter the speedlite with the CC in this configuration.