Paul C. Buff, Inc. Technical Forum

Hi,

I recently acquired 4 Einsteins and a Cyber Commander control system for use with my Canon 7D to take indoor action shots (amongst many other things).

Of course, the challenge here is that the x-sync speed of the Canon 7D is 1/250, although I have successfully taken photographs at 1/320 without the dreaded black bar.

The Canon 7D (and other models) do have an "HSS" setting - High Speed Sync, which as I have read on other posts may have limitations. However, because the camera will be tripod mounted and, almost universally, a fixed distance from my subjects, I believe that this setting might be acceptable.

To the question at hand:

I have mounted the Cybercommander device on my hotshoe and the Canon "Flash Control --> External flash func. setting" menu displays the error message "This menu cannot be displayed. Incompatible flash or flash's power is turned off."

I have read through several board posts here and on various sites and have taken the following diagnostic efforts:

I have checked the built-in flash controls and those work correctly.
I have also checked the micro-switch and it is working correctly.
I have disabled Live View.
I have ensured that the CyberCommander device is firmly attached to the camera.

I can fire the Einstein lights using the Canon "Built-in flash func. setting -->Flash mode = E-TTL II" and the "Shutter sync." mode of 1st curtain and 2nd curtain are available, however HSS is not available.

It is entirely possible that I do not have the correct combinations of settings to try the HSS mode, however a good couple of hours reading through the 7D manual and browsing a fair amount of web content have left me without a solution.

Any help you might provide would be appreciated.

Thanks!

Lief

HSS requires a TTL compatabile device. There are no studio lights that are capable of TTL, and the the Cyber Commander is not TTL (thus why the camera says it is not compatabile).

However, given you are shooting indoors, HSS is not necessary (and you can even freeze action better than with HSS). You would want to have a low ambient light exposure (i.e. black if no flash is used). Then rely on the short flash durations of the flash to freeze subject movement.