Canon 580 EXII High Speed Sync

by Jon Miller
(Perth, WA, Australia)

Canon 580EX II Stock Photo

Canon 580EX II Stock Photo

"I want to do a shoot of water droplets.
I have 2 x 580EX II and a single 430EX.
Using the Canon 5D MKII

I want to achieve 1/4000 or 1/8000 speed.
I can do this with 1 of the 580EXII on the camera.
But can I use all 3 off camera and achieve the high-speed or do I have to use some Pocket Wizard components (I have PWII), but this seems to sync only to 1/160.

Diagram of 580EX II Multi-Flash High Speed Set-Up:


580ex II       <   subject   >       580ex II


v

430ex



Each unit is equipped with a PWII.
I also have a ST-E2, but due to the line of sight, it does not fire every time.
Can I achieve the speed?

Thanks"

Wow, what a great question, Jon. This is certainly way beyond my level of 580EX II xxperience, as I like to keep things simple and only shoot with with one flash. I would personally use a highly reflective light bounce material to substitute in, instead of using the extra light sources. I am also curious why you need to obtain 1/4000 second for water drop photography.

I know that photographing speeding bullets requires some extremely fast exposures. You might try a few Google searches targeted toward this question with several very specific keywords.

Also, I would try to call Canon directly.

Good Luck,
Bruce

Canon Speedlites
Canon 580EX II Review




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starstarstarstarstar 		Canon 580 EXII HS Sync.. reply
by: Anonymous

Having the ability to freeze water that fast makes for a very sharp water drop on the skin. So sharp that you can see through the droplets.

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