I have EOS 100 and 430EZ flash purchased some time ago and working well. I Recently purchased TTL hot-shoe adapter2 and Off-camera shoe adapter + Connecting cord in attempt to use TTL flash off camera. I assumed i would retain full dedication this way, including TTL flash exposure PROBLEM: Although the gun is fired when connected thus, there seems to be no sign of retained dedication/control eg. no pre-flash; no switching from ATTL to TTL on gun when mode on camera changed; no display of aperture in Av etc etc. 1. Is there a fault, and 2. Will flash exposure not be controlled TTL as it should be given all the above. Many thanks for any help

-- John Knighton (knightons@medix-uk.com), February 27, 2002

Answers

You're using the wired multiple-flash equipment, not the wired single-flash equipment, and the multiple-flash stuff disables lots of things that make little or no sense in a multiple-flash environment. A-TTL preflashes make no sense, for example, since they'd all fire at once, there'd be no way to tell which was which, and there's be no way for each flash to tell the camera what the results of its preflash were (since they'd all try transmitting back to the camera at once).

You get plain old TTL with the multiple flash cables. If you want A-TTL, get the single-flash cable - from memory (and possibly the wrong name) the off-camera shoe cord 2.

-- Steve Dunn (steved@ussinc.com), February 27, 2002.

I think Steve is right. If you want to keep all the functions of the on camera flash you need to use the "off camera shoe cord 2" it has a length of approx 60cm or 2ft. It sells in B&H for $47.95 to give you an idea. I'm almost sure I read somewhere that the behaviour you are seeing is normal.

-- Bernardo Movsichoff (musi22@netscape.net), February 27, 2002.

You've got Canon's modular TTL cord set. Expensive stuff too. Steve's right you loose everything but Manual and TTL metering. No auto zooming, no A-TTL or E-TTL, and no aperture/distance calculations in manual flash mode. TTL still works fine though.

With the modular stuff, you can add a distributor with more cords & shoe adapters for additional flashes. All this has been replaced by Canon's wireless E-TTL mode that's offered with the newer cameras.

You can get two OCSC2's and string them together for 4 to 5 feet of distance but I wouldn't go for three of them. There might be impeadance induced exposure errors.

The other option for getting the flash farther off camera is to use an Ikelite Lite-Link TTL slave for your 430EZ and trigger it with the built in flash. You'd still have TTL metering with farther distances than the modular TTL cord system allows and they are cheaper than what you have now. In fact you could sell the cord set on Ebay and have enough for the Lite-Link. It's only down fall is that some one else's flash can trigger it too.

-- Jim Strutz (j.strutz@gci.net), February 27, 2002.

I used the 430EZ and off camera shoe cord 2 for years with my Elan, A2 and 1N. As others have mentioned, the flash retains all normal functions such as A-TTL, TTL, zoom, flash exposure comp, etc. If you move to E-TTL later, keep the cord as it retains all normal E-TTL functions as well. I've even used it on my ST-E2 when I needed to trigger wireless flashes behind the camera.

-- Puppy Face (doggieface@aol.com), February 27, 2002.

Thankyou all very much for your replies. I am greatly relieved, and of course it all makes sense now Thanks John

-- John Knighton (knightons@medix-uk.com), February 28, 2002.

Hi John,

Were you are aware that "full" A-TTL automation is useful only when using P mode AND where the sensor on the flash is at the same distance from the subject as the camera.

In other modes (e.g. Tv, Av, and M), even if you use the OCSC2, you only get TTL flash autoexposure on the EOS 100. The A-TTL pre-flash performs no useful function on your camera - you need an EOS 630 or EOS 1 to make use of the under- exposure warning display.

So, in fact, you might not be missing very much over the OCSC2, and you have gained the ability to do multiple TTL flash, providing you intend to invest in or rent more EZ Speedlites.

-- Julian Loke (elan7e-owner@yahoogroups.com), March 01, 2002.

The question has already been handily answered by everybody else, but as usual I'm going to take this opportunity to point out that my Canon EOS flash article does cover this topic, if you're interested.

http:// teladesign.com/photo/eos-flash/

-- NK Guy (tela@tela.bc.ca), March 01, 2002.