aceman215 Loc: New Jersey

Hi I’m ready to introduce flash into my budding photography skills. Here’s my setup: Canon 5D mark Iv, canon speedlight 420ex (old model but still works). I’m interested in doing portraits with off camera flash. Now I’ve been doing some investigating and know I need a light stand with an umbrella but am asking more about the “receivers and transmitters). I don’t have the manual for the flash but it does have a setting for slave. Do I still need a transmitter and receiver? And what’s a good inexpensive set? Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Al

Mark Sturtevant Loc: Grand Blanc, MI

Possibly here is some information (though not the same flash): https://photo.stackexchange.com/questions/84415/can-the-canon-5d-mark-iv-wirelessly-trigger-a-single-remote-430ex-iii-rt?utm_medium=organic&utm_source=google_rich_qa&utm_campaign=google_rich_qa
The flash manual would have info, and that you can get online as a pdf if you don't have it.

speters Loc: Grangeville/Idaho

If you use the slave function, you need a second flash, but you're limited to line of sight, so putting it in a light box does not work, unless you use a cable. You can of course forget all those issues, if you use radio triggers, that also have a much greater range (like Pocket Wizards for example). I can trigger my cameras and flashes from as far away as 1600 feet with them!

GoofyNewfie Loc: Kansas City

Pocket Wizard is probably the industry standard.
I have a set for my studio lights.
They are a bit on the pricy side.

Phottix works great- I've had nothing but rock-solid performance from them.
I trust mine for commercial jobs.
I have the older Phottix Odin transmitter and receivers set at work.
There is a newer model Odin II which looks even better.
They make speedlights and monolights as well.

For myself, I've been trying Godox.
Sold as Flashpoint at Adorama.
Not as quite as expensive and a wider range of speedlight/monolight choices that work with it.
So far it has worked great.
They have a TCM (TTL Convert Manual) feature that lets you shoot in TTL, then change the power it used to manual.
Greatly speeds up a shoot, getting you very close from the first pop.

CO

If you get radio triggers make sure they support TTL metering. You'll be able to adjust flash compensation at the camera to vary the flash output level. I use a PocketWizard Mini TT1 on my camera and mount my speedlight on a PocketWizard Flex TT5. I have that on a Kupo swivel umbrella bracket mounted on a light stand. The Kupo is a heavy duty umbrella bracket. It has a large clamping area and will not rotate from the leverage the umbrella exerts on it. I had a swivel umbrella bracket that had a small clamping area and it would rotate under the leverage the umbrella exerts on it. Use silver reflective umbrellas. You'll gain about one f-stop over a white reflective one. I use a Profoto 33" silver reflective umbrella with it. It has a textured interior surface that disperses the light better than the smooth interior models.

Kupo counterbalanced swivel umbrella bracket - large clamping area prevents slippage.


Kupo non-counterbalanced swivel umbrella bracket


Textured or beaded silver interior will disperse the light better than a smooth surface. Profoto and Impact make them

aceman215 Loc: New Jersey

Ok I was doing a little research and it seems PocketWizard FlexTT5 is not compatible with the 5d mark 4 and the flextt6 is to expensive. What are other good combinations that are less expensive

rdubreuil Loc: Dummer, NH USA

When using a single flash off camera, it requires a camera with a pop up flash and commander mode built in, as mentioned this is a line of sight system. In the case of cameras without pop up flash you'll need a second Speedlight. To get started on the cheap, get a second flash unit to mount on your camera, set it to master and the off camera flash to slave. Using the commander function of the flash on the camera it can be included or excluded from the exposure. In other words you can set it to trigger the off camera flash without adding any light from the camera mounted unit to your final exposure. I hope this helps get you started, good luck and happy shooting.

aphelps Loc: Central Ohio

Look at Godox at B and H. I have their tx and flash. The rx is built into the flash which can operate as a slave or master. Works very well and reasonably priced. TTL control is amazing.

ken patton Loc: Portland, OR

Hi, I have an older Canon flash as well (430ex). I found the Phottix Laso transmitter and receiver set for Canon flashes works great! Operates on radio frequency instead of ir. Makes all the older Canon flashes rf capable. Most inexpensive system I've found. Just attach transmitter to camera hot shoe as master, attach receiver to flash hot shoe,set receiver as slave (ensure transmitter and receiver set to same channel). Both work on AA batteries. Cheers

GoofyNewfie Loc: Kansas City

Try reading my post above.
Click on the links.
They make options for Canon too.

E.L.. Shapiro Loc: Ottawa, Ontario Canada

If you are truly interested in learning and practicing portraiture, keep it simple. You major investment should be in some basic monolights with modeling lamps so you can see exactly what you are doing as to lightning. In a "studio" type of home setup, exposure is not terribly complex and can be carried out in manual mode so you don't need sophisticated camera compatible automation. You can wire one light directly to your camera and trigger the others with simple photoelectric cells which are oftentimes built into popular monolights.

If you wish to go wireless, Pocket Wizards are a good choice, however, in a portrait setup you are not looking at long range triggering. Buff (the White Lighting folks) make a nice set of radio triggers and there are a few less expensive imports that work well. You don't really need the ones that transmit exposure data once you establish exposure and ratios for your setup.

Umbrellas and softboxes are good choices for portrait lighting modifiers, however, there are many great lightings that can be accomplished with ordinary parabolic reflectors and so-called beauty dishes.

You may consider starting you portrait setup with one good monolight, a softbox and a reflector flat and a couple of light stands to support those two items. You may surprised what you can produce with that simple method. Once you get your basic lighting down pat, you can build a more sophisticated setup.

Speedlights CAN be used in portraiture, however, the learning process is much easier and effective with monolights .There an many finie techniques that require precise observation and adjustment of the lightning. Working from predetermined lighting diagrams does not work as well.

Here on the Hog there is an Advanced and Professional Portrait section that is open to all interested members- amateurs, pros, rookies and veterans alike. It's manage my me and CaptainC. Feel free to join in to the conversations, post images and ask questions. There are some tutorials planned as well.

I hope this helps!

bweber Loc: Newton, MA

I suggest you read the Speedliter's Handbook by Syl Arena. It is a great resource for learning to use speed lites for off flash portraits and any other types of photography.

aceman215 Loc: New Jersey

Wow. Missed that post. Sorry. Doing research now on the items you suggested and in the interim I found a few others. Looking at the phottix strati set. $135 and seems to be exactly what I need but now I’m wondering if I should go with the Odin ii which will allow me to grow into it. But the cost is higher because I’ll need both the transmitter AND receiver.

pbphoto

Hi Aceman - I use YONGNUO 622C transceivers - inexpensive and very competent. Simplest set up is one on the camera and one on the flash and you can still use ETTL. Introduce extra transceivers and speedlights as/when your funds allow. Very easy to use plus they use AA batteries which are usually readily available. Check out eBay for best prices and there are an ample number of videos on YouTube describing ease of use.

gvarner Loc: Central Oregon Coast

With a transceiver setup you don't use the camer's slave feature. The units operate as if the flash were on the camera. Radio units are great. They operate out to several hundred feet. I have a Yongnuo set for my Nikon and SB600 TTL flash. The Yongnuo manual is worthless but I found a couple of YouTube videos that made setup a breeze.