Can someone please explain to me this concept? I can't seem to find my manual and I would like to try this. I have a Sigma Super 500DG flash which I understand is capable of doing this since the 20D allows for it as well ;)
Should be on your custom functions. And Pidge is correct in that it will make your flash fire at the end of the exposure instead of the beginning. Only works if the flash is mounted on the camera.
...Only works if the flash is mounted on the camera.
Correct, it will not work with a PC synch cord... but will work with a hotshoe extension. I ass-u-me (noe direct experience) that it will also work with the Canon ST-E2 transmitter.
Can someone please explain to me this concept? I can't seem to find my manual and I would like to try this. I have a Sigma Super 500DG flash which I understand is capable of doing this since the 20D allows for it as well ;)
Thanks.
The concept (I think) is that by firing at the end it will give a trailing effect with ghostlike blur behind the subject.
...Only works if the flash is mounted on the camera.
Correct, it will not work with a PC synch cord... but will work with a hotshoe extension. I ass-u-me (noe direct experience) that it will also work with the Canon ST-E2 transmitter.
I wish!!!! Went thru that fiasco! Does not work with the ST-E2. The only thing that will allow you to do it wirelessly are pocket wizards, and they are expensive as hell and a pain in the butt to do it with!
Oddly enough, I just double-checked my 430EX manual to be sure, and it has a second-curtain synch function built in. Now, Kirbic says second curtain synch won't work with a PC cord, only mounted to the hotshoe. So my question is, is this true even if I use the FLASH's second curtain synch?
I ask because I had in mind getting a longish synch cord and setting up something "interesting" :-)
What about disabling the CN Function 15 and trying to use the 2nd curtain feature in the hot-shoe? Put the lens-cap on and set it to a 10 second exposure and you will find out really quickly.
I would bet you a shiny nickel it works.
Disclaimer: This is not based on anything and I'm not really wagering money.
Ok I attached my remote cord on the camera, set the camera to a 10 second exposure and it flashes an initial burst of what seems half power and then at the end of 10 seconds, it fires again at full power
That sounds like 2nd curtain flash to me. The first flash is just E-TTL. I wouldn't be surprised if that occurs slightly before the shutter opens.
Next thing to do is to try a dark test with a moving subject.
Go into a dark room and do a 3-5 second test (whatever strikes your fancy) and see if the flash fires properly before the shutter closes.
If it doesn't work, it's possible that the firing of the flash is happening after the shutter closes.
If it does work, everything should be happy!
EDIT: Hangon a second, is that a PC-Sync remote cord of a hotshoe remote cord? There shouldn't be any problem with a hotshoe remote cord, it's just a set of wires that extends the series of connections.
Can someone please explain to me this concept? I can't seem to find my manual and I would like to try this. I have a Sigma Super 500DG flash which I understand is capable of doing this since the 20D allows for it as well ;)
Thanks.
The concept (I think) is that by firing at the end it will give a trailing effect with ghostlike blur behind the subject.
Correct. If you use normal (front curtain) sync, the flash fires as soon as the shutter is completely open.
With Rear curtain flash, the flash fires just before the shutter closes.
So, if you used a long shutter speed to get a light trail from a moving car, but light the car moving forward with a normally synced flash, you would get the image of the car and the light trails would stream out in front of it making it look as if the car were backing up.
With a rear curtain sync, the trails would follow behind the car.
(If the car is moving slowly, you could also have the car back up, that would give the same effect as using rear curtain sync)
It helps to think of a mixed lighting shot as two exposures in one, a a longer ambient light shot and very brief flash shot that happens at some point during the ambient exposure. With normal sync, the flash happens near the beginning of the ambient exposure, with rear-curtain sync, it happens near the end. By switching between the two sync modes, you are simply controlling what order the two exposures happen.
Ok, well anyhow, it's getting mighty late and my posts are losing coherency.
My final thought I will contribute:
I've been shooting a lot of dark stuff lately and I just noticed that my S2 is set in 2nd curtain flash still. I was using it to trigger a wireless slave flash just by the on-camera flash (at lowest output) and both were firing just fine within the exposure time.
