> > > I would like to know if the manual says how to get back to normal > > state from the auto power-off? Especially I'm interested how this > > is done when the flash is in wireless E-TTL slave mode. Thus do I > > need to press some button in the flash or can it be woken up > > wirelessly? Is there some time limit for the wireless wake-up; thus > > how long can the (slave) flash be in auto-power-off mode until it > > can't anymore be woken up wirelessly? > >From page 15 of the same instruction manual: > >===SIGMA INSTRUCTION TEXT BEGINS=== > >AUTO POWER OFF > >To conserve battery power, the flash unit automatically turns itself off >when the flash is not used within approximately 90 seconds. To turn the >flash on again, depress the TEST button, or the camera shutter button >halfway. Please noe that "Auto Power Off" mechanism does not work with >wireless TTL flash mode, normal slave flash, and designated slave flash >modes. > >===SIGMA INSTRUCTION TEXT ENDS=== > >I haven't tried it but it looks like it won't self-power-off when used as a >slave. > >NOTE: In addition to all the wireless ETTL flash modes found on the 550EX, >this Sigma unit has some extra non-Canon off-camera slave modes that the >550EX doesn't have, in which it fires in response to any flash burst, as if >it were an ordinary "dumb" slaved studio flash unit (although it's actually >a little more complicated than that). That is, the Canon wireless ETTL >light-pulse protocol is not used in these extra slave modes, and in fact >when the EF 500 Super is in one of them, an ETTL preflash will cause it to >fire prematurely as you would expect with an ordinary slave. This is what >the manual means by "normal slave flash and designated slave flash modes". > >I guess this facility could be used to slave the EF-500 Super to other >cameras etc. However the existence of these modes doesn't affect the answer >to your question, because the device never self-powers-off in any slave >mode, Canon or non-Canon. > >IMHO all these bells and whistles make the lack of an external power source >connector an even more obvious design goof. > >- --Ken S.
Thanks Ken, you are a very helpful guy indeed. The existence of the dumb slave mode (wonder if it works only in manual flash exposure mode or is there a built in sensor in the flash as well) is actually a great benefit if you want to use separate flash meter (while the flashes are in manual mode). With Canon wireless slave mode the short pre-flash pulse which is needed to trigger the Canon slave flashes (I'm not talking about the E-TTL pre-flash which is used to measure the exposure) will trigger also the flash meter prematurely making it useless. Just the same what you explained. The only way to use Canon flashes with flash meter reliably seems to be to disable the wireless mode which means the Canon slaves will be useless. I still have my tests (concerning the flash meter and Canon wireless mode) going on so can't be sure about if it really is useless or not. Here the dumb slave mode in Sigma would be a great feature. Vesa _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp * **** ******* *********************************************************** * For list instructions, including unsubscribe, see: * http://www.a1.nl/phomepag/markerink/eos_list.htm ***********************************************************
