Canon 5DIII / 600EX-RT / ST-E3-RT

[Eric M]

Actually, given that the RPs operate at 2.4GHz, they have less of a technological mountain to climb to interoperate with the RT units. And given that they merely pass through signals rather than messing with the protocol itself, things like the ID codes and five groups aren't going to require any additional engineering. I'm actually guessing they may be the best bet for the holy grail of "can't I just get an add-on to my 580EXII to work with the new RF protocol?" The problem is what the 580EX II will do with -RT signals that aren't part of the protocol they know. Upgradeable firmware for speedlights would be a terrific thing to have now, wouldn't it (I'm looking at you, Canon. If Nissin and Metz can do it...)?

If Canon does their usual "we don't care about real-world budgets" thing, and replaces the EX units with the EX-RTs, that's one thing. But given that they've announced they're releasing 600EX-RTs and 600EX units (without the RF stuff) in them) for markets where the 2.4GHz band isn't available, I'm curious to see if this is a parallel product development (like the 1DX / 5DIII, rather than a replacement one.

It would be awesome to see aftermarket recievers that play well with Canon's new system. The older Speedlites could then be used with the new 600EX-RT, STE3-RT. That Canon isn't offering a reciever for the older Speedlites tells us much about their forced marketing mindset. New products should be backward compatible with older pro gear when possible.

[Colin Southern]

The -RT units operate on 2.4GHz. PocketWizard HAS to be at 433MHz to have backwards compatibility with Plus IIs and MultiMaxes. Unless the PocketWizards can be updated to work on two bands simultaneously (unlikely), I doubt they'll play well together. That's not to say PW might not come up with a whole new line of units that operate at 2.4GHz, but then all your old PWs wouldn't be able to play with them.

I was thinking more along the lines of putting a 600EX-RT on a TT5

[inkista]

I was thinking more along the lines of putting a 600EX-RT on a TT5

But where's the fun in blowing all that cash on a 600EX-RT, only to leave it in optical communication mode? Besides, you'd have to wait for an AC-5 to really be happy.

[Colin Southern]

But where's the fun in blowing all that cash on a 600EX-RT, only to leave it in optical communication mode?

Um, not sure if you'd call it optical communication mode or not - it would be through the normal ETTL pins. The problem part is that the only way to trigger them in the radio mode is with an ST-E3-RT - and the only way to get that working in HSS mode is to attach it to either a 5D3 or 1Dx ... and I wouldn't be caught dead with a 5D3 - and my 1Dx hasn't arrived yet (spoke to dealer this morning - looks like 600EX-RT & ST-E3-RT will ship before the camera

[herbert]

The problem part is that the only way to trigger them in the radio mode is with an ST-E3-RT - and the only way to get that working in HSS mode is to attach it to either a 5D3 or 1Dx ...

I think there is a bit of confusion about this. The manual states that HSS will not work with pre-2012 cameras. A few people have asked Syl about this on his site. Here's the answer:

"The manual does say that, with pre-2012 cameras, the max sync speed is deprecated by one stop and that high-speed sync is not available. Over the past week, I have shot hundreds of frames at the 5DM2 sync speed of 1/200″ and above that in high-speed sync. Perhaps the spec writers were to conservative? Perhaps it works on the 5DM2 and 60D, but not on other models? Frankly, I don’t know how to explain the difference between the manual and my experience."

Maybe Syl did not have the latest versions of the flash hardware with the final firmware. If so then this will be a big egg on the face for Canon where it is now public that the HSS has been shown to work with older cameras. Any future versions that do not work will only be due to software added limitations.

Alex