# Make my canon 430ex fire from another flash? is this possible?



## Lightspeedfoto (Sep 18, 2009)

Okay, i have a 50d with a canon 430 ex II hooked up with a pocket wizard system.  It works great.  My question is this.  I just fell into another 430 exII flash and without buying another pocket wizard, is there a way to make the 2nd flash fire when it "sees" the first flash being controlled by the pocket wizard?  If anyone has any experience, let me know.  I was trying to save the $160 on another pocket wizard if I could.

Thanks all, and happy shooting!


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## icassell (Sep 18, 2009)

Hmmmm .....

Many years ago I built a little gizmo using a photdiode from Radio Shack that triggered my Vivitar 283 when it saw my other flash go off.  I still use it to trigger the vivitar from my 430EX ...  It cost all of about 5 bux and took about 20 minutes to make, but I have no idea where I found the circuit.  It works great ... I'll look for the plans.


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## icassell (Sep 18, 2009)

Damn .... can't find my plans ...

Here's a commercial unit with the same idea

Wein HSD HOT Shoe Slave With A 150&#39; Range, For Digital CAMERAS.: Details & Specs at NexTag


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## Lightspeedfoto (Sep 18, 2009)

that would be cool, thanks.  I thought that somehow the infrared sensor on the 430 might see the flash and then it would fire.  Why don't things work the way you can think about them in the first place??


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## icassell (Sep 19, 2009)

Here's another one ...
Amazon.com: Wein PN Peanut Photo Slave with a 100' Range.: Electronics

Since the 430 doesn't have a pc cord connector, you need a pc -> hotshoe adapter.  Wein makes those too.

I have no experience with the Wein units


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## Buckster (Sep 19, 2009)

Lightspeedfoto said:


> Okay, i have a 50d with a canon 430 ex II hooked up with a pocket wizard system.  It works great.  My question is this.  I just fell into another 430 exII flash and without buying another pocket wizard, is there a way to make the 2nd flash fire when it "sees" the first flash being controlled by the pocket wizard?  If anyone has any experience, let me know.  I was trying to save the $160 on another pocket wizard if I could.
> 
> Thanks all, and happy shooting!


Shouldn't be a problem at all.  The 430EX II flashes can work each other by wireless.

Basically, you need to set the flash with the PW to "Master" and the one without to "Slave".  Make sure they're on the same channel and can see each other.

If you don't have a manual, you can download it here as a PDF:

http://akamaipix.crutchfield.com/Manuals/280/280430EXII.PDF

I believe page 26 is where you want to get started for the details.


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## Big Mike (Sep 21, 2009)

> Shouldn't be a problem at all. The 430EX II flashes can work each other by wireless.
> Basically, you need to set the flash with the PW to "Master" and the one without to "Slave". Make sure they're on the same channel and can see each other.


The 430EX flashes can be Slaves only...not masters, so that won't work.

As mentioned, a simple optical slave trigger should give you what you want.   As mentioned, the 430 doesn't have a sync socket so don't bother with a peanut slave, just get one that is built into a hotshoe.  Like THIS, for example.

The effectiveness of this will depend on how well the light from the first flash can get to the slave with optical trigger.  Outdoors, you will probably need line of sight and it will be harder to do in bright light.  Indoors, where the light can bounce around, it should work more reliably.


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## Buckster (Sep 21, 2009)

Big Mike said:


> > Shouldn't be a problem at all. The 430EX II flashes can work each other by wireless.
> > Basically, you need to set the flash with the PW to "Master" and the one without to "Slave". Make sure they're on the same channel and can see each other.
> 
> 
> ...


  Oops!  Quite right.  My bad.  Too long working with the 580EX IIs here. :mrgreen:


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