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Hi, I recently purchased a canon 10D. I already had 2 550ex flashes. My
question is this: Will I be better served buying a ST-E2 as a master for
both flashes? Or should I spend $150.00 more and buy another 550? Money IS
an object, but, if using a 550 as a master, and also getting the added
flexibility with the additional strobe, it seems it may be more sensible
coughing up the extra $$$ for the 3rd 550.
Can anybody tell me the advantages of having the ST-E2, as opposed to using
a 3rd 550 as a master?
Again, thanks for your help. Oh! and BTW, if any of you know of a college
aged, digital wiz kid (I'm 48YO), hence the word "kid", I need a tutor for
photo shop and could use some help learning digital photography in general.
I'm willing to pay, say $50.00 for 4 hours of instruction. I'm in Orange
County, Southern California. I'm planning to take a semester of community
college, but I need to get started ASAP. Thanks, Mike

"Mike Jenkins" <> wrote in
news:_9sbc.12543$ link.net:

> Hi, I recently purchased a canon 10D. I already had 2 550ex flashes.
> My question is this: Will I be better served buying a ST-E2 as a
> master for both flashes? Or should I spend $150.00 more and buy
> another 550? Money IS an object, but, if using a 550 as a master, and
> also getting the added flexibility with the additional strobe, it
> seems it may be more sensible coughing up the extra $$$ for the 3rd
> 550.
> Can anybody tell me the advantages of having the ST-E2, as opposed to
> using
> a 3rd 550 as a master?

Were you wanting a flash on the camera plus 2 others? Or were you wanting
2 flashes at different locations with none on the camera?

My understanding is that the ST-E2 is used when you don’t want the light
source on the camera, but you want to position 2 slaves at different angles
to light the subject from 2 positions and take the photo from a third
position.




--
Mark Heyes (New Zealand)
See my pics at http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~markh/
"There are 10 types of people, those that
understand binary and those that don't"

Advantage of the ST-E2 is for situations where you don't want an on-camera
flash; the ST-E2 sends a near-infrared beam rather than a flash beam for
activating the remote flashes.

The advantage of the 550EX is that it supports up to three banks of flashes
rather than two (the ST-E2 only supports two). This is useful if you want a
three light setup such as a main, fill, and accent (or background) light.

James

Go ahead and get ANOTHER 550ex.
It'll fire the other two flashes without firing itself, right?

Besides, what if one of the flashes falls?
Now you have..... ANOTHER backup.

100 550ex's on the wall.
100 550ex's.
If one of thoses flashes should happen to fall......



On 2-Apr-2004, "Mike Jenkins" <> wrote:

> Hi, I recently purchased a canon 10D. I already had 2 550ex flashes. My
> question is this: Will I be better served buying a ST-E2 as a master for
> both flashes? Or should I spend $150.00 more and buy another 550? Money IS
> an object, but, if using a 550 as a master, and also getting the added
> flexibility with the additional strobe, it seems it may be more sensible
> coughing up the extra $$$ for the 3rd 550.
> Can anybody tell me the advantages of having the ST-E2, as opposed to
> using
> a 3rd 550 as a master?
> Again, thanks for your help. Oh! and BTW, if any of you know of a college
> aged, digital wiz kid (I'm 48YO), hence the word "kid", I need a tutor for
> photo shop and could use some help learning digital photography in
> general.
> I'm willing to pay, say $50.00 for 4 hours of instruction. I'm in Orange
> County, Southern California. I'm planning to take a semester of community
> college, but I need to get started ASAP. Thanks, Mike

"Mike Jenkins" <>, far, far away from here, appears
to have written:

[snips]

> Hi, I recently purchased a canon 10D. I already had 2 550ex flashes. My
> question is this: Will I be better served buying a ST-E2 as a master for
> both flashes?

I've got two 550s and an ST-E2, and I love the fact that the ST-E2 is a
great deal lighter than a 550, which is terrific if you are hanging onto
the camera for a while...
--

cheers, Mic (Reply address works...)

A good friend will fit you like ring to finger.
- Venezuelan Proverb