I'm having trouble trying to figure out how to get second curtain sync working using a 5D and a set of PW Plus II's. I'm trying to fire a pair of off camera Nikon SB-28's, connected with a Y cable, and have set the camera to 2nd curtain sync via CF's, but no joy. I also have a 580EX and this behaves the same, only firing at the first instant the shutter fires.
So is this an issue with the PW units? Is there a setting I am missing with either the camera or flash units? I would have thought if the camera was set to 2nd curtain sync, it wouldn't send the signal to the hotshoe until the curtain was closing? Any help here would be great, cheers Shaun.
Two thoughts; A) how are you validating that the camera is not using second curtain sync? since this is a minimal delay it may be impossible for you to tell by sound etc.
B) Since the second curtain sync Cfn is totally within the electrical-mechanical scope of the camera, if it is not working you will have to send the camera for adjustment. The PW gets an electrical pulse from the camera if it is not properly synced it is a camera problem not a PW problem.
Seems like verifying second curtain sync or lack of should be easy by setting a 2 second shutter speed and just watching when the flash goes off. I'll have to try it with my PWs and see what result I get.
Thanks for the replies, I have tested it pretty well with long shutter speeds, very obvious that it is not working, firmware is upto date, flashes fire fine, but not on 2nd curtain. I have that set on camera, and it really shouldn't matter which flash I have connected to the off camera PW, it just doesn't seem to work.
Looks like I may have to do a bit of further research, and maybe send the camera in to Canon NZ, I'd prefer not too though as I'm busy behind the lens at the moment, and Canon NZ take weeks more than they should.
Canon don't use the centre pin for 2nd curtain whereas Nikon (others?) do. I don't think it will work with a normal centre pin trigger. Is it the multimax's that have the delay mode?? or is that an option on the models you have? Don't know a whole lot about PW's but the delay would be in the PW xmitter not the camera.
As far as 2nd curtain goes, it doesn't work unless a dedicated Canon flash is attached to the hotshoe. The solution to using studio flashes is to optically slave them and set the on-camera unit to manual.
Not too sure where I read this, but the 2nd Curtain Sync in the cameras custom functions is for when using older Canon flash units that didn't have the 2nd curtain option in the flash unit. So I may look into buying a cheap old Canon flash unit, chopping off its hotshoe, then wiring that to a new hotshoe that will accept a PW? Just a thought but I don't see why it won't work at this stage?
Using second curtain isn't a major issue for me, but I have one or two images I've been wanting to shoot for a long time, and they are finally getting to me, so I need to get out and shoot. However 2nd curtain sync is a must for shooting these images, so I will solve the issue and post back with progress.
