Canon Speedlite Transmitter ST E2

7/27/2019 Canon Speedlite Transmitter ST E2

1/19


2/19

. Thank you for purchasing a Canon product.

Speedlite Transmitter ST-E2 is a wireless transmit-te r which can control up to two Speedlite 550EXgroups set as slaves.

The tran smitting range is about 12 to 15 meters /39.4 to 49.2 ft indoors and 8 to 10 meter s / 26.2 to32.8 ft outdoors. With Type A cameras (EOS-3, EOSElan IIIIIE, EOS 50/50E, EO S 500NlRebel G, EOSIX. EOS IX7AX Lite), the ST-E2 can execute the fol-lowing operations through wireless control:

E-?"rL autoflashHigh-speed sync (FP flash)FE lockFlash exposure compensationManual flash (Flash output set with Speedlite)Multi-flash firing (Set with t he Speedlites)

This Instructions booklet assume tha t a Type A cam-'

era is used with the ST-E2.

With Type H cameras (EOS cameras except 'I'ypeA models), the ST-E2 can be used only for manualflash and multi-flash photography. See pages 23to 27 in this booklet and the Speedlite 550EXInstructions.

Symbols used in this Instructions booklet:0 : Warning for preventing camera or ST-E2malfunction.a : Supplemen tary notes for us ing the ST-E2with the camera.:'&: Helpful tip for using t he ST-E2 and taking

-,AF -a sk t dea'm to a r e a k . - I IWith the EOS-3, the following operations ar e alsopossible: Flash ratio control between two Speedliteslave P ~ O U D S .modeline flash firing. and linkage of

C The C E Markis a Directive cunformitymark ofth e EuropeanCommunity (ECl

pictures.Keep th is Instructions booklet handy for futu rereference. 1 .This digital apparatus does not exceed the Class Blimits for radio noise emissions frnrn digital appara-tus a s set out in the interference-causing equipmentstandard entitled "Digital Apparatus", ICES-003 ofthe Industry Canada.


3/19

Contents

1. Nomenclature ................................................................................................................ 222. Readying the ST-E2 .......................................................................................................233. Readying the 550EX (Slave Setting) ............................................................................ 254. Basic Wireless E-TTL Autoflash Operation ................................................................. 265. Wireless Multi-Flash E-TTL Autoflash Operation ...................................................... 296. Applications ................................................................................................................... 337. Troubleshooting .............................................................................................................34Specifications ........................................................................................................................35

Note

All th e operation instructions in thi s booklet assume th at the ST-E2 and other relevant equipment ar ealready turned on. Before proceeding, make sur e th e ST-E2 and other equipment are on.

I I

This device complies with Part 15 of the FCC Rules. Operation is subject to the following two conditions: (1 )This device may notcause harmful interference, and (2 ) this device mus t accept any interference receivcd, including interlilrence that may causeundesired operation.

Do not make any changes or modifications to the equipment unless otherwise specified in the instructions. If such changt.s ormodifications should be made, you could be required to stop operation of the equipment.

This equipment has been tested and found to conlply with the limits for a class B digital device, pursuant to part 1516he FCCRules. These limits arc designed to provide reasonable protection against harmful interference in a residential installation. Thisequipment generates, uses and can radiate radio frequency energy and, if not installed and used in accordance with the

instructions, may cause harmful interference to radio communications.

However, there is no guarantec that interference will not occur in a particular installation. If this equipment does cause harmfulinterference to radio or television reception, which can be determined by turning the equipment off and on, the user is encour;~g-edto try to correct the interference by one or more of the following measures:

Reorient or relocate the receiving antenna.Increase the separation between the equipment and receiver.Consult the dealer or an experienced radiolIli technician for help. 21

4/19

1.NomenclatureFront Rear

Batt ery compartment cover

Flash ratio cuntrol lamp

,+I"-assist beam emlttor Channel intl~cat,~r

< PILOT > I'ilot. I:imShoc l t ~ klider trnnsmission button

High-speed syn r (FI' fl:~: :Turns on thr po\rer.< HOLD >: Retains the cur-rent s etti ngs u,hilo th r switchposition is I . All lr:,nsmiLtercontrols except the tPet trans-mission button ;ire ~lis:$blcd.

5/19

2. Readying the ST-E2

(I) Installing the Battery

Use one li thium 2CR5 battery(sold separately).

1 Slide the battery compartmentcover as shown by the arrowand remove.

Install the battery in the orien-tation shown in the compart-ment.

Install the battery compart-ment cover to close the batterycompartment.

About the batte ryIf t he ba t t e ry c on ta c ts a r esoiled, improper electrical con-tact may resul t . Beforeinstalling the battery, wipe thebattery contacts with a cleancloth.

When to replace the battery

Replace the battery if it takes 30sec. or longer for th e red pilotlamp to light after you set t hemain switch to or .

(2) Attachment to theCamera

Push in the ST-E2's mounting1 foot all the way into the camer-a' s hot shoe.

Slide th e shoe lock slider asshown by the arrow. (The lockpin protrudes to lock t h e ST-E2 onto the camera. )To remove the ST-152,slide the

shoe lock slider in the oppositedirection (the lock pin retracts)and slide off the ST-EP.

6/19

Readvine the ST-E2

The hot shoe on the EOS 650,EOS 620, EOS 750, and EOS850 will not couple with thelock pin. The ST-E2 can still beattached to the se cameras, butit cannot be locked onto the hotshoe.

(3)Turning On the Power

1 Turn the main switch to .The main switch has the follow-ing three positions:< 0 : Turns of'f'the powcr. : Turns on the powrr.< HOLD > : The set t i ngs whichwere set at the I switch position

arc frozen. All trans mitt er con-

trols exccpt the tes t trtinsmis-sion button ar e disabled. Thisprevents inadve rtant alteration

oftransmitter settings.

When transmission is possible,2 the pilot lamp lights in red andthe 5 icon lights in the cameraviewfinder.

0 When the 5 icon lights in thecamera viewfinder, it indicatesthat the ST-E2 is able to trans-mit. When Speedlite 550EX isrechareed and readv to fire. its

AE-assist beam emiiter blinks.

Q If th e ST-E2 is on and notused for 90 sec., t h e S E(Save Energy) feature takeseffect and t ur ns off thepower automatically to savebat ter y power. The ST -E2

tu rn s back on when th eshutt er button or test trans-mission button is pressed.With a Type A camera (EOS-3, EOS Elan IIIIIE, EOS50/50E, EOS 500NIRebel G,EOS IX. EOS IX7IIX Lite)equipped with E-ITL, the ST-E2's E-ITL indicator lights.

7/19

3. Readying the 550EX (Slave Setting)(4) Channel Setting (1) Slave settingIPower on (2) Channel setting

RATIO:To prevent wireless signals frombeing transmi tted to unrela tedSpeedl i te 55OEX uni t s in thevicinity, you can set a channel dif-ferent from th e one used by th eunrelated Speedlite 550EX units.One of four channels can be set .The ST-E2 (ma ster ) and s laveSpeedlite(s) must be set to th esame channel No.

Press the < CH. > but ton andselect the desired channel.

Each t ime the button is pressed thechannel indicator changes in t he fol-lowing loop: 1 + 2 -.3 -.4-1T h e ST - E 2 and Speedl i t e 5 5 0 EX

Se t th e wireless selector to1 < SLAVE >. Here inaRe r , aSpeedl i te 5 5 0 E X se t to th i smode will be called a "slave."

The zoom sett ing is set automa t-

ically t o (a c7'lmm. This can beoverridden manually.

2Set t he slave's main switch to or < SE > to turn i t on.When the Speedli te is ready to

fire, t h e AF-assist beam em i t t e rblinks con l i ~>uous l yt 1 Hz.

Each t ime you press the< SEL/SET > button, the blink-ing display changes in the fol-lowing loop:+m+ - - - - - ,

-- l igh ts-2

While is blinking, press

th e butlon toselect the same channel No. asthe ST-E2's.

0 If the 550EX ' s channel No. isd i f f e ren t f rom the S T - E 2 ' schanne l No. , wi reless t ra ns -mission will not work.

must be set to the sa me channel No

8/19

4. Basic Wireless E-TTLAutoflash Operation .

press t h e < SEL/SET, b u t t o n After the ST-E2 and s lave are ready, they can work wi thin th e a r e a3 to regs te r the channe l N ~ ,t h e s h o w n below for easy wireless E-TTI. utof lash .d i s p l a y s tops b l i n k i n g a n d For explanatory purposes, the EOS-3 will be used as t he sample camera here.stays on).

( I )Positioning ofST-E2 and slaveAtta ch t he slave to t he mini st an d (equipped with tripod socket) which comeswith the 550EX.Turn the Speedlite's body (bounce feature) so tha t th e slave sensor fhccs towardthc ST-EZ.Indoors, the sla ve position need not be so precise since the light will also bounceoff the walls.After posit ioning the camera an d slaves, be sure to tes t the wirclrss controlbefore taking a picture.Do not place any obstructions between the ST-EPand slaves. Otherwise, remotetransmission may not bc achieved.

8 m I 2 6 21t 12m 39 4R


9/19

Basic Wireless E-TTL Autoflash Operation

(2)Camera operation (3)Checking the ST-E2's (4)Wireless operation testSet the camera for normal flash pilot lamp and slave-operation. ready status

0 With the EOS-3, make sure th eST-E2's flash ratio controllamp is off. (If necessary, pressthe button to turn itoff.) If the flash ratio controllamp is on, t he Speedlite maynot fire or a correct exposuremay not be attained. Afterturning off the flash ratio con-trol lamp, set the main switchto prevent the 'lash Check that the ST-E2's pilot lamp Pr es s t h e ST-E2 ' s pilot lampratio control lamp from light-ing inadvertantly.

is on and that the slave is ready. (which als o func tio ns a s a t es tWhen the slave is ready to fire, its transmission button).AF-assist beam emitter flashes at 1 If everything is OK, slavc A will fire

followed by slave R (a t 1/64 output).If the slave(s)docs not fire, reposi-1111111 tion the slave's angle or distancetoward the ST-EZ an d Lcst it :rg;lin.

0 When the ST-E2's pilot lam plights and the 5 icon lights inthe camera viewfinder, theyi nd i ca t e t h a t t h e ST-E2 isready for remote transmission.They do not indicate tha t theslave is ready (recharged).


10/19

Basic Wireless E-TTI. Autoflash O~erat ion

(5) Taking the picture andflash confirmation

W h e n y ou p r e s s t h e s h u t t e r b u t -t on c o n ~ p l e t e l y ,a w i r r l c s s s igna li s t r a n s m i t t e d to t h e s l a ve , t h e n

th e s lave f i res a pre flash and th en

th e m a i n f l a sh whe n t he p i c tur e is

taken .The subject's flash cxposurc readingis obtained with t he preflash andused to set the main flash output.

Wireless flash photography is there -by executed with a n optimum flashou1put.When the correct flash exposure is

obtained, th e ST-E2's flash confir-mation lam p lights for about 3 sec.immediately after the flash fires. Ifit does not light, th e picture mightbe underexposed. In this case, use alarger ape rtu re or place the slave

28

closer to the subject and repeatsteps (2)to ( 5 ) .

With the EOS-3, the model-

Ing flash can be fired to see, 'th e lighting effects beforet he p i cl u r e i s t a ke n . S e epage 32.The slave must be properly

positioned to receive thewireless transmission.After the picture is taken .

the slave's operation resultis displayed on th e slave's

display panel.I f the s lave i s in th e SE(Save Energy) mode, press-ing the ST-E2's test t rans-mission button will cancel it.When you press th e shu tt er

button halfway and activatethe camera ' s exposuremeter, the ST-E2 cannot beused to cancel t he slave's SF:mode or to execute a t es ttransmission. The camera'sexposure meter must tur noff (viewfinder's exposureset t i ng display tur ns off)before the SE mode can becanceled or a test transmis-sion executed.

AF-assist beamUnd er low-light o r low-contrast

c o n d it i o n s , t h e ST-E2's AF -ass is t beam is e m i t te d to a s s i s t

a u t o f o c u s i n g . The A F - a s s i s tb e a m i s c o mp a t i bl e w i t h t h e

EOS-3's Ar ea AF. T he AF-assist

beam's effective ra ng e is a bou t

0.6 m e t e r t o 10 m e t e r s a t t h ec e n t e r a n d 0 .6 m e t e r t o 5m e t e r s a long th e pe r iphery .The ST-E2's AF-assist bran>c a n heemitted only while the ST-E:! isattached to the EOS-3. In the case ofEOS cameras with a built -in AF-assist beam emitter, the beam willbe emitted by the camera.The slave's AF-assist beam is not

emitted (except when t he flash isready).

44 To prevent overheating, limitthe number of consecutivewireless transmissions to 50.After 50 consecutive wirelesstransmissions, allow the ST-EPto rest for 10 minutes.


11/19

45. Wireless Multi-FlashE-TTL Autoflash OperationThere a r e two types of wirelessmulti-flash E-TTL autof lash opcr-ations:

a RATIO > OF F: All slaves firethe sam e flash output.Q) RATIO > ON: Slaves ar e givena n ID, e i th er A or B. The f l ashratio is then set for each ID.

The flash ratio can be set only whenthe camera is an EOS-3.The flash ratio cannot be set with a n

EOS Elan IVIIE, EOS 50/5OE, EOS RebelG/500N, EOS IX or EOS K71X Lite.a By changing th e distance

between t he subject an dslaves, t he lighting balance

(flash ratio ) can be changedaccordingly.Two or more slaves can be

used.

With th e EOS-3, a modelingflash can be fired to checkth e lighting effects before

the picture is taken.

As an ex am p l e , t wo s l av es a r eused here , one positioned on t heleft and the other on the r ight of the subject.

All t h e s l av e s s e t a t t h e s a m ech an n e l f ir e a t t h e s am e o u t p u tcontrolled by E-TTL autoflash t oobtain a correct exposure.

Thc operation ~rooedureis thc sameas with wireless I.>-'ITI, autoflash.

0 With the EOS-3, make sure theS T - E 2 ' s f lash rat io controllamp is off. (If necessary, pressthe button to tur n itoff.) If the flash ratio controllamp i s on, the Speedlite maynot fire or a correct exposuremay not be at ta ined. Afterturning off the flash ratio con-trol lamp, set the main switch

to to prevent the flashratio control lamp from light-

ing inadvertantly.

Sample Multi-

FlashSetup with UniformFlash Output +%-

In th e sample f lash setu p shownbelow, t he lighting on th e left willbe br igh te r tha n on th e r igh t of th e subject.

Outdoors


12/19

Wireless Multi-Flash E-TTL Autuflash Operation

In t he example shown for "Multi- Sample Multi-Flash Setup with Slave ID and FlashF l a s h w i t h a Un i fo rm F la sh ti^ settingsO u t p u t , " t h e l i g h t i n g b a l a nc e 15ni / 49.2ft(flash ratio) was adjusted by plac-i n g t h e s l a v e s a t d i f fe r en t d i s -tance s to t he subject . However ,with "Multi-Flash with Slave IDa n d F l a sh Ra t io Se t t i n g s ," t h eflash rat io can be adjusted with -out moving the slaves.

The f la sh ra t io can bc adjusted Indoors 12m~ : % . . i s tfrom 8:l to 1 and from 1 to 118 inhalf-stop increments.

13/19

Wireless Multi-Flash E-'lTL Autoflash Operation

(1)Setting the Slave ID

With the wireless control of multi-

ple slaves, you can se t the flashratio and specify the main flashand fill flash by assigning a slaveID. There are three IDS:A, B, andC. The ST-E2can control slaves Aand B. When the flash ra tio con-trol lamp is lit, the C slave doesnot fire.

Set the slaveID

to A for the slave onthe left of the camera. and to B forthe slave on the right of the camera. Press th e slave's < SEL/SET >

button to select < > .

2Press the or but-ton to set the slave ID to .

3

Press the < SELISET > buttonto register the slave ID. (Theslave ID stops blinking andstays on.)

4Follow the same procedure forthe other slave to set the slaveID to .

0 If the slave's ID is set to C, itcannot he controlled by thc ST-E2. Be sure to set the slave ID 7rn5sto A or B.

There i s no l imi t a s to thenumber of slaves tha t can beused. Se t the slave ID for allthe slaves to either A or B.

About Slave GroupControl

All slaves set to the same ID arecontrolled as one group.

Shown below is a group of thr eeslaves whose ID is A. They will becontrolled as a single slave group A.

14/19

Wireless Multi-Flash E-TTL Autoflash Operation

(2)Setting the A:B Flash Ratio (3)Camera and SlavePositions

The flash ra tio between slave A and slave B can be set to specify themain flash and fill flash. The flash ratio can be set from 8:l to 1 and Position the ST-E2-attached cam-from 1 to 1:8 in half-stop increments. In terms of exposure stops, it era and the two slaves to obtainranges from 3 : l to 1 and from 1 to 1:3 . When the flash ratio is set, E- th e desired lighting effect. SeeTTL autoflash metering controls the flash output to obtain a correct page 26.exposure.

Check th at th e ST-E2's main Press the < 4 > or but-swi tch i s se t to c > , t h en ton to select th e desired flashpress the button. ratio.Thc f lash ra t io control l amp

lights in red, and the respective 0 Ifthe main switch has been setflash ratio indicator lights. to , th e buttons will notwork. Set t he main switch to

The flash ratios for the unmarked indica- < HOLD >.tors ( are shown in parentheses below.

The modeling flash can be fired tosee the lighting effects before thepicture is taken.

(4) Follow the basic proce-dure for wirelessE-TTLautoflashexposure to take thepicture. See page 26.

15/19

6.ApplicationsEven with a wireless multi-flash system, you can use high -speed sync(FP flash), FE lock, and flash exposure compensation in th e sa me wayas with a camera-attached 650EX.

Wireless high-speed sync (FPflash) -

Wireless FE lock

After setti ng th e wireless single- After setti ng th e wireless single-or multi-flash setup, just set the or multi-f lash s e tup , jus t p ressST-E2's high-speed sync button to t h e ca me ra 's < FEL > b u t to n to< 5~ >. This enables wireless high- enable wireless FE lock.speed sync. The sla ves need notbe touched at all.

\ I /39: The ST-E2 can transmit wireless signals only toward the front. Therefore,the slaves cannot be positioned behind the camera. Otherwise, they willnot be able to pick up the ST-E2's wireless control signals. However, withOff-Camera Shoe Cord 2 (sold separat ely), the ST-E2 can be positionedaway from the camera and face any direction for wireless transmission.

Flash exposure compensationFlash exposure compensationcan be set with th e camera.

Wlrelchs manual flashWireless manual flash can be f iredby settlng the slave to single-slave -or manual flashWlreless repeating flashWireless repeat i ng f lash can be

used when the slave has been set toslngle-slave or repeat~ngflashFor de ta l l s , s e e t h e 5.50EXtsInstruct~ons


16/19


17/19


18/19


19/19

Documents

Canon Speedlite Transmitter ST E2