Using Your Strobes with a "T" Series Canon

One of the issues new students have been running into is difficulty getting their strobes to work with their “T” series Canon camera purchased through the Art Institute.

The tricky issue here is that the Canon “T” series cameras are a consumer grade DSLR and they are not equipped with a PC sync port like the professional and prosumer bodies are. Since the “T” series Canons do not have this PC sync port, they cannot trigger the strobes directly and you have to use a Master/Slave set up.

Most strobes are designed so that if you are using a Speedlite, the strobes will automatically fire when they see the flash of your Speedlite external flash. Now, what I did in my case was I used my Canon Speedlite mounted in the hotshoe on a Canon T3i and then pointed the Speedlite behind me and bounced it off the wall, which in turn fired my strobes without fail.

Hotshoe adapter that adds a PC Sync port to your camera

I know some students have told me that they have tried firing their strobes with their flash and it only works once in a while. I believe the problem here is they are trying to use their Canon’s built in flash, which is not powerful enough to make the strobes fire reliably. I know from my own personal testing in my studio this weekend I was only able to get the strobes to fire once in a while with the Canon’s built in flash, but when using one of my Speedlites, the strobes fired every time.

Strobe end of the Sync port

Now I know you may be saying, “well that’s all fine and good but I don’t have a Speedlite external flash and cannot afford to buy a $300-$600 Speedlite to make my strobes work.” Well, the good news is, you can get the inexpensive Bower External flash at Walmart for like $40-$60 or you can go on Amazon and buy one of the Chinese Yongnuo Speedlites, which are knockoffs of Canon Speedlites and run anywhere from $30-$65, depending on what model you buy.

Another thing I found out from another student, Jessi James is the hotshoe adapter that came with your trigger system, should be able to be used as an add-on PC Sync port. What this means is attach the piece to your Canon’s hotshoe mount and then plug your sync cable’s 1/8” end into the trigger system on your camera and the other, 1/4” end into one of your strobes. I could not personally test this part because all of my sync cables are PC to 1/4”, I have none that are 1/8” on one end and 1/4” on the other. Hopefully this information will help those of you who have had problems with your strobe kits.

One last note that I believe some students are having trouble with. Every camera has a maximum shutter sync speed, this is the fastest you can set your shutter when using flash or strobe lights. Check your owner's manual or Google to find out what the max is for your camera model, some it's 1/160, some it's 1/200. With many of the consumer grade DSLRs if you set the shutter too high it will effect how well your strobes fire. On my old Canon 1D Mark II if I set it too high, it would actually cause the camera snap a photo of the mirror as it moved. Now get out there and shoot those studio assignments.

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