Longer Off-Camera Shoe Cord ... suggestions, please

[Rupert49]

I frequently use a Canon OC-E3 off-camera shoe cord for indoor product shots and sometimes feel I would like a longer cord. Is it okay to connect two off-camera shoe cords together? I see amongst the Canon flash accessories that there's something called a Connecting Cord (available in 60cm and 3 metre lengths) ... are these used to connect a Speedlite to the camera's hotshoe in the same way as an off-camera shoe cord, or do they serve another purpose altogether?

[daft_biker]

I've seen long flash cords for not too much money in Calumet, failing that use an (expensive) wireless transmitter?

Can't see why you couldn't chain shorter cables together but if it was me I'd rather have 1 longer cable. The canon one is a bit short for my needs too...fine if you're using a flash bracket attached to the camera where you don't want extra lengths of cable hanging but not ideal for getting the flash further away.

[Rupert49]

Cheers Andrew .. but do you know how a connecting cord is used? From the tiny pictures I can see wherever it's for sale it looks like it has a multi pin socket plug on each end. Presumably one end connects to a hot shoe adapter of some sort, but I still don't see where the other end goes!

Any ideas?

[daft_biker]

Maybe the connecting cord is a sync cable for studio flashes? (on the left hand side of your camera there could be a little round socked with a pin in the centre...I think that's what it is for but have never used it myself).

[Malcolm_Stewart]

My guess is that the connecting leads are associated with the ETTL distribution box and kit.

Have a read here for what's probably the most comprehensive documentation on the web for EOS flash.

[Roger_Provins]

Can't you use wireless?

[Scphoto]

I see amongst the Canon flash accessories that there's something called a Connecting Cord (available in 60cm and 3 metre lengths) ...or do they serve another purpose altogether?

They don't work with Eos Digital (something to do with E-TTL), I should know I have that kit for my film Eos. Well, when I say it didn't work, it did. But there was no control over the flash, it just fired. I suppose that's not too bad if you use manual flash, but then you might as well just use a cheap remote trigger.

[Benchista]

Can't you use wireless?

Yes, if you've the right guns, anyway. It's not the strongest point of the EOS system - you have to have either a separate controller, or a gun that can be set as a master on camera (and this gun doesn't need to actually fire), and another off set to a slave. Within those limitations, the system works very well indeed, but those limitations can be, well, limiting. I frequently use 2 or more guns these days for certain things, but out in the field it's usually just one and an off-shoe cord, which gives enough separation for me. You can get ones with longer cords - David Leung sells them, I think - or daisy-chain a couple. As mentioned, the extension cord is for a completely different system that's not compatible with any flavour of E-TTL.

[Barney]

Is it okay to connect two off-camera shoe cords together?

In the Nikon system you can daisy chain SC-28 cords together without trouble. Whether you can with Canon, I'm not sure, but I can't think of a reaosn why you shouldn't be able to.

[Rupert49]

Thank you everyone for your comments, and especially to Malcolm for the link to the excellent dissertation on getting the most out of the EOS flash system. It looks like I'll be daisy chaining if I can't find a longer Speedlite-compatible off-camera shoe cord elsewhere.
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Rupert

[Malcolm_Stewart]

...It looks like I'll be daisy chaining if I can't find a longer Speedlite-compatible off-camera shoe cord elsewhere.
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Rupert

If you're daisy-chaining or using a longer lead, I'd recommend running some checks before shooting anything critical. There's a possibility that the source impedance in the camera isn't expecting stray capacitance much higher than what's in the Off-Camera Shoe Cord.

[Rupert49]

Good advice Malcolm, thank you
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Rupert