Canon G9 and ST-E2 with 580EX

I have been experimenting with my Canon Powershot G9 camera. Due to my desire for the best possible image quality, my tendency has been to shoot at ISO 80 only. This causes me to want to use a flash whenever possible. Using the Lensmate for the G9 causes the built-in flash to be significantly obscured and essentially useless. Today, I decided to work on that with one possible solution.

I decided to test out the Canon ST-E2 Speedlite Transmitter with my two Canon 580EX flashes. Susie, Tristin, and I headed over to a local pool to go swimming. It was a good opportunity for me to test out this setup. I was only able to use one 580EX this time but I did find the ability to maintain full E-TTL to be very nice. I always use the G9 in aperture priority mode and it takes care of the rest. It did a great job and I think this combination is an excellent one. There is one caveat however. You must have the infrared sensor on the flash in front of the ST-E2 so it can see the commands. This is very different from working with Pocket Wizards. It is nice to have E-TTL but the reliability is not as good. With that said, everything worked very nicely.

I am really enjoying using a very compact camera with RAW capability that is very, very good. It does have its limitations and you can forget shooting at ISO 800 or 1600 without major noise but otherwise it is great.

One possible kit out of this whole test is the Canon G9 w/Lensmate, ST-E2, and two 580EX flashes. This fits very nicely into the Domke J-803 bag along with miscellaneous cords and other stuff. I also used a Pentax 58mm circular polarizing filter and it worked very nicely. There is more to come. Stay tuned.