WARNING: 600 EX RT not fully compatable with 5D Mark II and other pre 2012 cameras

[iND]

On Friday I was the proud owner of a 5D II and two new 600 EX RT units.

I traded my 3 580 EX II for 2 600 EX RT units because I wanted

#1 reliable and easy to use radio triggers.
I know there are those of you who use Pocket Wizards, Radio Poppers, and others.
And I did try radio poppers and elinchrom units but was not satisfied with the amount of work (I may be electronically challanged) I had to put in to understand and trouble shoot the process of setting them up.
I never really figured how to use the Radio Popper Jrx unit.
So I believe I made the right decision.
At a wedding I need less to worry about not more. But that may be my age showing.

The second reason I want to switch was because I did not want to continue to use ratios A:B and A:B C.
I was looking forward to GROUPS (5 groups) where I could set some to ETTL and some to Manual (ie background or hair lights)
I worked on this for days, I read and reread the manual.

Then I understood what this meant:
"Cameras released after 2012, (which includes probably 95% of all canons, also includes the 5D MarkII) are not compatable with groups"
Only two cameras released after 2012 (5D Mark III and the EOS - 1DX Mark III)

Surely I was wrong, certainly all major features were available on the flagship 5D Mark II.

So I went to a Camera Event this weekend where there were live Canon Reps.
They were very very very helpful but agreed unless there is some type of 'fix' all canon users except those with the new 5D Mark III or the EOS - 1DX Mark III , will not be able to use that function.

Official Release they sent me this am:

NEW – GROUP mode – "Gr" appears as flash mode on Master Unit
This is the headline feature of the new Canon radio-based Wireless E-TTL system. It requires an EOS 5D Mark III or EOS-1D X (as of March 2012) camera body to perform; for technical reasons, it's unfortunately not possible with previous EOS SLRs.


FULL RELEASE AT

http://www.learn.usa.canon.com/resou...o_basics.shtml


So Caveat Emptor: READ THIS RELEASE.

All said the RT feature was enough for me to switch.
But also know I just took the advice of the speedlight guru Syl Arena and updated my 5DII to 5D III as of this AM.

http://pixsylated.com/blog/canon-600...t-impressions/

Luckily there is still a strong market out there for the 5DII and I think I got top dollar.
I will order my 5D Mark III soon.

All in all I think I will be very happy with the 600 EX RT system and the 5D Mark III for years to come.

All I need now is a Canon ST-E3-RT.

[Jayson]

Thanks for the info. As someone who was planning on updating to those two in the near future, it is food for thought.