Hi MM,  is it possible to wirelessly trigger a 580 ex ii with a st-e2 but have it manual full power so there is no ettl?

When its in Master, I can get M 1/1 but no connection to st-e2.  When its in slave I can trigger from st-e2 but it stays constantly on ettl.

If it is possible, can you please give the the for-dummies step by step?

I'm guessing that the only way is with pocket wizard or powersync16 or a cable. Hoping not to spend and use the st-e2 that I already own if I can help it

get a pair of these:
http://www.calumetphoto.com/eng/product … ms/cf00870

mine just arrived and so far they have worked flawlessly, both with my alienbees and with my off-camera speedlites (plus you can have another speed-lite on-camera in manual or ttl mode).

the infrared thing work indoors with low ceilings. otherwise it's iffy.

The main advantage of the St-e2 is to shoot using ETTL, however, if you want to shoot in manual mode, set the flash to manual and the flash will fire in manual (the ettl lamp will still be lit) mode.  The  disadvantage of shooting manual using the st-e2 is that you have to set the power ratio from the flash.

Personally, I use 15 or 30 foot OCF cord and I then I can set manual, ettl, high speed sync from my camera's flash settings and can also adjust the power output of each flash.

Coool trick. I love forums. Thanks MM for all the replies

The flash determines the mode in which it fires, not the st-e2 or any other trigger.
If you've got a Canon 7D you have no need for an st-e2 the wireless flash control on your 7D is far superior to the st-e2 it can fire as many as 3 groups of 4 flashes, and it is radio controlled, no need for line of sight.

Ive just got the Yongnuo 622 C transceivers and Ive been really impressed. I used to use the STE2 and its prone to failure in certain situations, its mainly how overpriced it was that annoyed me.

I'm actually starting to hate my st2e, r2d2 whatever, with its non-standard battery shape as I prefer AA rechargeable eneloops. 

I do like setting ratios on it though

To answer the original question:  YES, it is possible, with an obscure feature on speedlites like the 580EX II, 430EX II, and even the new 600EX-RT if you're using it for optical wireless flash.  It's the "Independent Manual Slave mode".

The reason the original question came up is that unlike using a speedlite as a "master" unit, with the ST-E2 transmitter, there's no flash mode switch.  And, if you simply set a 580EX II (for instance) into Slave mode, and then press its Mode button the way you normally do, it will not stop on Manual flash mode, as it would when being used as a stand-alone flash on the camera.

Here's the trick -- and it *is* documented in the ST-E2 instruction books, but easy to overlook:  Press AND HOLD DOWN the slave unit's flash Mode button for two seconds or longer, until the "E-TTL" icon on the flash's LCD panel turns into a blinking "M".  The flash is now set to be an INDEPENDENT, Manual-exposure slave unit, which can be triggered by any EOS system master unit, including the ST-E2.  You set the power of this slave unit, from full 1/1 to any of the fractional manual power settings.

This is an easy way to allow mixing one or more manual mode flashes in an otherwise all-E-TTL auto flash set-up (great for stuff like hair lights, accent lights, and so on), or to simply shoot an all-manual set-up when firing via the ST-E2.

Give it a try;  you'll find it works quite well.  Good luck!

Doing some testing tonight ...

Tried this, yes the flash fires but the sync is way off, flash fires a second later after the fact.  Its sounds like a cool hack but I'm guessing one of the other pins must also be exposed for sync to work?

This worked brilliantly, now I have two 580 exii's that are my mini portable mono's !!  That means a lot to me, forever in your debt.