There are no perfect lights or radio triggers. Let’s start there. If there was a perfect solution, I would probably pay almost anything to get it. There’s not.

Ok, now that we have that out of the way, let’s dive in to what makes the Canon 600EX-RT and ST-E3 special and (more specifically) check out how it works for real-world wedding and portrait uses. If you’ve read one of my reviews before you know this, but I’ll quickly establish the ground rules for you: First, I don’t get paid for any of these. That doesn’t mean I’m above it though, so feel free to send me money! Second, I don’t review based on pixel-peeping or much testing. I shoot a ton and don’t have much time to do extensive scientific tests. So, I’ll let you know what works, what doesn’t and if I think it’s a good investment. Lastly, I do these when I feel there’s a void in the internet for information that I wanted. So I’m mostly addressing those things with this review. Those things are: Using the Wireless System, Using multiple cameras, The Range. All three of the main things are addressed in the two videos posted below.

My Flash History

Before we get into the guts of the Canon 600EX-RT and ST-E3, let me first say why I tried them. There are two things that I hate in photography: (1) Making Clients Wait and (2) Looking stupid. I still remember the first time this happened about 3 or 4 years ago. I was using Pocket Wizard Plus II’s outside and the things would NOT fire. Since then it’s become evident that they don’t play nice with Canon Flashes. After that day I went home and bought Radio Poppers. I was fed up with looking like a noob. So I got the Radio Popper PX system. The potential of those things was awesome. Heck, I reviewed them with all the great things they could do. I had two main problems with them though: (1) The batteries (AAA’s) were one more thing to think about and (2) they were too finicky and tricky to get going. Once they worked they were great, but it was just too much fiddling.

So, I traded in the Radio Popper PX’s for the Radio Popper JrX system. Awesome. I loved the JrX’s. The were relatively easy and I could still adjust the power (albeit it was guestimation). But over time the JrX’s became as finicky as the PX’s. I could only use certain cords with certain units. I was testing them for minutes before shots, forgetting which piano keys controlled which channel, ect… So, after a while I threw my hands up in the air. I sold most of my fancy speed lights, bought a ton of Einsteins and a few manual flashes. I switched to Cybersync triggers and carried studio lights around everywhere. Over time I started using the Einsteins for more static shoots and just using small manual flashes (LumoPro LP160) for any portable lighting. It was a very ‘dumb’ system, but finally was rock solid. I still love my Einsteins and the CyberCommander that lets me control them. Those are staying with me.

When Canon released the 600EX-RT and ST-E3 I just crossed my fingers and dove in. These had the potential to be everything I was looking for. No more wires, no more missed connections, no more velcro. They’re not studio lights and I wasn’t going to sell those, but they seemed like the perfect speedlight… finally.

What’s Good

There’s a LOT to love about the 600EX-RTs. Here’s a few of the important ones to me:

Radio Triggering Works!

The Display/Menus
Arguably the biggest difference between the 600EX-RT and the 580EXII (besides the radio) is the display. Because it’s now dot matrix, the menus can change depending on what you’re using. This is awesome for making everything you need accessible quicker. There are no more secret menu combinations to get the master flash to stop firing or turn on High Speed Sync. It’s either displayed on the screen or can be changed within two button clicks. Awesome. For me, this best version of this is knowing that when I’m shooting a wedding reception I can press one button and disable my on-camera flash and press it again to enable it. You have no idea how much I love this. It’s perfect.

The Custom Functions
The 600EX-RT has lots of new custom functions. You can read all about them at other places, but I’ll just say that the ability to completely disable the Optical triggering (and the subsequent red blinking light) was a very welcome find. There’s lots of other cool things too. Not to mention that because of the new display, you can actually figure out what the custom functions are without scouring the manual.

ETTL Metering
I’m not sure if this is a result of the flash, the new functions of the 5D Mark III or a combination of both, but I’ve found on-camera ETTL metering to be MUCH more accurate when using bounce flash. This is great, although it certainly takes a little getting used to. Everything looks hot at first.

The Flash Works
All the normal stuff works great. Welp, I guess that’s all there is to say about that.

What’s Bad

Here’s a few things that I’m not crazy about with the new Canon 600EX-RTs

The Gel System SUCKS
When I first heard the flash announced, one of my responses was “No More Velcro!”. I was really excited for the included gel system. I unboxed the flash, unboxed the gel and assembled it. I immediately reboxed the gel and didn’t even open the gels of the other three. It’s silly, complicated and has too many parts. Someone really needs to invent a modified StoFen diffuser thing-y that’s simply a series of gels that snap on and off and can be easily stored away. Canon could have done this. They failed.

Some Menu Decisions
Overall I’m very happy with the menus as I mentioned earlier. Everything is easy to get to. BUT I feel like there are a few things that could be easier to find or more prominent. For me, changing the power levels of off-camera flashes isn’t incorporated as well as it should be. It’s not bad, but I wish it was faster. As I was thinking through, I was trying to draw up how I would improve the menu. After all, I don’t use 75% of the flash’s features. But I’m sure Canon doesn’t want to drop features, even if only a small percentage use them. I think the only reasonable solution is to have a ‘My Menu’ setup like the 5D2 and 5D3 both have. Then you could have the functions you most need right at your fingertips.

Let’s Test The Range

The ST-E3

Here’s my VERY short review of the ST-E3. I wish it had focus assist because it can’t hurt to have it. However, with the 5D Mark III its not nearly as necessary as you would think it is. Other than that, the ST-E3 is a 600EX-RT that was sawed in half (well a little less than that). We’re going to use it for portraits so we don’t have a flash on top of our cameras (too heavy). I wish I could write more, but there’s no point. It’s the flash without the flash. That’s all there is to it.

Conclusion

I know for a lot of you, the real questions are this: “How is the range?”, “Can I shoot how I like to?” and “Is it worth the money?”. The videos above should help you answer the first two questions and will probably help you answer the third. Before I give my recommendation let me say that I almost never think that buying camera gear is a bad decision. It holds it’s value so well that it’s a very small risk purchase.

With that said (and if you can afford it), I wholeheartedly recommend the 600EX-RT. I want to be clear that I don’t think it’s perfect. In fact I started this review with that sentence. If you shoot portraits with a 800mm lens, you might not have the range you need. If you hate velcro, your life didn’t get any easier with this flash. But if your name is Tony Hoffer or you are fed up with years of wires and flash gadgets, the 600EX-RT is quite an impressive beast. If I worked for Canon, I’d probably strip away a ton of the extra gizmos and make a receiver only version of the 600EX-RT and sell a million more. But for what it is, I love it and I think I’ll probably own them for a long time!

If you have questions or comments, feel free to leave them below…

In about a year and a half we presented three Genesis workshops with some of our best friends in the industry. Not to mention that we’ve gotten unbelievably lucky with the quality and talent of our students. We just feel such a connection with everyone that has participated in Genesis. But all good things must come to an end… and after three amazing workshops we’re happy to say that we were a part of Genesis over the last few years. As we closed the mansion doors on our final Genesis I realized how proud I was of everything we were able to pull off. Thanks to everyone who helped along the way!

This year we covered a few things including branding and the client experience. We talked, we shot, we laughed, some of us (not me) cried. Good times were had by all! Here’s a few photos that we took while we were teaching… Our models Emily and Joel (the winners of the Shoot Me for FREE contest) actually got engaged DURING one of the shoots. It was awesome! Enjoy..

For our non-client blog stalkers, there’s something in it for you too! We’ve assembled a gallery of some of our favorite personal images that we’re making available if you’re looking for something new for your wall. And these are also available at 20% off this week! Check them out here…

Happy Shopping!

As we’ve rolled over into 2012 and the holidays are in the rear view, we’ve been starting to get a bunch of questions about this year’s Genesis Workshop. So we wanted to make a little post to talk about what we’ll be… well, talking about. Before I do, let me say this: I don’t think I’ve ever been as excited for a Genesis workshop as I am for Genesis 2012. Our favorite parts of the last 2 years have always been the time we’ve been able to spend with people between the ‘official’ workshop events. This year that will be on full blast as we all will be staying/eating/jacuzzi-ing together. We really can’t wait till March 20th!

What We’re Teaching

Without a doubt, the biggest thing that we’re seeing photographers struggle with is how to blend their visions/ideas/prices/personalities with those of their clients. Now more than ever photographers are facing a series of challenges that they haven’t faced before. So how does a photographer shoot the way they want, price themselves to be profitable and produce great work while still trying to appeal and please a modern bride who has handpicked her favorite 300 photos on Pinterest and has 3 friends/family members who are dying to shoot her wedding?

This year we’re going to talking about embracing these things rather than fighting them. Specifically we’re going to be talking about how to run a client-oriented business. That is, one that still accomplishes our business goals AFTER making sure we’re giving our clients what they want. We’re going to be talking about pricing ourselves in ways that make us profitable but also that make sense for our clients. And probably most importantly, we’re going to be shooting… a lot. We’re going to be showing more shooting and lighting techniques than we’ve ever delved into at previous workshops. And as we do, we’ll talk about how we can make even our shooting style match what our clients are really wanting.

Also, we’re going to spend a night talking about Branding and spend an afternoon/evening giving individual Branding critiques. Branding is (in my opinion) the single most thing that most photographers overlook. It also happens to be thing thing with the most potential to make their business grow and thrive. We’re going to delve into building a successful brand from the ground up and do a live demonstration of building a brand. Then we’ll have time to give each student advice about how they can apply those things to their own business.

We’re so excited about this year’s workshop.

If you’re interested in attending, check out the Genesis website, where you can find out all about what the others are teaching, what you can expect to take away and even read reviews from past students on our Genesis blog. The workshop runs from March 20-22 in Las Vegas (flights are very cheap right now) and is all-inclusive. All your accommodations and food will be provided as part of registration! Hope to see you there…

About 6 months ago I (Tony) posted a photo of Amy on Facebook that I took while we were working. Someone mentioned that we should post more of those. Then I had a brilliant idea to wait until the end of the year and post a bunch of them. Clearly I didn’t realize a few things:

1. We have way too many photos of ourselves making ridiculous faces.
2. There’s no chance that anyone will actually be entertained by all of these.
3. Amy’s hair color changed about 5 times throughout the year.

So, without further ado, here’s a bunch of photos we took of ourselves (and interns and assistants) during 2011. Don’t judge us for it… It’s your decision to be here :)

I told you it was long.

…Emily and Joel!!

Wow, that was difficult! We had a few hundred submissions over the past few days for our annual Shoot Me for FREE contest. Makes sense, it’s a free trip to Vegas after all! We had people enter from 5 different continents, and all over the country. Lots of great people to choose from, for lots of great reasons!

In the end, we chose Emily and Joel because they both submitted separately (seemingly without knowing the other was doing it), couldn’t say enough good things about the other person and are cute as a button (Amy’s words, not mine). It didn’t hurt that they took us up on offering a bribe, which we are totally taking them up on by the way. Congrats to Emily and Joel who will be joining us in Vegas all the way from Denver, Colorado!

Thanks again to everyone who entered. You all are incredible people. Choosing this was SO hard! Stay tuned next week for our annual ‘best of the year’ post and a few other goodies…

Well, I’m happy to announce that this year will raise the stakes in a HUGE way. If you’ve been following this blog, you know that this spring we’re holding The Genesis Workshop (our annual photography workshop) in Las Vegas. That’s where YOU and the Shoot Me for FREE contest come into play…

The winner of this year’s Shoot Me for FREE contest will win an absolutely free trip to Las Vegas. That’s right. We will be choosing one couple to come to Vegas during our workshop, all expenses paid! This includes flights for 2 to Las Vegas, 5 night’s stay in one of the workshop mansions, food with the workshop crew from our own private chef and a whole bunch of amenities (pool, pool tables, ect..).

Here’s your part: We need a couple that will model for us during some of our workshop sessions on March 20-22. We will fly you out at least a day early to do whatever you’d like with your spouse/significant other. Then you can model for us for certain sessions throughout the week. The rest of the time is yours! And of course you’ll be able to keep digital versions of any photos we take while we’re there. So in exchange for us using your pretty faces you get a 5-night all-expense paid trip to Vegas with someone you love as well as all the photos we shoot of you throughout the week… all for FREE!!!

To recap, here’s what you get:
2 round trip tickets to Vegas
5 nights stay in one of the workshop mansions
All meals
Photos from the shoots during the whole week

Here’s what we get:
2ish hours of your modeling talents for shooting in the morning and 2ish hours in the afternoon on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. The rest of the time is yours!

Here’s the Rules:
- Contest entries start today (12/27) and end on Friday (12/30).
- You must be a couple to enter.
- You need to be available to travel 3/18-3/23
- You should be outgoing and very much in love.
- We’d love to choose a couple we’ve already shot for, but are absolutely open to anyone!
- No purchase necessary… duh.
- Bribes accepted

VOTING IS NOW CLOSED! THE WINNERS WILL BE ANNOUNCED SOON!

For the next three days, you can get workflow for just $129. That’s $50 off the regular price! Oh, and it still includes all the goodies from before (did we mention a $100 gift card?). Get it for the photographer you love or just for yourself. Start saving time so that you can eat more Christmas ham. No one wants to be editing photos during the start of the NBA season after all…

I usually think it’s silly that when people announce new things and it’s always the biggest and the best version… but I think I’m starting to understand. The last two years of teaching the Genesis workshop have been nothing short of incredible (Year 1, Year 2). We’ve met so many fantastic photographers and have seen so many lightbulbs go off in the process.

When we started planning Genesis 3, we wanted to take all the things we loved about Genesis (the community, the venues, the small group learning) and turn it up to full blast. So we’ve decided to announce the first-ever all-inclusive Genesis workshop. This year we’ll be in Vegas and we’re going all out. We be staying in 3 ridiculous mansions with a private chef and all the hookups, and we’ll all be together for the week to maximize our teaching and hang out time. Oh, and I almost forgot to mention that this all-inclusive approach will significantly lower the total cost of attending Genesis!! We are so incredibly excited about it.

Registration for Genesis 3 starts RIGHT NOW! You can head over the the Genesis page, get all the info and sign up to be a part of an incredible 3 days of learning. Oh, and hurry! Because of our all-inclusive layout, the cheap flights to Vegas and our commitment to small class sizes, space is very limited. And the best spots in the mansions are first-come, first-serve. Can’t wait to see you there!

Oh, and for the non-photographers out there… keep an eye on our blog for this year’s Shoot Me for FREE contest. I’ll give you a hint: it just might involve the aforementioned city and a free trip… stay tuned!

As our business has continued to grow, we been faced with more and more great weddings that we simply can’t fit into our schedule. You’d think the problem would be as easy as hiring someone else, but in this field that’s a tricky situation. The simple fact is that although we’ve had lots of options for associate photographers over the past few years, we never found a photographer that we felt was the right fit. We simply weren’t willing to sacrifice quality in order to have an associate photographer. In short, we wanted a photographer that made us jealous of his images, not someone to play second fiddle to us. Someone who was a legitimate expert at what they did and who could offer something different than what Amy and I do.

We got one.

A while back we started chatting with Chuck Anerino. Chuck is a friend of ours who has been operating Anerino Originals for the past few years and (as you’re about to find out) his work is incredible. We’re still counting our lucky stars that Chuck will be shooting under our name. As you’ll see, Chuck’s work is fantastic while being undeniably different than ours. For us, Chuck will not be a Hoffer Jr. Rather, he’ll be representing a documentary style, focused on timeless moments. Chuck shoots lots of B&W images, is an expert at a candid, fine-art style with a wonderful sense of timing. For us, having an associate isn’t really about trying to make more money. It’s about having another amazing option for our clients.

If you’re interested in an amazing documentary photographer, you can see more of Chuck’s portfolio here or read more about him here. He’ll be shooting a limited number of weddings per year and we’ll start incorporating more of his work on this blog. We’re so excited to have Chuck as an option to offer to our couples. Here’s some highlights of one of his recent weddings…