Why won't my Streaklight 360 (Godox AD360 II) optically trigger my Canon 580EXII?

Question

I've just purchased the Flashpoint Streaklight 360 Ws for Canon (aka Godox AD360 II, which I can trigger with the R2 integrated wireless system (I trigger the flash with a transmitter that came with it).

It works perfectly, but the thing is that I also have a Canon Speedlite, the 580EX II, which I would like to use along with the Streaklight 360.

I figured I could just trigger it optically with the flash from the Streaklight, but it seems it won't respond to the flash. It works perfectly with the build-in popup flash on the camera.

So my question is, why won't the Canon Speedlite 580EX II trigger optically with the flash from the Streaklight? Am I missing something?

Answer 1

Like Canon's speedlights, the AD360II/Streaklight must be on the camera to be used as an optical master, but it can be set to "smart" optical master. But it can also be set to smart optical slave, RF (radio frequency) master and RF slave. The Godox AD360II/Flashpoint Streaklight (TTL) has four wireless modes. It's very easy to be in the wrong one, and the 580EXII only works with one of them.

To be in "smart" optical master, the Streaklight must display a lightning-bolt icon. If the antenna/lollipop icon is showing, it's in RF master or slave mode. If neither icon shows, it's in "on-camera" mode.

If the AD360II is off-camera, and is being used as a radio slave, it cannot simultaneously be an optical master.

Your best bet to use both flashes off-camera is to put both the AD360II and the 580EXII into optical slave mode, and use your pop-up flash as the master. Or to purchase an X1R-C receiver to put onto the foot of your 580EXII, so you can control it from the X1T-C (R2) transmitter that came with your Streaklight. An XPro-C transmitter would also work to give you HSS/TTL with your lights.