Ebay Remote Triggers

[Wocka]

Gidday,

I finally was able to test and trial my remote triggers that I purchased off eBay. I bought 1 x Trigger and 2 x remotes for AUD $61.00 from Ebay store Gadget Infinity http://stores.ebay.com/Gadget-Infinity_W0QQssPageNameZstrkQ3amefsQ3amesstQQtZkm



First thoughts:
Very small and light (very small). I was wondering how these would hold the flashgun once connected to a tripod. I still haven't tested this, but should be ok.

I have only opened up the remotes to place in the battery. Not much in there.

First test:
I attached the remote to my 580ex and put the trigger on the camera, and pressed the shutter all worked as it should. I then attached the second remote to a borrowed flash and set both of them off. Fantastic all are working as they should out of the box. Indoor tests in my lounge room were 100% successful.

Field trial:
Outside I used both flashes with mixed result. Sometimes only one flash would fire. There is meant to be a 30m range on these things and I was well within that. I’d say my success rate was 70% both working in tandem. I was moving the flashguns around to get different lighting effects and that would affect the signal but by moving them a little more, I was able to have both flash guns fire as they should. Once I had them working they would keep working until I moved them again.

I believe my issue was that I had my flashguns on the ground and the camera on a tripod about 50cm off the ground. I didn’t have a lot of time to sort this out, but moving the direction of the remote made it start working again.

Final thoughts:
There are lots of forums saying the Canon flashes have an issue of randomly firing, especially the 430ex as soon as you connect it to the remote. There are a few remedies to resolve this issue but I won’t go into it here. Nikon flashes work perfectly.

More info on how people are making these work, click here:
http://www.flickr.com/groups/strobist/discuss/72157594172539497/

I did manage to make my flashguns randomly fire by having them to close together (holding in the same hand), but once they were 40cm apart they were fine.

I have read that outside the 30m distance is easily achievable, especially when you have them off the ground on a tripod. I didn’t have the time or equipment with me to test this out. It’s probably possible to connect an external aerial to the remotes for better range, for those that are good with electronics.

For the cost of these units I’m very happy and would recommend them for the amateur photographer. If you want to use outside for professional shoots then maybe you might want to test other solutions. Inside in a studio, I’d say go for it.

[PiroStitch]

Nice work Wocka.

[blacknstormy]

How often would you use them at a distance greater then 30 metres though???

Great review Wocka

[digitor]

Thanks Wocka - I've been looking forward to your review since you got them.

Sounds like they're OK - I might give them a go!

Cheers

[PiroStitch]

Can you go faster than the flash sync speed?

[gstark]

Can you go faster than the flash sync speed?

Can you please explain the question?

The synch speed on the camera is tuned so that, as the flash is triggered, the shutter will be fully open. Any faster shutter speed will lead to an image that is partially in the shadow of the shutter. This is generally regarded as not being a good thing.

The flash itself, depending upon the power setting in use, might be as fast as a 1/20000 of a second.

It's the timing of that 1/20000 that's important.

[daniel_r]

Can you go faster than the flash sync speed?

What Gary has said above is true about how flash sync works - and typically if you exceed the sync speed for the body, you'll end up with part of the shutter curtain over the frame.

But...

I don't know how this works, and I've never found out (maybe I should!) there's a bit of Nikon Voodoo (called FP Sync) available in the D2h (probably the D2Xs?) that lets you exceed the 1/250s sync speed with certain Nikon Speedlights (SB-800 definitely works with this).

The FP Sync setting is available in CSM E1 "Flash Sync Speed" -> 1/250 (FP Auto). The D2x may vary of course... (and I'm looking at D2h firmware A/B 2.0.1 here!)

Auto FP High-Speed Sync is activated automatically at shutter speeds faster than 1/250s , allowing auto flash control at all shutter speeds up to and including 1/8000s (normal sync control is used at shutter speeds slower than 1/250s, including bulb). As a result, the flash can be used without concern for maximum sync speed, even in daylight shots taken at maximum aperture. This feature supports Advanced Wireless Lighting.

To use Auto FP High-Speed Sync, choose 1/250 (FP Auto) for Custom Setting e1 (Flash sync speed).

I don't know how it works, but it does!
I've used this to gain a nice DOF for outdoor portraits when using the SB-800 as fill (and given f/2.8 and a minimum ISO 200 on the D2h), the 1/250s sync speed is a little lacking!

[daniel_r]

My question answered! :

How high speed flash sync works on Nikon and Canon systems

[gstark]

I don't know how this works, and I've never found out (maybe I should!)

You're about to.

There's actually a couple of different technologies in play to address synch speeds faster than 1/500 second, which is the synch speed of a D70, or a Bronica, Blad ...

One common solution - typically used by PHDs, but sldo by some SLRs - is a multiple flash trigger solution. The flash is precisely timed to fire repeatedly as the shutter traverses the focal plane.

Consider the situation I described earlier: in this case, where the shutter would otherwise obscure the imaging surface, the flash is fired a second time as that region is uncovered. This might happen several times until the whole imaging surface is exposed.

Kind of looks like a very fast strobe, and it's not dissimilar to the preflashes that we commonly see with our SB800 guns.

But that's not what Nikon use. Not in the D70, at any rate.

The D70 has two shutters. There's the mechanical one, that you can see if you gently lift the mirror. In the D70, it's good for 1/500 second.

And it also has an electronic shutter, built into the sensor. Effectively, it's really a switch, turning the sensor on, then off.

Very bloody quickly!

You can disable a couple of contacts in your hotshoe, and make your SB800 synch at up to 1/4000 on a D70; I suspect that the same would be true on a D2 series camera as well.

Does this help?

[PiroStitch]

Thanks guys question answered Yeh I was playing with the D2 tonight and found out about the FP mode.

[DVEous]

... Obsolete ...

[Dprime]

I just received a set of these today aswell, and so far for the price I'm pritty happy with them. Havent done to much testing with them, but I have walked around a couple of rooms and had the trigger about 20 metres away behind walls and its fired every time for me so far, but like I said I havent done anything to extreme just yet.

As for the flash sync speed, I did a wakeboarding night shoot once and used a D70s with a set of borrowed pocket wizards and a SB-800 and I was able to get a speed of around 1/1000th of a second no problems without any shutter lines. As long as everything was set on manual it worked a treat, Im guessing these gadgets would be able to achieve the same result aswell.

[jerrysk8]

my friend has a set of these. has so many misfires. for the stuff i shoot i can't afford to waste opportunities or film on misfiring slaves. they also don't keep up with 8fps seq's. my p-dubs have never let me down. so if ur serious and wan't reliability get p-dubs or freewires.

[Big V]

I have 2 sets of these and they cost 39 dollars deleivered to the door. They work well and have the flexibility of using any flash, so I use my 550ex and metz60 ct4 with the setup and all is good. For the price they are brilliant. I do set everything manually though...
A good investment for those that want to play but do not want to outlay huge dollars yet for the studio set up or pocket wizards.