Wireless Flash Triggers, which one?

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Wireless Flash Triggers, which one?

Postby Yi-P on Mon Oct 01, 2007 6:50 pm

I want to get a pair of wireless flash triggers for SB's flashes. I have some optical sync triggers but I find them a bit hard to use specially have to consider that lights are seeing each other everytime I shoot.

I have looked under pocket-wizards, but they are way too expensive for my testing use.

I mainly want to set 2 SB's in a fairly large auditorium. Optical sync can't get that far and wide around a big hall, I think I need some radio sync toys to play around with.

Any suggestions? I looked under the auction site, but not sure if those ones provided are suitable for SB Speedlites and not specifically for strobes... All my SB has a little PC Sync terminal, so not sure if the ones for studio strobe can fit...

Any help much appreciated... :)
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Postby shutterbug on Mon Oct 01, 2007 7:58 pm

Try the china ones on Ebay...cheap too.

ps. PW are great :wink:
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Postby firsty on Mon Oct 01, 2007 8:18 pm

I brought a transmitter and 2 receivers for about $60 from ebay just search for wireless trigger

http://l7foto.com/2007/05/20/gadget-inf ... h-trigger/

they work well and I've had no problems with them
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Postby jdear on Mon Oct 01, 2007 10:14 pm

+1 for Cactus V2 Inifinity triggers... I bought them recently.

There seems to be mixed reviews on them - not triggering, triggering excessively etc...

The ones I ran with my 580ex speedlight work fine and probably gave almost 100% hit rate when I was using them outdoors the other day. (maybe didnt fire 1x out of say 50x)

It doesnt sync at 1/250 like my sync cord does, (shows black bar of the shutter curtain) - syncs instead at 1/200.

Its just a cheap step until I get into PWs so I can learn in the meantime.

Interestingly there seems to be a few wireless triggers which will also transmit TTL signal (not crappy CLS / Canon equiv) via RF signal in the works.

Jonathan
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Postby Yi-P on Mon Oct 01, 2007 10:26 pm

Thanks for the advises :)

I searched around ebay and found THIS


Not sure if this is the one being mentioned, it doesnt look exactly the same as one on gadget infinity site (doesnt say 'cactus' on the label)... is it a replica?? :roll:
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Postby firsty on Tue Oct 02, 2007 5:54 am

that is the one :)
My SB28 and SB800 sync @ 1/250 no problems
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Postby jdear on Tue Oct 02, 2007 9:01 am

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/4-Channel-Wirele ... dZViewItem

is the cactus (seller Gadget Infinity) triggers, which I think are the original ones. The other link you posted looks the same but its not branded the same?

There is some range modifications via the strobist flickr discussion threads.

Jonathan
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Postby jamesw on Tue Oct 02, 2007 9:59 am

i do quite a bit of off-camera flash photography, and i wrote this article for a blog that i work on. it's directed towards young bmx riders that are keen on riding, so the language is obviously directed that way, but it may be helpful for you.

http://blog.ugzine.com/index.php?itemid=29
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lens:nikon 35-70mm f2.8, 70-300mm f4-5.6, 10.5mm f2.8, 20mm f2.8, 28mm f2.8, 50mm f1.8.
flash: nikon sb600, sunpak 383 (x1), sunpak 555 (x4), pocketwizard plus II (x4)
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Postby PiroStitch on Tue Oct 02, 2007 12:06 pm

i have the ebay ones. They're good for what you pay for...and it's exactly that. I took them out for a whirl the other night and there were several occasions where they didn't trigger which was a pain. Fortunately the models were patient and weren't too fussed.
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Postby adam on Tue Oct 02, 2007 12:48 pm

I use Elinchrom Skyport,
Also cheaper than pocketwizards, but more than the G.I. set, and umm... also works? :)
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Postby petal666 on Tue Oct 02, 2007 3:03 pm

adam wrote:I use Elinchrom Skyport,
Also cheaper than pocketwizards, but more than the G.I. set, and umm... also works? :)
I'm planning to get some of these too.
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Postby myarhidia on Tue Oct 02, 2007 8:31 pm

I picked up thesecheapo's recently. They work fine for what you pay for. To use them on an SB800 you need to either get yourself a male to male sync cord from the trigger to the SB800, or if you're a tight arse do what I did cut the useless pc sync cord they provide & solder it to the unit. Works a treat.
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Postby benhoskin on Wed Oct 03, 2007 3:57 pm

Adam, do you have a source for Elinchrom Skyport triggers?
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Postby petal666 on Wed Oct 03, 2007 9:08 pm

benhoskin wrote:Adam, do you have a source for Elinchrom Skyport triggers?
Kayell is the Australian distributor, but this is probably the cheapest place to get them from OS http://mpex.com/Strobist/
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Postby adam on Thu Oct 04, 2007 12:17 am

benhoskin wrote:Adam, do you have a source for Elinchrom Skyport triggers?


They are available at:
Team Digital, Plaza Cameras (Northbridge), Camera Electronics
all stocked them.

Petal666 is right that they are cheaper overseas, but at the time I bought them (April), MPEX didn't offer them.
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