flash trigger question

HASHASHIN

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i'm looking for a way to set off my 430ex, two sunpak 383's and one alienbee B800 studio strobe without using pocket wizards. Anyone know a cheaper solution?
 
i've heard that they dont work too well with the canon 430ex, does anyone know if this is still a big issue with the cactus v2s?

also, with this set up would i just have the the b800 set to shoot when it sees a flash?
 
I have a set of those (version 2), and they do work well with my Alienbees or off-brand flash units. They don't work well with my Canon 430EX flash though.

If you leave out the 430EX (and don't expect too much) these can be a pretty good solution for wireless flash triggering.

You might also consider optical slaves or a combination of both. You can get cheap optical slave units on E-bay...http://search.ebay.com/optical-flash-slave_W0QQ_trksidZm37

Your Alienbee has a built-in optical trigger.

So, you could get one set of those radio triggers (one sender, one receiver) and use that to trigger one of the 383s and use one optical trigger on the other 383. The first one will fire and trigger the other, plus the B800.

Or you could put the Radio trigger on the B800 and get two optical triggers for the 383s. Or just get three receivers for the radio trigger.
 
thanks for the advice, maybe i will do that, and if i need more power i can use the 430 on an off camera bracket with a hotshoe cord, and use the peanuts for the 383s.

thanks guys
 
If you want a better product...Elinchrome Skyports are cheaper than PWs but better quality than the Cactus triggers.

A new product from 'Radio Popper' is supposed to be coming out soon. They are promising a reliable radio slave in the $50 range. They haven't been released yet, so nobody knows how well they will work.
 
thanks for the advice, maybe i will do that, and if i need more power i can use the 430 on an off camera bracket with a hotshoe cord, and use the peanuts for the 383s.
Just be aware that if you incorporate the 430EX, you will need to use it in manual power mode because in E-TTL, it uses a preflash which will mess with your optical triggers.
 
yeah, i am aware of that

do you think i'll have enough power without the 430? i could always buy another sunpak or something. For the money im spending on slave flashes i might as well get another stobe from AB.
 
do you think i'll have enough power without the 430?
That depends on a lot of factors. Like what you are shooting, how far away the lights will be and the aperture you will be shooting at.

For the money im spending on slave flashes i might as well get another stobe from AB.
When I first started doing 'in-home studio' shooting, I had one B800 and a couple cheap flash units with optical slaves. It did work most of the time, but I really began to despise the flash units because of their slow recycle time. This was especially bad when shooting kids.

I eventually purchased a couple more Alienbee lights, so that I could get rid of the cheap flash units.
 
this will be for portrait work of one person at a time. I can move the lights as close as i need to, but i was hoping to get at least f/8 or f/11, i might be dreaming though.

I def. see myself upgrading in the future, i figure this setup will do just fine for a portrait starter setup though.
 

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