Radio Triggers - D90 & SB-700

[2WheelPhoto]

Pocketwizards and manual mode. Achieve shutter sync speeds up to 1/8000th without TTL gimmicks such as firing a strobe many times at reduced power and horrid battery life.

Triggers are like any thing else, you get what you pay for.

Am I correct in understanding that the "HyperSync" is only available in the Flex and Mini models. It looks like the PW II, PW III, and Multimax are all limited to the camera sync speed. If the Hypersync feature is available in the new PW III's I would consider getting them.

Partially right. a TT1 or TT5 on the camera will drive a million PWIIs and such.

A tiny inexpensive TT1 on the body of my D700 drives all my PWIIs with hypersync and works great, simple to set up. You simply "calibrate" or "offset" the TT1's timing with camera shutter actuation for triggering remotes PWIIs.

 

[skinnyboy_74]

I woulda loved pocket wizards but they definitely cost an arm and a leg! after some research I settled on "Phottix Stratos" - I found there store online and got a transmitter and two receivers for just over 100$. So far, so good!

 

[Balmiesgirl]

Like others have said.... U get what u pay for! I have tried lots of cheap fixes over the years.... I could have bought a lot of pocket wizards for the $ I spent on all of those "duds". I now use radio poppers or a su800..... And they work nicely but they still weren't cheap (about 240 for my set of poppers and 300 for the su800)

 

[Buckster]

That's just it. TTL is far from simple. It's quite a bit more complex than just using manual modes.

TTL does a lot of guesssing because it's has no clue what you are shooting, nor what your artistic goals are. It's just a not all that sophisticated software program that fires a couple of pre-flashes so the camea can mesure how much light gets reflected back. The software doesn't know if the reflected light came from a persons face, a tree, a park bench, a car, a forest, or clothes hung on an outside clothes line.

Consequently TTL flash has issues with consistancy.

I notice you run this same line whenever it comes up, so I thought I'd just chime in...

I have both Radio Poppers with TTL capability plus a few just for my studio strobes without, and half a dozen cheap ($30 per pair) Yongnuos without any TTL capability at all.

These days, I do almost all my shooting with just my speedlites (up to 4 of them), and I usually just use the Yongnuo triggers with them. I use them because they're easy to set up (just connect them and turn them on) and they get the job done in manual just fine. I'm comfortable with taking the time and making the effort to manually dial my lights to where I need them in most situations I shoot, which is more of a static setup studio environment, so I already have a good idea where to start, having set them up so often. So, I'm kind of with you on the whole TTL being unnecessary, for the most part. I rarely, if ever, have any real desire to shoot in TTL.

However, there are situations where I really do like to have my TTL, and it usually comes down to getting out of my studio comfort zone. When I'm out in the field bug-hunting with my macro gear, for instance, I use TTL: Buck's Field Macro Setup With Example. When I'm running around a kid's birthday party doing snapshots I still get the flash off camera with a stroboframe or stretched out to arms' length with my left hand or whatever else I come up with, but also still use TTL. In fact, pretty much anytime I get off my tripod and get my flash(es) off their normal stands, I go into TTL because it takes a LOT of my guesswork out of the equation when my distance to subject is constantly changing and my light is changing, and all the rest of it. When the situation is very fluid and dynamic like that, TTL gives me one less thing to deal with so I can concentrate on compositions and trying to capture the moments in a run and gun.

I'm also a big fan of Joe McNally. I've read all his books, have several of his DVDs, subscribe to his blog, and just love the examples and setups he uses. I went to the FlashBus roadshow tour (caught it in Atlanta), and loved every minute of it. He shoots a LOT of TTL in a LOT of interesting situations.

In all of my TTL shooting, and the TTL shooting I've seen from McNally's examples, including the stuff that went on during the FlashBus tour, I've never had or seen the kind of trouble and problems you keep referring to when you talk about TTL in these threads, working to dissuade people from getting and using that feature. Never. Ever.

It's true that there are times when I've decided to dial it up or down a notch and reshoot, but that's the case with manual a LOT more than it's been with TTL, in my experience. And even then, it's usually close enough that the first shot can be used, since I shoot in RAW and have the latitude to deal with it, and it's not that far off. It's just a perception issue when I chimp the shot on the back of the camera that causes me to rethink it.

So, I'm speaking from experience and from seeing the results of some pretty successful TTL shooters like McNally who use TTL extensively: It's not the bad or difficult or hard to control thing you tend to make it out to be. It's not the wild, wild West of flash, just doing whatever it wants, lighting wildly off, either too much or too little, like it's completely stupid, the way you portray it to be. It just isn't like that at all. In fact, it's just the opposite. It mostly just plain works and does a really nice job with little intervention at all.

What experience are you speaking from? Have you used Radio Poppers or Pocket Wizards with TTL and ratios? Have you used a commander with ratios when controlling multiple TTL flashes or groups of flashes? When's the last time you used TTL with one or more speedlights and really had a problem with it, such as those you describe to others? Or are you speaking from a theoretical perspective, based on what you think it's like?

Bottom line: Based on my own experience with TTL and what I've seen from others who use TTL, your testimony about TTL doesn't ring true to me.