Wireless flash triggers

JerryPH · Nov 24, 2007

Big Mike said:
I have a cheap 'ebay' trigger. It works well enough on my older flash units or to trigger my Alienbees but it doens't work well with my Canon flash.

I have used it at weddings but not for anything too important. I do plan to get something more reliable like Pocket Wizards.

There are a few people on the flickr strobists site that did the modification to to their ebay triggers using a cell phone antenna to increase range and reliability.

There are some satisfying results and then there are a few that are not so happy. Apparently doing this introduces some kind of power emission that negatively affects the way the picture comes out in the camera.

Personally, if you have such a need, save, steal or borrow for the Elsachrome or Pocket Wizards.

Lucky for the few Nikon owners that can use their off-strobe setup wirelessly without needing to invest in this.

Also, as another potential answer, one could purchase a studio setup that uses flash synch only to trigger their strobes. Thats what I have on my setup and it works very well. I can manually set the camera's flash unit down to 1/128th and from 20 feet away (thats the furthest I could go to test), still trigger them, or use the SB-800 as front fill from even further and acheive the same results... but now we are talking distances that I either do not think I will ever see or need.

Using this method, you may not need to invest in PWs, and could put the extra money into the strobes to afford a higher or more powerful model.

Me, I was VERY lucky... my father gave me his setup. It works just awesome for me and adds a LOT to my pleasure of learning. It is somewhat portable in the sense that I can fit this all into a large hockey equipment bag and carry it easily enough. I do need two 110V plugs on location... or I could just get myself 1 or 2 more SB-800s and I am gold. At one point, we even had a 5 strobe setup flashing away just for kicks... my SB-800 (low front fill) and on camera flash (the main trigger), the 2 studio strobes (side fill) and his Metz flash (as back light). I was not pleased with the results, but it was a TON of fun to see all of this lighting up the room!

Digital Matt · Nov 24, 2007

nossie said:
Digital Matt: I have an offer of 100 for an SB25 (you said SB24) does that sound good?

The sb25 is also good. It provides full manual control and a PC port on the side. Go for it.

As far as triggering slave flashes optically, this is yet another not always reliable solution. If you are shooting outside and balancing sunlight with strobe, slave flashes have real trouble seeing the flash. A good radio trigger is an investment in versatility, allowing you to go anywhere, and achieve any look. David Tejada has a video of a shoot he did for an annual report where he is like 1/2 mile away triggering 4 speedlights via PWs to illuminate an oil rig and a worker. It's just not possible any other way.

nossie · Nov 24, 2007

If you are working indoors, most flashes will have no trouble being used as optical slaves (firing when they see another flash).

see another flash? Does that me that actual White Light or an infrared beam. Coz I don't think the 580ex can fire when it sees another flash fire. This would have been good for me because I have the 350d with the built-in flash that I could have deflected and used.

Digital Matt · Nov 24, 2007

Slaves work optically and infrared. You'd have to consult a manual for the 580, but I think the it's probably infrared and optical. You never want to use the on camera flash to trigger anything. The whole point of this is to get the flash OFF the camera, and not use on camera flash.

nossie · Nov 24, 2007

Digital Matt said:
Slaves work optically and infrared. You'd have to consult a manual for the 580, but I think the it's probably infrared and optical. You never want to use the on camera flash to trigger anything. The whole point of this is to get the flash OFF the camera, and not use on camera flash.

I was reading the manual and played about with the flash and found nothing. I was thinking off fashioning a bit of foil in front of the pop-up to send the light side ways to trigger the others.

I got this for £61\$125 a bit more than you estimated but seems to be the average.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130174101225