lighting equipment

jmsep · Dec 22, 2008

I was looking at radio slave triggers and noticed that some of the plugs dont exactly look like they go on my equipment. So, i was wondering if I can put the radio trigger on the camera and set the channel, and set my flash to slave and to the same channel as the radio trigger and have it work together without the original radio trigger reciever? I have a canon 40d and a 580 ex ii flash.

LiveWave · Dec 23, 2008

What radio slaves are you working with?

jmsep · Dec 23, 2008

I have not bought a trigger yet, but wanted to know what would work before I bought it

LiveWave · Dec 23, 2008

Upon re-reading your post, I'm not sure how the 40D works exactly but some cameras have a commander mode which allows you to trigger shoe mount strobes wireless. If not then you would be buying one of those commander units which are not radio (I believe they are infrared). If you do want radio, then the gold standard would be PWs which would require the purchasing of 2 PWs (~$180-$200s a piece).

JerryPH · Dec 23, 2008

There are a few options in the wireless trigger world. Doing a search would find this info for you.

However, your options can start from as low as under $50 for 1 trigger and 2 receivers for Gadget Infinity's Cactus V2s to over $600 for 3 Pocket Wizards. There are several choices in between.

The Cactus is what I use but I modified mine so range increases from 30 to over 350 feet. I absolutely love my Cactus triggers. Perfect for the amateur that is not getting paid for having fun like me. Slide the transmitter into the hotshoe on your camera and connect the receiver to your flash, turn on, make sure you are on the same channels and fire away, it's not much harder than that.

Perhaps it's time for me to make another edition of the 60-second strobist... lol.

Big Mike · Dec 23, 2008

I was looking at radio slave triggers and noticed that some of the plugs dont exactly look like they go on my equipment. So, i was wondering if I can put the radio trigger on the camera and set the channel, and set my flash to slave and to the same channel as the radio trigger and have it work together without the original radio trigger reciever? I have a canon 40d and a 580 ex ii flash.

No, you cannot do that because the the flash does not have a built-in radio receiver. To use your flash in 'slave' mode...you need a Canon 'Master' unit. It could be another 580EX or an ST-E2. With a 580EX as the master, they use light pulses to communicate, with the ST-E2, they use infrared signals. No radio signals.

If you want to use a radio system, you need both a transmitter and a receiver.

jmsep · Dec 23, 2008

cool, helpful info. thanks

table1349 · Dec 23, 2008

Jerry is correct. The cactus triggers work just fine.
Here is a site for everything else you would need.
FlashZebra.com

This is what I use for my 580's and my Sunpak 383's. Uses a standard PC plug which most receivers should come with. Keep in mine I am using 4 Pocket Wizards with mine.
FlashZebra.com: PC to Flash Hotshoe Adapter (Item #0065)

RyanLilly · Dec 23, 2008

Some flashes also use a proprietary connected like Vivitar, but they usually come with an adapter cable. Also some canon flashes have no PC connector so you need a hot shoe adapter(the cactus' have them built in).

I Hope to see some cactus triggers at my door in the next few days!

danman281 · Dec 23, 2008

I had terrible luck with cactus triggers (I bought two). I posted somewhere on here about my story. IMO I wouldn't buy them unless its just for macro shots. They are too unreliable unless modded CORRECTLY. If you want to return or do warranty, shipping to china cost about $15 bucks and it takes weeks.

JerryPH · Dec 24, 2008

danman281 said:
I had terrible luck with cactus triggers (I bought two). I posted somewhere on here about my story. IMO I wouldn't buy them unless its just for macro shots. They are too unreliable unless modded CORRECTLY. If you want to return or do warranty, shipping to china cost about $15 bucks and it takes weeks.

You can also order them from MPEX.COM and get them a few days earlier. They are located in Ohio, USA.

1 - Did you replace the batteries with fresh ones? They state in the documentation the batteries are for test purposes only

2 - Did you mod the trigger? I really do get 350+ feet with mine after the mod:

The only way to incorrectly mod the trigger is use the wrong thickness/length wire and to do a bad solder connection. Both are extremely easy to avoid or fix!

The #1 reason they did not work right for 99% of the people straight out of the box, was that the batteries were not replaced with fresh ones. People who do that suddenly have no issues (well, shooting up to a maximum of 30 feet without the very simple mod).

The one thing that I do not like is that when you place the flash on the hotshoe adapter of the Cactus receiver, it is not very solid and it raises the flash too high if you are shooting into an umbrella. That hotshoe adapter from FlashZebra.com (great guy and great place to buy from), lowers it nicely and is much more stable. So for the cost of this adapter and a 6" male-male sync cord, I get a lot more stability. The one that gryphonslair99 shows is the exact one that I have on my setup.

Edit: I bought 9 receivers (two 16-ch and seven 4-ch models) and 3 transmitters. Everything worked as advertised out of the box and all three modded triggers have the same range. However, I did have to redo the antenna connection on one of them a second time after it's first test, it did not want to trigger properly due to that. A little more care with the soldered connection on the 2nd try on my end and "Bob's Your Uncle". :lol: