Slave Flash Question

[Dray1027]

This is the set up I'm thinking about getting to start off with, what do you think?
Amazon.com: StudioHut PT-04 4 channel Wireless Radio Hot Shoe Slave Flash Trigger Receiver for Canon EOS, Nikon, Olympus & Pentax Flashes: Camera & Photo

Amazon.com: Yongnuo YN-560 II Speedlight Flash for Canon and Nikon. GN58.: Camera & Photo

That Cowboy Studios received / transmitter system is designed for a Sony DSLR, and the YN 560 is designed for Nikon or Canon. What kind of camera do you have? You need to pick the model designed to go with your camera.

On the Cowboy Studios gear, there are people who swear by them and think they are great because of the price. I have a set, and they seem to work okay, but please keep in mind that you get what you pay for. They are cheap, and placticky feeling and they will not last nearly as long as a better brand like Phottix Strato II units, or Pocket Wizards. They will also not have the same range and will be less reliable (misfires or no fires). I have the Phottox Strato II units too and I prefer them. I keep the Cowboys as cheap backups.

Having said that, if your budget is severely limited, they are okay, but certainly not the best you could choose.

Copy that, since Im on a budget I found this instead.
Amazon.com: Phottix Ares Wireless Flash Trigger Set (Transmitter and Receiver) #PH89230: Electronics

 

[jwbryson1]

This is the set up I'm thinking about getting to start off with, what do you think?
Amazon.com: StudioHut PT-04 4 channel Wireless Radio Hot Shoe Slave Flash Trigger Receiver for Canon EOS, Nikon, Olympus & Pentax Flashes: Camera & Photo

Amazon.com: Yongnuo YN-560 II Speedlight Flash for Canon and Nikon. GN58.: Camera & Photo

That Cowboy Studios received / transmitter system is designed for a Sony DSLR, and the YN 560 is designed for Nikon or Canon. What kind of camera do you have? You need to pick the model designed to go with your camera.

On the Cowboy Studios gear, there are people who swear by them and think they are great because of the price. I have a set, and they seem to work okay, but please keep in mind that you get what you pay for. They are cheap, and placticky feeling and they will not last nearly as long as a better brand like Phottix Strato II units, or Pocket Wizards. They will also not have the same range and will be less reliable (misfires or no fires). I have the Phottox Strato II units too and I prefer them. I keep the Cowboys as cheap backups.

Having said that, if your budget is severely limited, they are okay, but certainly not the best you could choose.

Copy that, since Im on a budget I found this instead.
Amazon.com: Phottix Ares Wireless Flash Trigger Set (Transmitter and Receiver) #PH89230: Electronics

Perfect. What camera are you using?

 

[Dray1027]

Cannon Rebel EOS T3i (600D)

 

[Gavjenks]

That Cowboy Studios received / transmitter system is designed for a Sony DSLR, and the YN 560 is designed for Nikon or Canon. What kind of camera do you have? You need to pick the model designed to go with your camera.

The cowboystudio transmitters and receivers are not made specifically for any brand. All of the major brands have the same physical hot shoe dimensions, and all of them send an electrical pulse to the center pin on shutter release. These are the only things the devices require to function. Thus, the same exact device will work for nikon, sony, canon, etc. And you don't have to take my word for it. If you look at the amazon links posted, it specifically lists out all of those brands as compatible, too.

On the Cowboy Studios gear, there are people who swear by them and think they are great because of the price. I have a set, and they seem to work okay, but please keep in mind that you get what you pay for. They are cheap, and placticky feeling and they will not last nearly as long as a better brand like Phottix Strato II units, or Pocket Wizards.

1) Have yours broken? I use mine about every other day and have for 2-3 years now, and they aren't even at all loose, much less broken in any way. Yes, they are plastic. So are pocket wizards. Modern plastics can be made extremely durable (when was the last time you broke a lego block?), and these do seem to be an example of a product like that.

2) They don't need to last as long as a pocket wizard in order to be a better buy. For the price of one pocket wizard transmitter, you can buy ten cowboystudio receivers AND five transmitters. So in order to be more cost effective, they only actually need to last 1/15th as long as a pocket wizard.

They will also not have the same range and will be less reliable (misfires or no fires).

Have you ever actually had a misfire with yours? I have not, in years of usage. I'm not saying that it's built like a tank or had crack teams of Swiss engineers design it. But you have to admit, it's kinda hard to screw up product design-wise. It's just a button that connects a circuit.

I mean maybe I just got lucky with quality control, but I doubt it, since I have like 4 of them. I think it's just that it's a blindingly simple task, and a cheap unit is all that is needed to do it.






Now don't get me wrong, pocket wizards are nice due to having more options and features, like being able to change settings for some equipment remotely, blah blah. That's worth paying for, certainly. But spreading doubt about a product merely due to the fact that it is cheap (unless you have actual concrete bad experience) is not cool! Flash communication is very simple stuff. It's just sending a basic electrical signal from A to B. There's no reason why it SHOULD cost anything significant (without special features). I'm surprised it even costs the $30 that it does. Should be able to do it for like $7.

 

[Gavjenks]

Also, bonus points for the cowboystudio equipment: If you are the sort of person who enjoys electronics and tinkering with things in general, these happen to be some of the cheapest, DIY-friendly, basic remote control devices you can find online.

So if you buy a couple of backups for your camera system, they will also serve as components for hobby electronics experiments, because if you simply solder a wire to the center pin and the metal side wall, you have an instant 4 channel wireless remote for any project you want.

I actually used one of these once to trigger a remote control water balloon trap (attach cowboystudio receiver to a temporary electrical relay, which channels 9 volt battery power to a little piece of the wire you find in toaster ovens, which then gets red hot, and when taped against the side of a water balloon, will burst it within 1 second) =P

 

[jwbryson1]

Is GavJenks a Cowboy Studios sales rep?

 

[Dray1027]

Lol.... You would think.

 

[Gavjenks]

It's not that cowboystudios transceivers are the best products in the world or anything. They're not. They're just basic little plastic radio boxes with extremely simplistic technology that a 6th grader could probably wire up in science class. There's nothing special about them at all.

The issue is the extent to which every other company is horribly ripping people off, and it annoys me. The other 12 wireless remote flash companies are selling you a slightly different piece of plastic, of approximately the same quality, with nothing really different except the inclusion of an additional $3 electronic circuit that lets you set power levels. And maybe a $2 LCD screen to tell you what power you set, or whatever. Their costs are maaaaybe twice as much as cowboystudios in the factory, but they charge you like... 3,000% more... It's fairly despicable in my opinion.

So it's not that I'm aggressively promoting this product because of how great it is. It's more like I'm aggressively promoting AGAINST the people who are being shamelessly and outrageously exploitative by selling $10 devices, which are less complex than an AM/FM radio, at a cost of $200-$300.

 

[Gavjenks]

Note: Canon and Nikon are just as bad, if not worse, sometimes. Their actual lenses are not so bad. Only usually 50%-100% more than 3rd party, and are legitimately 30% higher quality or more. But their accessories... God. I think I saw a lens hood for sale by Canon once for something like $300. Or a remote (plug in) trigger that costs $200 Canon and an exact copy for $5 third party, etc. etc. Horrible.

 

[jwbryson1]

Wow. Such an angry response and position. If you don't like pocket wizards, that's cool, don't buy them, but don't tell me their quality is much the same as Cowboy Studios.

I don't own them but I believe most people who own them will tell you they are worth their cost.

 

[Gavjenks]

Wow. Such an angry response and position. If you don't like pocket wizards, that's cool, don't buy them, but don't tell me their quality is much the same as Cowboy Studios.

I don't own them but I believe most people who own them will tell you they are worth their cost.

I'm not saying that it isn't worth it for people to buy pocket wizards. if you NEED those features, and its the only one on the market that offers them, then you can pay $200 and be perfectly happy with your purchase.

That doesn't mean you aren't being ripped off, though. There's just no way that those things cost more than like $10 to manufacture (I would actually guess closer to $5), and they are sold for $300, which is outrageous. Check out this product:
Amazon.com: BaoFeng UV-5R 136-174/400-480 MHz Dual-Band Ham Radio (Black): Electronics

This is a handheld HAM radio transceiver. Compared to the pocketwizard, it sends a signal over TEN times further, has four times as many channels, has twice as many buttons (costs more to make things with more buttons), has a bunch of toher bonus devices like a flashlight beacon and AM/FM radio which cost money to make, has a better antenna, has a much much better speaker, has just as complicated of a computer chip (programmable via computer, etc.), and is built more ruggedly (reviews mention dropping it and banging it around no problem, whereas the pocketwizard has a plastic hotshoe mount that would snap right off if twisted very much. Also ham radio has reinforced ridges around buttons and reinforced corners, etc.). It's BONUS features are almost as technologically complex of radio equipment as the entire pocketwizard.

How much do you pay for this radio device which clearly would cost 2-3x or more to manufacture than a pocketwizard and also outperforms it in almost every way? $36.
How much does the pocketwizard multimax cost that I was comparing it to? $295

Conclusion: pocketwizard has a profit margin probably at LEAST 20 times larger than this ham radio device's manufacturer.



Again, if you need the features, then you may still be happy to pay, and that's fine. But it doesn't change the fact that it is still horribly, gougingly high prices. Radio technology and simple programmable chips with lcd screens simply does NOT cost anywhere near that much. They're just charging this because they have a monopoly at the moment for those features, pure and simple.

 

[jwbryson1]

That doesn't mean you aren't being ripped off, though.

It's called a free market society. Companies are allowed to make a profit in a capitalistic economy. If they are over pricing their goods, the market will adjust their price accordingly. But as long as people are willing to fork over their hard earned dough, it's hard to argue they are being ripped off if they believe in the perceived value of the object.

There's just no way that those things cost more than like $10 to manufacture (I would actually guess closer to $5), and they are sold for $300, which is outrageous.

Really? And you base this on what? Do you have inside knowledge of their CODB? Please...

 

[tirediron]

...All of the major brands have the same physical hot shoe dimensions, and all of them send an electrical pulse to the center pin on shutter release...

Ummm... you may want to double-check that.

 

[tirediron]

That doesn't mean you aren't being ripped off, though.

It's called a free market society. Companies are allowed to make a profit in a capitalistic economy. If they are over pricing their goods, the market will adjust their price accordingly. But as long as people are willing to fork over their hard earned dough, it's hard to argue they are being ripped off if they believe in the perceived value of the object.

There's just no way that those things cost more than like $10 to manufacture (I would actually guess closer to $5), and they are sold for $300, which is outrageous.

Really? And you base this on what? Do you have inside knowledge of their CODB? Please...

Exactly! If you're not happy, there is another monetary system in place, used in a number of large countries, as well as many smaller, less developed ones, 'though I understand it's not been fairing so well lately.

 

[jwbryson1]

Gavjenks -- I'm not trying to pile on. I just don't see the need to be irked by the cost of things. Hell, I'd love to buy a Maserati but I don't have that kind of coin. I don't get pissed off at Maserati though.