Hensel Freemask? - Experiences and alternatives?

When alpha cutouts are the final goal Freemask firing another set of flashes to generate a mask during a 2nd exposure seems handy. - Is anybody using that technique and what would be a cheap way to automatically fire a different group of flashes each 2nd shot? I assume for my current setup I'd need to trigger 3 to 4 units in the first and at least 2 in the 2nd exposure, for the mask. So far I used a cheapo radio trigger with 2 receivers and relied on optical slave triggers for the other strobes. I'm using rails on the ceiling so sync cables between a trigger unit for the different groups and the flashes could be an option but I am open for inexpensive alternatives.

Thanks in advance for any ideas and input.

Nothing commercially available springs to mind, but a fairly simple circuit could be designed and made to switch the flash trigger signal from one port to another with every camera trigger pulse.

 

A CMOS 'flip-flop', a couple of gates and two transistors should be sufficient to do the trick.

Thanks for getting back Joe. - I spotted one commercially available alternative "Two flash Sync" bei Heiland Electronics (Wetzlar). I unfortunately don't have your skills and knowledge to solder one myself.

Not promising anything, but if I get the time to do a 'back of envelope' sketch of the circuit I have in mind, then I'll post a copy.

 

Meanwhile I'd make friends with an amateur electronics enthusiast if I were you!

 

That Heiland box is almost exactly what I had in mind.... but 195 Euros for about 2 euros worth of components? That's a bit steep!

Edited November 14, 2017 by rodeo_joe|1