Bownes Esprit 500's and Pulsar Wirless Triggers

[nick_price1]

Thinking of buying a Bowens Esprit 500 Kit, and some wireless transmitters, at Calumet in

Germany, they said that you only need a Pulsar sender on the camera, as the Bowens have

the Reciever already fitted, but I can't find any info about this on the Bowens website, and

they seem to want you to buy two Pulsars, one to transmit and one to recieve.

Can anybody shed some light on this??

BTW. I could ask Bowens directly, but figured I'm more likely to get a "user friendly" answer

from the community.

[steven_finlay1]

Hi,

 

I suspect that the built in receiver being referred to is the infra-red slave cell. Looking at the specs for their monolights on their website suggests there are no monolights with built in radio receivers.

 

Regards

Steven Finlay

[nick_price1]

Well often or not the simple way is the easiest way, so I went to Calumet here in London,

and asked them! They sais that the Wein triggers will work with the bowens, but they are

indeed IR and not Radio, thus you can't use them around corners etc.

So I guess the Pulsars aren't so bad after all.

[steven_finlay1]

Hi,

 

Its not entirely true about infra-red not working round corners. You can change the channel on a TV using an infra-red remote by pointing it at a wall opposite the TV rather than at the TV directly. It works because the infra-red signal bounces off the wall. The wein infra-red triggers will also bounce around (possibly around corners if there are suitable walls).

 

That said, the radio triggers offer more options for working in difficult situations and working with other photogs around. One thing I do like about the pulsars is their shape, particularly convenient for medium format cameras I think. They don't stick out like the (possibly better?) Pocket Wizards. Ever seen them on the hotshoe of an RZ Pro II? To me they are just begging to be snapped off.

 

Regards Steven Finlay