Alternatives to Pocket Wizards?

[sfdgs]

I'm shooting with 2- Canon 30D's and have a 420EX flash and a 580EX flash. I

had a set of Novatron lights, but sold them due to lack of use. When I had

those I just had the sync cord attached to the hot shoe. Now I would like to be

able to use my 2 flashes off camera but the Pocket Wizards seem rather

expensive. I heard the ste-2 was rather unreliable and would like to avoid

that. Are there any reliable alternatives to the PW's? And would they work with

my current flashes?

[m3rdpwr]

Indoors, Canon's wireless system 580EX is reliable.

At least it has been for me.

Outdoors is where people start to run into problems.

 

I wouldn't invest in an ST-E2 because you could get another flash for just a bit more and use the 580EX as the master.

 

You need to be careful about cheap remote triggers on these flashes.

There has been several posts that cheap triggers cause the flash to lock up after one pop. You need to power cycle the flash to get it to work again.

 

There is supposedly a Version 2 of the ebay triggers that claim to work with the Canon Speedlite's. You may want to start looking there...

 

-Mario

[ellis_vener_photography]

You might want to look at the Radiopopper: http://www.radiopopper.com/blog/

[Two23]

The PWs really come into their own when you are using them at long distances (up to 1600 ft.) and if you want to remote trip your camera. I decided I didn't need either. I photo outdoors using up to 10 Nikon SB-28 flash, and 2 Alien Bees B1600 monolights with power pack. I bought the Elinchrom Skyports. In fact, I bought seven of them. They have been perfect. They work at 25 below zero, they work in rain (plastic bags,) they work every time. They are about half the price of the PW. Really, they are the best alternative if you don't want to spend the money. Like the PW, they too require using flash in maunaul mode. Their range is officially 400 ft., but I get 600 ft. out of them most of the time. I highly recommend.

 

 

Kent in SD

[cabbiinc]

Pocket Wizards $188 each and you would need at least 2.

<br>

<br>

Elinchrom Skyports $210-ish for a trans&receiver, $110-ish for extra receivers.

<br>

<br>

eBay specials (cactus, gadget infinity, etc.) pretty cheap, and you get what you pay for if your lucky/know how to fiddle with them.

<br>

<br>

RadioPoppers, about as expensive a skyports for the P1's but they can bridge your IR on your current flashes to retain eTTL. They arent out yet though.

<br>

<br>

The RP jrs. however are supposed to be about as good as PW's at $25-ish each, but again they arent out yet.

<br>

<br>

I have Skyports and like them, but I havent used them alot so I am not a good source for a testimonial. You would need a hotshoe adapter to go from the PW, the Skyport, or the RP jrs. http://www.flashzebra.com/wizardcables/hotshoe.shtml