Radio trigger for 580 EX II and two 430 EX

[m._scott_clay1]

I'm ready to move past the safety (E-TTL) and the limitations of my ST-E2 and move on to radio triggers for my 580

EX II and two 430 EX's. Are Pocket Wizards still the best bet? I know there is newer technology out there and some

less expensive models as well, but are they as reliable as I have "read" the Pocket Wizards are? I've already spent

most of my equipment budget on "L" glass and bodies. I'd like to get out cheaper than $800 for 4 units, but don't

want to waste money on "cheaper" equipment that will fail in the field. If necessary, I'll buy two now and a couple

more in the future.

 

The system will be used in weddings, indoor special events (where flash and set up is allowed) and general outdoor

photography. I will be using a 40D and 5D.

 

Thanks in advance for your comments. I've come to lean heavily on Photo.net Canon user opinions.

 

Scott

[lukedavis]

I just placed an order earlier today for a radio trigger transmitter and a few receivers made by AlienBees. They're a solid

company, IMHO, so I trust that the radio units I purchased will be reliable, although they may not be the same calibre

as, say, a Pocket Wizard set-up, which would cost nearly double what I paid. And frankly I just graduated up from optical

slaves, so I'm not about to make a gargantuan leap to Pocket Wizards... Anyway, an AlienBees radio trigger transmitter

is $59,99 USD and a receiver is $69,99 USD. Here's a link:

 

http://www.alienbees.com/remotes.html

 

Pocket Wizards a good bit pricier, but they have a reputation for getting the job done; they are indeed the industry

standard - and I'm sure their range is superior to that of the AlienBees units if that's of much import to you. Perhaps

someone here can vouch for the quality/reliability of the AlienBees units? Oh, and I should mention that there are other

budget radio triggers out there. One that comes to mind is made by Cactus, although I'm pretty sure that it's of lesser

quality than both the AlienBees and (definitely) the Pocket Wizards.

 

And here's a website you should check out if you haven't yet. It's quite the craze: www.strobist.com . ¡Disfrútate y chau!

[zafar1]

Alien bees have a 60 day return policy, so you can buy and test. I think that their units are reliable but have much less range then PWs.

[benjamindbloom]

I don't have any experience with them, but are you aware of the Radio Poppers? You can keep ETTL if you want (still have the option to shoot manually, of course) but the info is transmit via RF, so it works better outdoors. Not sure what the price is, but might be worth a look just to compare.

[madza_zulu]

I've just ordered Cybersync, they will have a newer version in a month or two, I'll swap mine later.

[btmuir]

Elinchrom Skyport, less range than PDubs but half the price and 100% reliable.

 

Just budget in around 100.00 extra bux for connectors& cords no matter what you buy.

[stevepamp]

I Highly recommend the CyberSynch. Small, Cheap, great battery life and very reliable if all you want is a good manual trigger for small strobes.

[Jeff Lear]

According to the manual, the CyberSync has a range of 350-400 feet, line of sight. One nice thing about the Bees is that you can use one of the CSRBs as a repeater that will double the range. It increases the TX latency from 1/4000 to 1/2000 of a second but I can't see how that would be of any concern. You may be able to do this with the other remote triggers as well, but I don't know.