inexpensive hot shoe triggers

[mlevy]

<p>A number of people in these forums have reccomended inexpensive radio triggers ($20).<br>

It seems to good to be true. What problems occur with these? I'm trying to use it with a Cannon rebel and Excalibur lights.<br>

Thanks</p>

[picturesque]

<p>Mainly inconsistent triggering, which is the whole point of triggers. I'd get Cybersyncs--not as expensive as Pocket Wizards but not as cheap as the $20 variety. The difference is--extremely consistent triggering. You could luck out and get the cheap ones that will work 'most of the time', but if you must have consistency, they will be highly unsatisfactory.</p>

[Charles_Webster]

<p>Sometimes the cheap ones don't work at all. Mine didn't work right out of the box, replaced batteries, etc. No joy getting a replacement from the eBay seller. Wasted money, threw them away.</p>

<p><Chas></p>

[ken_yee]

<p>FWIW, mine work roughly 95% of the time (people w/ Canon flashes have a hard time w/ them because the Canon flashes put out a lot of RF interference...even Pocketwizards have less range with Canon flashes)...if it's for home use, it's not a bad way to try stuff. For paid work, I'd look at the cybersyncs or radiopopper JrX's when they're released. It really depends on your expectations. You can also get them from MPEX in the US if you don't want to deal w/ fleabay sellers in china...</p>

 

[pge]

<p>The thing is that it is extremely frustrating when your strobes do not flash. Ken says that his don't work 1 in 20 times, and that was approximately my experience as well. But it wasn't like the misfires were evenly distributed either, suddenly my old ebay triggers would just not work, no reason, and then they would. Of course it depends what you are doing, none of the photographers on "America's Next Top Model" use ebay triggers, but even for us who just do it for fun, it simply isn't fun when things don't work. I thought I could live with a 95% trigger but I was wrong. I now have a set of Elinchrome Skyports and they work all the time except when I forget to turn them on. Try the ebay ones for yourself but I suspect that you will be buying better triggers in the future.</p>

[craig_shearman1]

<p>Is there a reason you need radio triggers? Lots of people ask questions here about radio triggers for situations that can be handled with a PC cord or optical slaves for a fraction of the cost and much more reliably than the cheap radio units.</p>

[pge]

<p>One problem with an optical slave is that it means your camera has to flash causing catch lights in your subjects eyes that you may not want. I can not use a pc cord because I use an old flash pack and a dslr which should not be connected.</p>

<p>But aside from any actual reasons for a radio trigger, its great to leave the wires behind.</p>

[craig_shearman1]

<p>Phil, any camera can use a PC cord. You are correct that some flash units have a sync voltage high enough to damage the circuity in modern electronic cameras (even some late model film cameras). But the answer to that the the Wein Safe Sync, which slides into the hot shoe and accepts a PC connection and has circuitry that drops the flash voltage down to a level that's safe for the camera. So the first off-camera flash gets connected by PC cord, then any additional flashes can be tripped by optical slaves -- no need to use the built-in camera flash. But granted, if you want to do away with cords, radio is the best way to go. And once you go radio, among the people I know, there are those who bought Pocket Wizards and those who wish they had bought Pocket Wizards. Rather than buy a cheapie radio unit on Ebay I would keep my eyes open for a used Pocket Wizard.</p>

[pge]

<p>Craig</p>

<p>I did a bunch of research on triggers before buying the skyports because I was a bit offended by the price of pocket wizards, especially me, an amateur, who wanted two receivers. I found that there were professional and reliable alternatives to pw's, the skyport being one of them. The pw's are just too expensive for what they are, a glorified $10 tv remote control imo, not that the skyports were inexpensive, just less, and they work every time too.</p>

[mlevy]

<p>Thanks for your responses. This is kind of what I was expecting. The Cannon Rebel doesn't have a sync chord port. I tried getting a pc adapter, but it didn't fire at all. That's why the radio trigger option was sounding attractive. It would also be great to be chord free.<br>

Aside from the Elinchrome Skyports, is there any other model you would reccomend?</p>

<p>Thanks</p>

[neuner]

<p>I've used the cheap <$20 Cactus versions with no mis-fires but the furthest away mine has been from the camera is 20ft. I've been using it for the past 2 years for just general personal use, nothing professional.</p>

[malbuquerque]

<p>I just ordered the Cactus but haven't received it yet. I plan to use it indoors at short distances and for the price, figured I could live with 5% misfires (hopefully).<br /> I used a wired solution until now, but for photographing children it becomes a pain. Not only it limits your mobility while you are crawling and rolling on the floor, it's also a magnet for the young ones. All they want to do is grab the cable, most of the time ruining your chances of a good shot.<br /> So I'm one of those who wish they had a PW, but will have to live with the cheap Cactus for now.</p>