Wireless Studio Trigger for Flash?

[TonyHetherington]

Afternoon all,

EdHasler once kindly lent me some pocket wizards. Brilliant kit - goes on the hot shoe of my Canon 30D, and goes to a receiver which plugs into the light. Lovely bit of kit - but looking to get some myself, they're not cheap (£100-150 !).

I recently used a cable and it was a little frustrating. Got there in the end, but it kept falling out a little bit and it was on the bottom of the camera in portrait videw, kept mis-firing, and with a model that tended to lose the moment a little.

Looking around even more, I see stuff like this at a fraction of the price of the pocket wizards;

http://www.amazon.com/Yongnuo-Wireless-Trigger-Rec...
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/RF-603-Wireless-Trigger-...

So, my question - is it the case of buy cheap buy twice, or is there not much different for the cheaper stuff?!

Thanks!

[Colin RedGriff]

I bought a cheap set of wireless triggers of ebay. I used them quite intensively for some product shots I was doing for a photo course and they have ben fine.

[markmullen]

The Yongnuos are pretty good, I've got a set you can try if you want?

[TonyHetherington]

Nice one, thanks chaps.

Mark - those Yongnuo ones, does it take the trigger from the hot shoe, or is there an additional cable that runs down to the output on the side of the camera?

Thanks very much indeed for the offer but, for ~£25, and if you say they're ok, I'll just go ahead with them

Thanks

[markmullen]

Either hotshoe or sync cable.

I've only ever used them for triggering strobes, and as a remote shutter release but they've been fine.

[crmcatee]

Tony - I've got a Canon one at home. Which to be honest I haven't tried with the studio flashes but really it should work.

If you want to try that ?

[TonyHetherington]

A canon cable or hot shoe thingy majig?!

PS: i'll send you some shots I took, rather chuffed - especially the snood!

[andy-xr]

If you're still in the market have a look at some Skyports if PW's aren't quite to your pocket. I'm a PW convert, use them all the time and they're uber reliable, but you're right in that they are a bit pricey

Depending on the walls and surroundings, a standard IR trigger might be fine - most studio flash have an IR receiver built into them and the triggers are about £20. Concrete, mirrors, vinyl and sunlight will reduce their ability though

[Simpo Two]

I use Skyport. It has 'Elinchrom' on them so they should be good, but they look a bit tiddly/flimsy to me, more like a cheap import rebranded (but may be wrong). I also have an eBay £10 cheapie for back-up - it works just as well for my needs and the Rx takes its power from the lights which saves a battery.

If I was buying again I'd probably buy PW because it's the 'proper' thing, albeit overkill for me.

[Bacardi]

My Wein gun packed up, so just bought a Skyport Speed set, as backups for my PWs. PWs are great, but the skyport are quite neat and compact, although won't have the range of PWs.

The problems with the cheaper brands are things like slow sync speed and miss fires, which I can't afford. As with everything, YGWYPF.

[ian in lancs]

markmullen said:

The Yongnuos are pretty good, I've got a set you can try if you want?

I have a set of Yongnous too. Fine for speedlights but they don't trigger my interfit stellar X studio lights. Not sure about other lights. Interfit response was 'well buy our triggers then' - tossers!

Another approach is Viewfinder's mains powered ones. Top kit, no batteries and in use in my and a mates studio.

http://www.viewfinderphotography.co.uk/products/Ac...

[LongQ]

I have some Skyport Universal kits that I use with Metz flashguns. They work well. Cheaper than PWs. Not quite as comprehensive in what they offer and less powerful but more than enough for anything I have tried and certainly adequate for a typical studio. Very compact units.

That said many people find even less units from the Chinese manufacturers work well enough. The only downsides seem to be that as those units have developed the changes in design have tended to overlook backwards compatibility with older models. Still, at the prices asked it would be churlish to complain.

[xrrr]

I have the Skyport eco trigger that came with my D-Lite4 kit but I mostly use the rf-602 on my speedlights.

The rf-602 (now 603 I see) has actually given me less problems than the skyport. I was at a client paying session and the skyport stopped triggering the lights. Had to use a low power hotshoe mounted speedlight to trigger via the optical trigger as a backup. Worked perfectly when I got home and retested.

Only slight wrinkle is that the batteries keep going flat because they switches get knocked - I now store them with the batteries taken out.

If they are for occasional use (i.e. not all day every day) and you keep the wired backup then you won't go wrong with the rf-602 IMO.

[crmcatee]

TonyHetherington said:

A canon cable or hot shoe thingy majig?!

PS: i'll send you some shots I took, rather chuffed - especially the snood!

A Canon Wireless transmitter - One of these

If you want it - I'm away at the moment but my wife is in and she can leave it somewhere if you want to pick it up (the front winch bumper of the truck is the normal leaving place for stuff) - alternatively come round when she's in.

[omohat]

I started with the early cheap ebay triggers and found them hit and miss (although I hear they are MUCH better now). I then moved onto Elinchrom Skyports:

http://www.warehouseexpress.com/buy-elinchrom-skyp...

These were very good (excellent range and triggering reliability) but what I found off putting was the rechargable battery nature of the Elinchroms being a little inconvenient. I really wanted AA or AAA batteries i.e. pocket wizards but couldn't justify the cost until Phottix launched these:

http://www.phottixstore.com/store/phottix-atlas-pr...

They were just enough of a discount over the PW for me to justify them (plus they're transceivers which makes them doubly useful). I've been extremely satisfied with their build quality and performance (and online reviews will back this up)