My experience has been a little different. I have watched people struggling
with things like Pocket Wizards and failing because they have soooo many
features and options and channels and stuff that they couldn't get them set up
in a new situation quickly.
Meanwhile I've been using cheap Chinese triggers in workshop situations for
years (where I need up to half-a-dozen in three rooms). Easy to set separate
channels for different groups (visible, manual, DIP switches) and I've only
ever had one fail. Range? - someone in another room in a separate but adjoining
building with four brick walls and open space between us was firing my flash
the other day (they wander off with the trigger still in the hot shoe). I'm
using ones branded 'Nice' at present - the receiver is the AC power type
plugged into the power line with a synch plug on a stretchy wire. I use them
with both Monoblocs and floor packs. They don't even have an On-Off switch - if
they're on the camera and the flash is on, they're working and I only have to
check/label them for zones. No features, no options, no errors. I did go
through a spell where some of them didn't seem to fire consistently with
Olympus bodies (E3/5) but never any problems with Canikon.
The only down side is that I can't seem to top-up if they go missing or break -
every time I buy units they seem to be unable to talk to each other. So I buy a
new full set for less than half the cost of one pair of fancy units and sell
the remnants on ebay or at the camera market. Or give them to workshop clients.
I've found the battery powered receiver units just as useful. So have my
strobist mates. I even have spare batteries for those receivers just in case.
(It's an odd one). I think some people think that they're unreliable because
the trigger unit also has a button battery in it that's not easy to replace.
Not dead, flat battery, take it apart.
Andrew Fildes
afildes@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
www.soultheft.com
Author/Publisher:
The SLR Compendium:
revised edition -
http://blur.by/19Hb8or
The TLR Compendium
http://blur.by/1eDpqN7
On 19/02/2014, at 1:33 AM, Chuck Norcutt wrote:
> I'd suggest you get yourself a real radio transmitter and receiver of
> which there are many on the market. I like my Alien Bees units... the
> little battery powered CyberSync units shown here
> <http://www.paulcbuff.com/cybersync.php> but there are many others on
> the market. I gave up on my original cheapy ebay units because they had
> not much range and were very unreliable.
>
> Note: some of the CyberSync units are AC powered for studio strobes.
--
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