Lencarta Triggers

tiler65 said:
Garry, I know it is an independent test but will the published report be independent in that it will show as many misgivings as is possible (if there are any of course) as the positives?
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36 pages should cover just about everything, no?
 
tiler65 said:
36 pages is Hoppy's report....not the one we may see...no?
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I haven't seen any suggestion it would be edited.

Usual practice would be to post bullet points on the website and provide PDF of the whole thing for download. It's certainly not unusual to pick the most favourable bullet points (this is marketing after all) but the full text shows the background and authenticity of the report.
 
As I've said before, this is a technical report, commissioned by Lencarta for Lencarta. I don't make the decisions, that's Harry's job.

Once he has decided what to do, which may involve publishing either the full report or not, it will go back to Richard for his approval, this is both common courtesy and necessary, as it needs to bear his name.

It is, by the way, 36 A4 pages of his findings, complete will a lot of photos illustrating those findings. It's informative but, like all reports of this kind, it's about as interesting to read as an explanation of the theory behind Schrödinger's cat:)
 
Well I sent mine back as per their instructions and am still awaiting the refund - oh and any response to my email .....
 
I'll look into it. Right now, I am having some email problems on the Lencarta account, some appear not to be getting through.
 
spxxxx said:
Well I sent mine back as per their instructions and am still awaiting the refund - oh and any response to my email .....
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I didn't get your email, but the refund has gone through, although it may not have reached your account yet. Banks can take a lot longer to put money back into an account than they take to remove it...
 
matty said:
Indeed. Independent reports cost money, as long as the end result is independent as well then there is no issue. Richard is a very experienced and well respected journalist, I don't see any issue at all
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Except just like the pharmaceutical companies only reporting positive drug trial data any commissioned report that doesn't say what the company wants is not likely to get published. BTW I am not suggesting that Lencarta would suppress this report just stating a general point.
 
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nigelbb said:
Except just like the pharmaceutical companies only reporting positive drug trial data any commissioned report that doesn't say what the company wants are not likely to get published. BTW I am not suggesting that Lencarta would suppress this report just stating a general point.
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You're right, Lencarta wouldn't suppress a report if they didn't like it.

I have now had the final report for nearly an hour. Richard supplied us with a long, technical report for our internal use. He has now edited that report, removing information that isn't relevant to our triggers (such as comments relevant to non-Nikon cameras) and has also removed comparisons to other triggers, which we wouldn't be able to publish without taking the risk of upsetting people.

What we're left with is the relevant data, illustrated with his photos.

The Lencarta lighting blog has a blog entry about these triggers, but it's missing the video that was shot at the time. The video is now very nearly ready and I hope to have it within the next day or so. Once that has happened I will update both the blog entry and the webpage with the video, will also make some minor changes to the webpage and include a download link for the full report.
 
I'm looking forward to seeing that then. I suppose the million dollar question is 'is Hoppy buying a set?'
 
SparkUK said:
I'm looking forward to seeing that then. I suppose the million dollar question is 'is Hoppy buying a set?'
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I very much doubt it, unless we can convert him to Nikon:lol:
 
An update.

Richard's report can now be downloaded from the website's Mach 1N page.
The Lighting blog has now been updated with the video, showing it in use
And the video is now on YouTube
[YOUTUBE]?v=G1qpyLu9hwI&feature=share&list=UUfEmQwvBhp47FMXHnQPpx9A[/YOUTUBE]
 
Garry Edwards said:
An update.

Richard's report can now be downloaded from the website's Mach 1N page.
The Lighting blog has now been updated with the video, showing it in use
And the video is now on YouTube
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1qpyLu9hwI&feature=share&list=UUfEmQwvBhp47FMXHnQPpx9A">YouTube Link</a>
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If I understood the report correctly:

- Don't use the triggers against a plain background
- Don't use the triggers with heads that have a fast duration i.e Quadra A, Profoto etc

But if used with heads that have a slow flash duration at full power i.e Safari Li-on and other IGBT flashes it will work relatively well.

Quick question to Richard, how do these compare with the pocket wizard equivalent?
 
Lencarta Blog said:
But some people are cynical and assume that the Mach 1N is no better than the ‘tail end synch’ triggers that are already available for Canon cameras. So we thought it would be a good idea to prove that they work with hotshoe flashes too
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Lencarta Website report said:
More accurately known as 'tail-hypersync' this technique has been used by keen strobists before
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Garry Edwards said:
An update.

Richard's report can now be downloaded from the website's Mach 1N page.
The Lighting blog has now been updated with the video, showing it in use
And the video is now on YouTube
[YOUTUBE]?v=G1qpyLu9hwI&feature=share&list=UUfEmQwvBhp47FMXHnQPpx9A[/YOUTUBE]
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That's a very impressive video demo that shows the new product well
 
jacob12_1993 said:
If I understood the report correctly:

- Don't use the triggers against a plain background
- Don't use the triggers with heads that have a fast duration i.e Quadra A, Profoto etc

But if used with heads that have a slow flash duration at full power i.e Safari Li-on and other IGBT flashes it will work relatively well.

Quick question to Richard, how do these compare with the pocket wizard equivalent?
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I wouldn't say 'don't' use the triggers with a plain background, just that large areas of even tone will show up the fall-off down the frame more obviously. If that's an issue, then you'd need to take measures to counter-balance it, and there are a few effective ways of doing that suggested in the report.

TBH, I was surprised at just how well they do work with typical outdoor subjects, when using a longer duration flash like the Safari Li-on. With that or similar combo, it's not hard to get acceptably even exposure right up to 1/8000sec, and there's enough power to beat bright sun when using decent-size modifiers, and at workable distances.
 
Michael Sewell said:
And my bald patch :thumbs:
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Sorry Michael, forgot to mention your considerable expertise in actually shooting the video. I was watching it and wishing I had been there in the team, possibly to help the old grey haired guy walking around. lol
 
alexam said:
Sorry Michael, forgot to mention your considerable expertise in actually shooting the video. I was watching it and wishing I had been there in the team, possibly to help the old grey haired guy walking around. lol
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Not bothered about not being mentioned :)
However, it's only when you do something like this, you realise how the bald spot is progressing. I seem to be progressing rather well :D
 
alexam said:
Sorry Michael, forgot to mention your considerable expertise in actually shooting the video. I was watching it and wishing I had been there in the team, possibly to help the old grey haired guy walking around. lol
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The old grey white haired guy took care to keep out of shot:)
However, it's only when you do something like this, you realise how the bald spot is progressing. I seem to be progressing rather well
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It isn't a bald patch, it's a pond - a sign of maturity!
The video is OK, it does the job. The music we wanted to use for it cost an unbelievable amount for the licence fee, so we ended up with what you see hear instead. And the video ended up with a vignette which personally I don't like and which gives the impression that the lighting doesn't cover the whole frame, which of course it does. The stills from the video show that, on the Lencarta blog, on on Micheal's own blog, which is more detailed.

What I would like to do is to have an extra video that is more 'real world' - this one shows that the triggers do their job and work at 1/8000th, and that they can also turn day into night by completely killing the ambient, but it would be good too to show them in use in more 'normal' situations, using them at maybe 1/1000th or 1/2000th, where they can freeze "most" subject movement and give far greater control of ambient than "normal" sync speed. But the cost of producing professional videos, for a small Company, is high, and it just isn't possible to do everything.

I was very disappointed that we didn't have these triggers in time for the video we shot on using the Safari Li-on on an outdoor fashion shoot, here. They would have made an enormous difference but the prototypes arrived 2 days after the video was shot:'(
 
You haven't got a pond, yours is a great lake:)
 
Garry Edwards said:
The music we wanted to use for it cost an unbelievable amount for the licence fee
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Let me guess: something by the Smashing Pumpkins?

In all the banter I may have missed the answer to the tail sync controversy. Any clarity on this?
 
Garry, I understand the triggers can also be used to fire the camera remotely, do the triggers come with the necessary cables to do this with a D800?

And I notice they have a charge socket, I thought they used standard AAA's?
 
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ShawWellPete said:
Garry, I understand the triggers can also be used to fire the camera remotely, do the triggers come with the necessary cables to do this with a D800?

And I notice they have a charge socket, I thought they used standard AAA's?
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No, they come with two cables that have mono jacks at the end. 3.5mm and the bigger one I can never remmeber the size of :shrug:
And yes, they utilise AAA batteries
 
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3.5mm and 6.5mm jack plugs on the connecting leads. 2 x AAA cells needed for each transceiver (not included) and they can also take AAA rechargeables.

The camera remote lead isn't included, but they are available from various places, I'm hoping to have some soon, and will throw them in.
 
Garry Edwards said:
3.5mm and 6.5mm jack plugs on the connecting leads. 2 x AAA cells needed for each transceiver (not included) and they can also take AAA rechargeables.

The camera remote lead isn't included, but they are available from various places, I'm hoping to have some soon, and will throw them in.
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Hi Gary just watched video on the lencarta blog showing The Mach1N triggers sync'n to 1/8000th, I used canon 5dmk3 and was wondering could u achieve the same with second party triggers ie pocket wizards!

I appreciate ur Nikon shooter and not sure of ur knowledge with pw, but thought if anyone knows u should

Thanks
 
Sorry not sure why I used ur last reply as ref. to my question as its not related
 
AliMoore said:
Hi Gary just watched video on the lencarta blog showing The Mach1N triggers sync'n to 1/8000th, I used canon 5dmk3 and was wondering could u achieve the same with second party triggers ie pocket wizards!

I appreciate ur Nikon shooter and not sure of ur knowledge with pw, but thought if anyone knows u should

Thanks
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You would need the PW Flex system to go high speed sync with Canon.
Or try these at a far cheaper price from Cotswold Photo but a bit fiddly to set up.
 
I'm interested - how can it obtain HSS with studio flash guns? I thought HSS was achieved only with Canon hotshoe guns as they pulse the flash?

Phil
 
philthejuggler said:
I'm interested - how can it obtain HSS with studio flash guns? I thought HSS was achieved only with Canon hotshoe guns as they pulse the flash?

Phil
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It can't, but a lot of these terms get mixed up.

There are big differences between High Speed Sync (FP-sync in Nikon speak), Peak-hypersync and Tail-hypersync. Mach 1N tiggers use the latter technique.
 
At the risk of swaying even further OT, seeing as Mike and Garry are around (new to this so I'm at risk of sounding daft):

If I get a pair of Safari's and trigger them with a PW flex (or indeed if I shot Nikon with the Lencarta triggers) How could I meter for HSS? Presumably, a flash meter is going to view the entire flash duration, or...

Thinking about this - does it even matter? does the exposure just come from the brightest part of the flash cycle?

Straight question - can I rely on flash metering whilst using HSS and Safari (or any other ) flash heads?
 
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