Slave Sensor Trigger

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mick johnson

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Anyone tell me if these things work ok.

For instance if you wanted to use a Speedlite along with studio lights, would it be triggered ok by the lights and are there any limitations.
 
Looks perfect :thumbs:
 
yes, they work fine.

dealextreme has some cheaper ($5.55 inc shipping iirc...).

they are reportedly dodgy with 430ex flashes, though I don't know.
 
They are useless if you use an onboard flash as master,firing 2 or more flashes.
 
itsdavedotnet said:
yes, they work fine.

dealextreme has some cheaper ($5.55 inc shipping iirc...).

they are reportedly dodgy with 430ex flashes, though I don't know.
Click to expand...

I do have 430ex but also have a 550ex.

classcams said:
They are useless if you use an onboard flash as master,firing 2 or more flashes.
Click to expand...

I'm playing with studio flash atm which I can hire from my camera club. I have two lights but wanted a third (backlight) so thought I could use one of my Speedlites.
 
david1701 said:
430ex mk1 flashes fight with RADIO triggers because they emit too much RF noise
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I know that certain guns are tricky with the new Pocket Wizard TTL radio triggers. RF noise cuts the range quite a lot, because it's trying to receive a very complicated set of exposure metering instructions from the transmitter unit - not just a simple 'fire' command. But there are ways around that.

Are there specific problems related to simple radio triggering, just to fire the flash? Maybe there are not? :thinking:
 
same issue, the noise interferes with the signal whether its complex or simple :D

the new 2.4ghz triggers should cope much better as higher freq's have a lot more punching power (more energy in each wavicle ;))
 
Thank's for the replies.

So, the 2.4ghz triggers Flash is selling should be ok then and I would only need the one reciever fitted to the 430ex or 550ex.

I was thinking about it last night and thought I could just use my 550ex on the camera as 'master' (in manual) and use the 430 as slave and it would also fire the studio lights....
 
classcams said:
What`s a wavicle ?
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light and as such all EM radiation behaves both as a wave and as a particle hence wavicle - google wave-particle duality if you can be arsed
mick johnson said:
Thank's for the replies.

So, the 2.4ghz triggers Flash is selling should be ok then and I would only need the one reciever fitted to the 430ex or 550ex.

I was thinking about it last night and thought I could just use my 550ex on the camera as 'master' (in manual) and use the 430 as slave and it would also fire the studio lights....
Click to expand...

yarp, range is limited especially in bright light but works
 
david1701 said:
same issue, the noise interferes with the signal whether its complex or simple :D

the new 2.4ghz triggers should cope much better as higher freq's have a lot more punching power (more energy in each wavicle ;))
Click to expand...

That's interesting. Pocket Wizards operate on 354 and 433/4 MHz but apparently it is only the complex E-TTL of the FlexTT5 receiver that has noise problems with Canon 580, 580II and 430 guns. That's how I understand it anyway (see links below).

Could they just change the frequency to avoid interference problems?
Edit: after a bit of google, I think the answer might be that changing the Pocket Wizard frequency would mean that the new units would not work with all the old PWs currently in use - thousands of 'em.

Frequencies
http://www.pocketwizard.com/inspirations/technology/frequency/

Noise problems
http://www.pocketwizard.com/inspirations/technology/range/
 
Some time ago we were promised a transceiver that would sweep the board. It must have foundered on a hidden wavicle
 
HoppyUK said:
That's interesting. Pocket Wizards operate on 354 and 433/4 MHz but apparently it is only the complex E-TTL of the FlexTT5 receiver that has noise problems with Canon 580, 580II and 430 guns. That's how I understand it anyway (see links below).

Could they just change the frequency to avoid interference problems?
Edit: after a bit of google, I think the answer might be that changing the Pocket Wizard frequency would mean that the new units would not work with all the old PWs currently in use - thousands of 'em.

Frequencies
http://www.pocketwizard.com/inspirations/technology/frequency/

Noise problems
http://www.pocketwizard.com/inspirations/technology/range/
Click to expand...

the noise upsets both signals, but a simpler signal needs t be messed up more to not work - hence why simpler systems can be more bulletproof
dodgy explanation but you get the gist

Flash In The Pan said:
I was convinced you'd made that word up :suspect::lol:
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wiki
 
david1701 said:
the noise upsets both signals, but a simpler signal needs t be messed up more to not work - hence why simpler systems can be more bulletproof
dodgy explanation but you get the gist


wiki
Click to expand...

That's a great explanation thanks David :thumbs:

I'm interested in getting some fully auto radio triggers hence my interest. But I'm not totally liking what I've read so far. Pocket Wizards have RF interference with some Canon guns, including my 580 guns, hence reduced range - which is the whole flippin point!

On the links I posted their suggested solution of separating the gun and the transceiver on a cord is pretty daft frankly, and the RF shield they have developed is very cumbersome. So big question marks there. Perhaps they just need to to switch frequency and forget about backward compatability and live with other potential interference problems (Blue Tooth etc). Maybe this is why launch of the Nikon CLS compatible versions has been put back to next year.

I don't know much about the new Radio Popper solution, other than that they are out of stock in the US. You have to attach their units permanently or at least semi-permanently to the gun and it's not pretty. Not so plug and play as I would like. But if it works, and it's cheaper... well, we'll see.

It seems like very early days for this technology. And it's not cheap! I'm going to sit on the fence for a while, and keep my IR receivers in the shade.

Actually, that's maybe an idea to help out the IR in bright light, as just shaing the receiver from direct sun seems to make a dramatic improvement to range - fit the receiver with a little shade from the sun, but obviously retaining line of sight. A little short tube, perhaps lined with silver foil to aid collection, might do the trick. Might give that a try; it could be made quite neat. Why has nobody else thought of that? Perhaps they have :thinking: google again :lol:
 
thats a lush idea, I'd use a non shiny tube in case the IR signal considers shape

the noise issue is that canon guns pre 430exII weren't designed v well with radio in mind as they pump out way more than they shoulda bit of tinfoil to point the noise away from the PW will increase the range
 
david1701 said:
thats a lush idea, I'd use a non shiny tube in case the IR signal considers shape

the noise issue is that canon guns pre 430exII weren't designed v well with radio in mind as they pump out way more than they shoulda bit of tinfoil to point the noise away from the PW will increase the range
Click to expand...

I'll give it some thought. Not sure about the IR shape bit as the signal is actually visible light, at least when it comes from a 580 flash as master, it's just filtered to near IR by the plastic window over the sensor.

Thinking about it a bit more, I'm wondering if a simple lens like a magnifying glass could be used in a tube to collect even more light and concentrate it on the sensor. I bet that would work if it was lined up properly, but it would be highly directional and might be self-defeating. Might be best to just rig up a small shade attached to a bit of wire - that Plamp thing would be perfect, made by Gitzo isn't it? Then make one side of the shade shiney so that it reflected more light on to the sensor while simultaneously blocking direct sun... I'm thinking too much now :D

Edit: Plamp is made by Wimberly, not Gitzo :bonk:
 
Tried the 550 as 'master' on manual and on the camera, and 430 as 'slave' in manual, but it would not fire the 430 and studio lights together for some reason. Both were going off but not together. Seemed I only got light from the 430 and not the lights. Funny thing was though, I had just one shot that was bang on.:(

Even with the 550 in manual, should I be turning off ETTL or something in the guns custom func's. I know there's no 'preflash' in manual but????

Sometimes the 430 would not fire at all which I found unusual as I've never ever had a problem with it before indoors. If this happened I got a black image even though the studio lights fired.

Anyway I gave up pretty quick...too quick really as I had my Grandaugter as a very impatient model.

Is the best answer a third, smaller studio light.

I did get a few nice shot's though after ditching the 430 idea.
 
@Hoppy
no I meant that any bouncy light in the tube could confuse the slave - I think IR light is a crap way of sending data

@Mick
canon wireless must fire a preflash even in manual or the flashguns are triggered by the IR coms :bang: what about shoving a optical slave (usually ok indoors) on the 430 and using the 580 as a trigger either on camera or on a radio slave
 
@Mick
canon wireless must fire a preflash even in manual or the flashguns are triggered by the IR coms :bang: what about shoving a optical slave (usually ok indoors) on the 430 and using the 580 as a trigger either on camera or on a radio slave[/QUOTE]

Do you mean the gun fires a preflash signal the same as the ST-E2. I don't think there's a preflash from the gun when in Manual because I've used it for years with birds. At times, on some dull days you can just see the preflash when using the guns in ETTL.

I've tried the ST-E2 with the studio lights and it only works if you tape the 4 pins so as to stop ETTL. So, I take it the guns will do the very same thing. The only thing is the ST-E2 turns off after 90 sec's and will not turn on again without turning the thing off and then on again which is a pita.

Just for the sake of it I might try the 550 with taped pins as it does'nt turn off for hours in manual.
 
I know on shoe flash doesn't in manual (I use it to trigger studio flash) but I was it might do i wireless mode

though my other thought was that the wireless IR burst might trigger the studio heads. A solution might be putting an IR filter on the optical slaves on the flash heads. I think exposed film works
 
mick johnson said:
Tried the 550 as 'master' on manual and on the camera, and 430 as 'slave' in manual, but it would not fire the 430 and studio lights together for some reason. Both were going off but not together. Seemed I only got light from the 430 and not the lights. Funny thing was though, I had just one shot that was bang on.:(

Even with the 550 in manual, should I be turning off ETTL or something in the guns custom func's. I know there's no 'preflash' in manual but????

Sometimes the 430 would not fire at all which I found unusual as I've never ever had a problem with it before indoors. If this happened I got a black image even though the studio lights fired.

Anyway I gave up pretty quick...too quick really as I had my Grandaugter as a very impatient model.

Is the best answer a third, smaller studio light.

I did get a few nice shot's though after ditching the 430 idea.
Click to expand...

Mick, the problem with the flash only firing once is SCR lockout. The answer is in this thread :) http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?p=1861070#post1861070
 
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