Which High End Triggers?

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konastab01

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So Im in the market for a some triggers.
So instead of buying cheap ones I may aswell spend some descent money and not have to buy them again.
So i have looked at Pocketwizards but the only problem I see with these is that they only have 6 channels which could prove difficult if I go somewhere and there is quite a few people using them.

Another one I have looked at is Alien bees,these are 2.4ghz and im sure they have 16 channels.That will greatly reduce the number of people using them at a event.

The range on both are pretty similar too.
Gonna be used with SB600,800 and some 900s when I get round to getting them...

Is there any other triggers that I may have missed and are worth looking at.
 
Radio Poppers, Pocket Wizards and Elinchrom Skyports are all decent options. pocketwizards TT range and Radio Popers will use the ETTL of your camera/flash too which can be useful.
 
i use a wein and it works great very simple to use infra red trigger
 
konastab01 said:
And can you use the standard pocketwizards also with these or is it a totally separate system?
Click to expand...

Yes, all fully compatable. :)

The new PW's with ETTL are proving to be somewhat of an odd product. (Canon only ATM, Nikon beginning of next year) Some folks are finding them really good and reliable and others are having a nightmare. Unfortunately I was one of the latter and sent it back after having 54% failures. I'm sticking to the good old PlusII's! They work a treat and the range is fantastic.

Careful with the Alien Bees, they are from US and the US frequencies are very close to our emergency services radio frequencies and therefore not approved for use in the UK. Would be worth checking, they won't have CE marking if they are the "wrong" frequency.

Elinchrom also has a very good reputation :)
 
If it means that much to you, get a pocket wizard set with your very own personal channel/frequency - send them back to them and they charge about 50 dollars I think.
 
konastab01 said:
So Im in the market for a some triggers.
So instead of buying cheap ones I may aswell spend some descent money and not have to buy them again.
So i have looked at Pocketwizards but the only problem I see with these is that they only have 6 channels which could prove difficult if I go somewhere and there is quite a few people using them.

Another one I have looked at is Alien bees,these are 2.4ghz and im sure they have 16 channels.That will greatly reduce the number of people using them at a event.

The range on both are pretty similar too.
Gonna be used with SB600,800 and some 900s when I get round to getting them...

Is there any other triggers that I may have missed and are worth looking at.
Click to expand...

When do you imagine you will be at an event where there are more than 6 photographers, all with the same brand radio trigger?

You are only using them with SB range of flash heads. With all due respect, spending PW money on a trigger which will only be used to fire a SB range of flashguns is lunacy. The only way it is remotely worth thinking about is where using a proper head is prohibited by space or mains power issues. none the less, leaving a £300 flash head and £300 trigger hanging arround where there are lots of other photographers and wanabees about is just asking for them to get nicked

Spec it up properly. What are you shooting? what range do you NEED? what flash heads need to be on the end of the trigger, with what accessories?

Infact, just start off with what and where are you shooting
 
When do you imagine you will be at an event where there are more than 6 photographers, all with the same brand radio trigger?

You are only using them with SB range of flash heads. With all due respect, spending PW money on a trigger which will only be used to fire a SB range of flashguns is lunacy. The only way it is remotely worth thinking about is where using a proper head is prohibited by space or mains power issues. none the less, leaving a £300 flash head and £300 trigger hanging arround where there are lots of other photographers and wanabees about is just asking for them to get nicked
Click to expand...

I was wondering the same thing :shrug:
 
The fleabay PT04 triggers really are good for the money if you want to work manually; saying that, most triggers demand manual flash. the PT04s are a bit unreliable (the are a bit hit n miss) but they do the job on a small scale.

I've just got a set of Syports - seem good and have a good range apparently. About £120 for a universal set (transmitter plus receiver).

Could try Nikon SU-4 units - give TTL control wirelessly (using an optical pre-flash system) but their range is limited about 20 metres.

PW are good apparemtly. Haven't used them myself but they are expensive.

I'm sure I've heard Alien bees are US only (Euro distribution probs I heard) and run on a different frequency to most UK triggers. Might have to check on that.

There are the new 322 TTL ebay triggers to consider; they give TTL control for little money - about £100 I think.

If you're working on a small scale with a few flashes (and not massive banks of them) then a cheap set of the fleabay 322s or Skyports might be best.
 
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