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Archive 2011 · Wireless E-TTL Flash Trigger for Canon - What are my opti...

jzucker
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p.1 #1 · Wireless E-TTL Flash Trigger for Canon - What are my options?

Pocketwizard? Odin ? I ruled out pixel king.

Dec 10, 2011 at 02:40 AM

gvg45
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p.1 #2 · Wireless E-TTL Flash Trigger for Canon - What are my options?

Radio Poppers...

Dec 10, 2011 at 02:49 AM

jzucker
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p.1 #3 · Wireless E-TTL Flash Trigger for Canon - What are my options?

the radiopoppers are more expensive than pocketwizard. What advantages do you get for the extra $100 ?

Dec 10, 2011 at 02:54 AM

jzucker
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p.1 #4 · Wireless E-TTL Flash Trigger for Canon - What are my options?

hmmm...Looks like the radio popper also also requiers the STE-2 which is another $230.

I believe the pocketwizard and the odin just convert the electrical impulses of the hotshoe into a radio signal.

Dec 10, 2011 at 02:59 AM

gvg45
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p.1 #5 · Wireless E-TTL Flash Trigger for Canon - What are my options?

Radiopoppers are $249 & Pocketwizards Flex is $229 & PW Mini is $199 so the difference is more like $70.

While I'm not really familiar with radio poppers, I'm fairly certain a STE-2 is not required.

I was just giving you different options to research. I just bought some PW's. You may want to look into reported issues with using the PW Flex with certain Canon flash units.

Dec 10, 2011 at 03:19 AM

jzucker
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p.1 #6 · Wireless E-TTL Flash Trigger for Canon - What are my options?

gvg45 wrote:
While I'm not really familiar with radio poppers, I'm fairly certain a STE-2 is not required.

Every picture or video I could find had the STE-2 sitting below the transmitter. It seems that they work fundamentally different than the PW. The PW seems to take the electrical signal and convert it to a radio signal. The poppers seem to work by taking infrared and converting to radio and then back to infrared for the slave flash. At least that's how it looks. The PW seems more versatile because you can trigger anything that you can convert to and from a hotshoe without the need for IR.

Dec 10, 2011 at 03:32 AM

memorypixels
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p.1 #7 · Wireless E-TTL Flash Trigger for Canon - What are my options?

I use the PW MinitTT1/FlexTT5 combo. I looked at the Radiopoppers too. Latter looked pretty interesting but I went with the former because most of the photogs I follow here use that system. I had the Plus II transcievers before and they were gold.

I looked at the Phottix Odin too but there weren't enough reviews out when I made a decision.

System was unreliable (distance) initially but has worked extremely well after talking to PW support (they are the best!). Really enjoying this system now.

Dec 10, 2011 at 03:59 AM

jzucker
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p.1 #8 · Wireless E-TTL Flash Trigger for Canon - What are my options?

memorypixels wrote:
I use the PW MinitTT1/FlexTT5 combo. I looked at the Radiopoppers too. Latter looked pretty interesting but I went with the former because most of the photogs I follow here use that system. I had the Plus II transcievers before and they were gold.

I looked at the Phottix Odin too but there weren't enough reviews out when I made a decision.

System was unreliable (distance) initially but has worked extremely well after talking to PW support (they are the best!). Really enjoying this system now.

So what did PW support tell you that made the system reliable?

Dec 10, 2011 at 04:02 AM

timbop
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p.1 #9 · Wireless E-TTL Flash Trigger for Canon - What are my options?

I wouldn't recommend the PW's, even though I have loved them when they worked properly. The JRX poppers seem good, and the alienbee cybersyncs are awesome (although both are manual). ettl is nice because it is quick and easy, but manual is a lot more consistent from shot-to-shot

Dec 10, 2011 at 04:40 AM

jzucker
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p.1 #10 · Wireless E-TTL Flash Trigger for Canon - What are my options?

timbop wrote:
I wouldn't recommend the PW's, even though I have loved them when they worked properly. The JRX poppers seem good, and the alienbee cybersyncs are awesome (although both are manual). ettl is nice because it is quick and easy, but manual is a lot more consistent from shot-to-shot

If you're shooting manual, the pixelking and several other options are available which are 1/4 the price of the PW or cybersync.

Dec 10, 2011 at 04:54 AM

jzucker
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p.1 #11 · Wireless E-TTL Flash Trigger for Canon - What are my options?

and why wouldn't you recommend pw?

Dec 10, 2011 at 04:54 AM

BrianO
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p.1 #12 · Wireless E-TTL Flash Trigger for Canon - What are my options?

jzucker wrote: Every picture or video I could find had the STE-2 sitting below the transmitter. It seems that they work fundamentally different than the PW. The PW seems to take the electrical signal and convert it to a radio signal. The poppers seem to work by taking infrared and converting to radio and then back to infrared for the slave flash.

Not exactly.

The Radio Poppers do require a flash unit on the camera, but it can be either an ST-E2 or a regular Speedlite with Master capability. (The ST-E2 is really just a small Speedlite with an IR-passing filter over the flash tube. If you took off the filter, you'd see the flash.)

The RP transmitter picks up the electromagnetic field (not the IR) of the flash it's mounted on and converts that to a radio signal. The RP receiver picks up the radio signal and converts it to an optical signal that is then fed into the optical sensor on the remote flash.

Dec 10, 2011 at 06:04 AM

akivisuals
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p.1 #13 · Wireless E-TTL Flash Trigger for Canon - What are my options?

Hey Jaz. I've had both the RadioPoppers and the PocketWizard TTs. I've also used other wireless triggers and am now using some inexpensive YongNuo triggers and manual flash. I do still have the TT1 and TT5 set and use them occasionally when I don't have an assistant.

There are issues with both the RadioPoppers and the PW TT's. I didn't like my RadioPopper P1's (the earlier version) because they required that you tape the fiber optic sensor to your flash and attach the triggering system with velcro. All in all it was a cheesy setup, seemed like a DIY workaround and used the infrared instead of going Radio all the way. That plus the fact that they were a bit tricky to set up and get going consistently.

I like the concept of the PocketWizard TTs. They are well integrated with the flash system, are made fairly well and don't require that you modify your flash with lame velcro add-ons and the like. That said, there are some fairly major issues with the system. It was released before they could really dial it in and the design of the system has some huge issues with RF interference when using the Canon 580ex flashes (both versions). Apparently, the system works fine with 430ex and 550ex but with the 580's it requires that you put a big cloth "sock" over the body of the flash and add a little cube to the hotshoe to keep the RF from squelching the signal. It simply shouldn't require this amount of workaround. I love the concept and the feature set of the TT's. Using the AC3 controller is just awesome to manually control the flash output from your camera. It's just a little too much to set up for me when doing weddings. I need to be able to get my wireless flashes up and running quickly and the TT's just aren't reliable enough for me to do that at the moment.

So, I'm using the cheapies. Those inexpensive YongNuo manual triggers fire almost every time for me, they're cheap and I can trust them. As much as I love the idea of my PW's, they're just not there yet for me to trust them on a paying gig. YMMV, but this is just the experience I have had with these systems.

Dec 10, 2011 at 07:54 AM

Marcus Watts
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p.1 #14 · Wireless E-TTL Flash Trigger for Canon - What are my options?

If you use manual these don't skip a beat. http://www.ebay.com/itm/4-Channel-Wireless-Flash-Trigger-PT-04-3-Receivers-T4E-/220694487551?pt=Camera_Flash_Accessories&hash=item33626aa1ff

Dec 10, 2011 at 09:52 AM

jzucker
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p.1 #15 · Wireless E-TTL Flash Trigger for Canon - What are my options?

Thanks. Is this the model you're using?

http://www.amazon.com/Yongnuo-Wireless-Trigger-Receiver-Shutter/dp/B0042TYNJ4/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1323538253&sr=8-4

akivisuals wrote:
Hey Jaz. I've had both the RadioPoppers and the PocketWizard TTs. I've also used other wireless triggers and am now using some inexpensive YongNuo triggers and manual flash. I do still have the TT1 and TT5 set and use them occasionally when I don't have an assistant.

There are issues with both the RadioPoppers and the PW TT's. I didn't like my RadioPopper P1's (the earlier version) because they required that you tape the fiber optic sensor to your flash and attach the triggering system with velcro. All in all it was a cheesy setup, seemed like a DIY workaround and used the infrared instead of going Radio all the way. That plus the fact that they were a bit tricky to set up and get going consistently.

I like the concept of the PocketWizard TTs. They are well integrated with the flash system, are made fairly well and don't require that you modify your flash with lame velcro add-ons and the like. That said, there are some fairly major issues with the system. It was released before they could really dial it in and the design of the system has some huge issues with RF interference when using the Canon 580ex flashes (both versions). Apparently, the system works fine with 430ex and 550ex but with the 580's it requires that you put a big cloth "sock" over the body of the flash and add a little cube to the hotshoe to keep the RF from squelching the signal. It simply shouldn't require this amount of workaround. I love the concept and the feature set of the TT's. Using the AC3 controller is just awesome to manually control the flash output from your camera. It's just a little too much to set up for me when doing weddings. I need to be able to get my wireless flashes up and running quickly and the TT's just aren't reliable enough for me to do that at the moment.

So, I'm using the cheapies. Those inexpensive YongNuo manual triggers fire almost every time for me, they're cheap and I can trust them. As much as I love the idea of my PW's, they're just not there yet for me to trust them on a paying gig. YMMV, but this is just the experience I have had with these systems.

Dec 10, 2011 at 05:31 PM

akivisuals
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p.1 #16 · Wireless E-TTL Flash Trigger for Canon - What are my options?

Those are the ones Jaz. You can find them on eBay as well. If you're ok with manual flash they're good triggers. The newer RadioPoppers might be better than the ones I had but the P1's were not a real clean solution. I still have hope that PW will update the firmware or do something that would make them a reliable solution. The concept is awesome, the execution leaves a lot to be desired.

Dec 10, 2011 at 05:48 PM

jzucker
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p.1 #17 · Wireless E-TTL Flash Trigger for Canon - What are my options?

That looks a little better than the ones I recently bought

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002W3IXZW/ref=oh_o02_s00_i01_details

I had actually bought them for a sony nex but it didn't work at all on the nex. I just checked it out on my 5d though and it works great in manual flash mode. Looks like the Yongnuo are higher quality for only a few bucks more though.

Dec 10, 2011 at 06:00 PM

jzucker
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p.1 #18 · Wireless E-TTL Flash Trigger for Canon - What are my options?

I was ready to buy the Yongnuo units but I notice they don't have a 1/4 female screw on the bottom. This means you have to buy a little adapter if you want to mount the receiver unit onto a bracket. Since I'm using a wimberley bracket already I'm not sure I want the extra piece because it's already a somewhat unwieldy contraption and then you add the adapter and wireless receiver and the flash and you've got a monstrosity!

Dec 11, 2011 at 12:28 PM

timbop
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p.1 #19 · Wireless E-TTL Flash Trigger for Canon - What are my options?

jzucker wrote:
timbop wrote:
I wouldn't recommend the PW's, even though I have loved them when they worked properly. The JRX poppers seem good, and the alienbee cybersyncs are awesome (although both are manual). ettl is nice because it is quick and easy, but manual is a lot more consistent from shot-to-shot

If you're shooting manual, the pixelking and several other options are available which are 1/4 the price of the PW or cybersync.

Not reliably. the ab cybersyncs are far better than the chinese fleabay triggers

Dec 11, 2011 at 02:50 PM

jzucker
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p.1 #20 · Wireless E-TTL Flash Trigger for Canon - What are my options?

timbop wrote:
jzucker wrote:
timbop wrote:
I wouldn't recommend the PW's, even though I have loved them when they worked properly. The JRX poppers seem good, and the alienbee cybersyncs are awesome (although both are manual). ettl is nice because it is quick and easy, but manual is a lot more consistent from shot-to-shot

If you're shooting manual, the pixelking and several other options are available which are 1/4 the price of the PW or cybersync.

Not reliably. the ab cybersyncs are far better than the chinese fleabay triggers

I don't see a hotshoe based receiver in paul buff's lineup.

Dec 11, 2011 at 02:59 PM

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