I have had quantums slaves for years but i picked up a set of pt04's about a year ago. They were reliable but the range was short so i added an antenna and they now fire at about 300ft away.
Man now that people mention these Phottix ones, i'm kinda intrigued.....the Calumet versions are like $79 for one TX and one RX, and then each additional RX is $50....BUT, they're not the equivalent of the Strato II's...just the regular Strato.....so you dont get that 4 Group functionality....which is the whole draw for me....
i doubt i could sell my 6.5 (6 working, 1 not) PocketWizard Plus and Plus II units and come out much ahead in getting into Phottix units....Plus i'm not really keen on keeping the Transmitter on the hot shoe, with a flash on top of that....seems really flimsy....
Dang it, I have played with the idea of converting to Phottix Strato II's from CyberSyncs, purely due to the hatred for PC sync cords. If it wasn't for that I was the AlienBee's with the AC powered CS receivers (so convenient), I would have switched already... I like the hotshoe mount design a lot. That said, my CS has been nothing but reliable.
NathanHamler wrote:
Plus i'm not really keen on keeping the Transmitter on the hot shoe, with a flash on top of that....seems really flimsy....
Honestly, that has been the ONLY drawback for the stratos for me. I have had both of my transmitters come apart a bit in the back from having the weight of the flash on top. As we speak, I am setting it up where I can velcro the transmitter on the side of the flash and use a sync chord from the camera to the transmitter
4honor wrote:
Dang it, I have played with the idea of converting to Phottix Strato II's from CyberSyncs, purely due to the hatred for PC sync cords. If it wasn't for that I was the AlienBee's with the AC powered CS receivers (so convenient), I would have switched already... I like the hotshoe mount design a lot. That said, my CS has been nothing but reliable.
Yes, you can trigger AB's with the Strato II just as easily as you can with the CS. That's the only scenario in which a cable is needed. It's the exact same 3.5mm x 3.5mm mono cable and works perfectly.
You can find the Strato II at Adorama....that's where I grabbed mine.
tonyhart wrote:
Alan, do the Strato II's allow for any power control from the camera position?
Nope, they are are dumb triggers, but they do have 2 distinct features that make them better than Cybersyncs:
1. No cables
2. The ability to use multiple flashes on 4 channels in any combination. You can turn them on/off quickly right from the transmitter. I worked my last wedding with 3 flashes on 3 channels, so if I wanted to shut one down for a few shots, I could do so easily and then turn it back on without changing my position. No need to walk over to a flash and turn it off or unplug the cable.
maxwell1295 wrote:
Nope, they are are dumb triggers, but they do have 2 distinct features that make them better than Cybersyncs:
1. No cables
2. The ability to use multiple flashes on 4 channels in any combination. You can turn them on/off quickly right from the transmitter. I worked my last wedding with 3 flashes on 3 channels, so if I wanted to shut one down for a few shots, I could do so easily and then turn it back on without changing my position. No need to walk over to a flash and turn it off or unplug the cable.
That's what I thought. Just wondered if they'd be a good addition to my Odin setup. I'd like the control that Odin offers with the on camera option of Strato II.
