Digital Basement Studio wrote:
I love my radio slave and use it in most of my shoots.

All of the previously mentioned units are nice. You get what you pay for.

There is another alternative. I have use these inexpensive radio slaves I found on Ebay.

I have purchased two of these types of units. I am very happy with the second upgraded version I found.

The first set was only $34. It worked. How ever it didn’t work 100% of the time. It had 4 different radio frequencies or channels to choose from. I modified mine by replacing the ¼” inline cable with a custom length inline PC cable. A little Velcro on the side of my SB-800 and SB-28 and I was rocking. I also made a PC to ¼” adaptor so I could still use the slave with my studio lighting set up.
-In short, this first unit’s circuitry failed after 6 months of very rigorous use.

The second purchase was a similar looking model with many upgrades.
-16 different radio frequencies to choose from
-Improved battery compartment.
-An on and off switch on the receiver
-A signal received LED on the transmitter and the receiver (this makes troubleshooting a breeze)

For my use, I made the same modifications to the inline ¼” cable to this 16 channel unit as I did to the other.

I am very happy with this very inexpensive alternative. I will admit this unit is not 100% but it is very close. More like 98 to 99%.

Remember, you get what you pay for. This alternative is not for everyone. It should be thought of as a Pro-sumer product. If you have always wanted a radio slave but couldn’t justify the money for the pro units, this is the ticket. If you need 100% reliability and see that it is not worth the extra effort to see if the lesser expensive unit will work for you, by all means, get one of the pro units.

You can find these on Ebay by searching for “16 channel” in the Camera & Photo category.

I just bought that 16 channel radio trigger set up for $25 off of ebay from Qiqowo. Came all the way from Shanghai, China.  Works like a champ so far and you can't beat the price.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi … 0064068731

Scott Aitken wrote:
The MicroSync is very disappointing.

Very elegant design, but it didn't work as advertised.

They are supposedly rated at max sync speed of 160th second. However, in practice, they don't sync reliably at anything faster than 100th second. In my studio the transmitter fell apart 3 times in less than a year. The battery cover on the receiver falls off all the time.

It is a great looking design. The transmitter, especially, is much smaller than the bulky Pocket Wizard. But it barely works and is not very durable at all. And isn't all that much savings off Pocket Wizards.

Thumbs down on MicroSync.

I know what you are talking about with the battery cover coming off when pushing the reciever into the plug on the power box but it's just a dumb design issue. I have never had any problems with sync speed or reliability or anything else and I use mine every week!!

Michael Kirst wrote:
It's called Microsync and it isn't some big R2D2 hanging off your camera! It has 4 channels too and just look at the size difference from all the others.

I use it and I love it!

I use this unit as well, and have had no problems with it.  It did take a $12 adapter to make it work with my ABs

Legacys 7 wrote:
I read from a AB owner that their newest wireless remotes are very good. The transmitter sits on top of your camera and the reciever plugs into the strobe unit.

These are what I use.  I have of there Alien Bee transmitters and a reciever for each of my three AB800's.  I use both my digital and film camera side by side and both can trigger the stroes.  I stick a receiver on every light to eliminate others from triggering my strobes if ai am in a shared studio or doing wedding where others have cameras.

They are cheap, light, work from a distance of about 100ft, and if I have had missfires I hav not even noticed it.

Patrick

minutephotos wrote:
These are what I use.  I have of there Alien Bee transmitters and a reciever for each of my three AB800's.  I use both my digital and film camera side by side and both can trigger the stroes.  I stick a receiver on every light to eliminate others from triggering my strobes if ai am in a shared studio or doing wedding where others have cameras.

They are cheap, light, work from a distance of about 100ft, and if I have had missfires I hav not even noticed it.

Patrick

I read another user stating the samething. AB seem to be pretty consistent as far as quality of thier stuff minus the softboxes from what I've read. I'll purchase a set. I want the Pocket Wizards, but if these are effective, that's all that I need.

AB company told me that I can sue them with my Travelite strobes.

Btw, you have some fine women in your port. Especially that Akiyah. Good Lawd.

Thermogenic Photography wrote:
You can find these on Ebay by searching for “16 channel” in the Camera & Photo category.

I just bought that 16 channel radio trigger set up for $25 off of ebay from Qiqowo. Came all the way from Shanghai, China.  Works like a champ so far and you can't beat the price.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi … 0064068731

I bought one of these. I do not recommend them for critical applications! I've stopped using mine altogether. Why?

First, the sync is unreliable. I have had a lot of blank frames where the flash popped, but not in sync with the shutter. Turning down the shutter speed did not help.

Sometimes it loses contact with the hotshoe and doesn't pop at all. I've found the camera's sync socket to be more reliable with this unit.

Lastly, the unit is very succeptable to RF interference. I was shooting in a building once when a neighbor started using their vacuum. My flash would pop repeatedly when the motor wound down after she switched it off. She kept this up for half an hour. I switched back to my old Radio Slave II during this shoot, and it worked like a champ. Not as convenient, without the hotshoe mount, but much much more reliable!

Stephen Melvin wrote:

I bought one of these. I do not recommend them for critical applications! I've stopped using mine altogether. Why?

First, the sync is unreliable. I have had a lot of blank frames where the flash popped, but not in sync with the shutter. Turning down the shutter speed did not help.

Sometimes it loses contact with the hotshoe and doesn't pop at all. I've found the camera's sync socket to be more reliable with this unit.

Lastly, the unit is very succeptable to RF interference. I was shooting in a building once when a neighbor started using their vacuum. My flash would pop repeatedly when the motor wound down after she switched it off. She kept this up for half an hour. I switched back to my old Radio Slave II during this shoot, and it worked like a champ. Not as convenient, without the hotshoe mount, but much much more reliable!

i find the same thing happens with my Bownen Pulsars every now and again...

Digital Basement Studio wrote:
I love my radio slave and use it in most of my shoots.

All of the previously mentioned units are nice. You get what you pay for.

There is another alternative. I have use these inexpensive radio slaves I found on Ebay.

I have purchased two of these types of units. I am very happy with the second upgraded version I found.

The first set was only $34. It worked. How ever it didn’t work 100% of the time. It had 4 different radio frequencies or channels to choose from. I modified mine by replacing the ¼” inline cable with a custom length inline PC cable. A little Velcro on the side of my SB-800 and SB-28 and I was rocking. I also made a PC to ¼” adaptor so I could still use the slave with my studio lighting set up.
-In short, this first unit’s circuitry failed after 6 months of very rigorous use.

The second purchase was a similar looking model with many upgrades.
-16 different radio frequencies to choose from
-Improved battery compartment.
-An on and off switch on the receiver
-A signal received LED on the transmitter and the receiver (this makes troubleshooting a breeze)

For my use, I made the same modifications to the inline ¼” cable to this 16 channel unit as I did to the other.

I am very happy with this very inexpensive alternative. I will admit this unit is not 100% but it is very close. More like 98 to 99%.

Remember, you get what you pay for. This alternative is not for everyone. It should be thought of as a Pro-sumer product. If you have always wanted a radio slave but couldn’t justify the money for the pro units, this is the ticket. If you need 100% reliability and see that it is not worth the extra effort to see if the lesser expensive unit will work for you, by all means, get one of the pro units.

You can find these on Ebay by searching for “16 channel” in the Camera & Photo category.

well, this advice is for other amateurs out there on thin budgets.  Seems like every month I have a new expense... new lens, new lights, new stands, new backgrounds, and on and on and on... i figured the last thing I'd spring for was a wireless trigger and then I found these $25 units on Ebay.  If you're an amateur, if you don't have to work under deadline pressures... I've found it works great!  i never imagined I'd be able to have the freedom of wireless in my small 15'x20' studio space but i'm glad to report that for $25 I now do.  If your job depends on it, probably want to save your money and go with the PW.