Introduction:
Off camera flashes come in all sorts of configurations and of course price. I am going to discuss the advantage and usefulness on some of the more common methods to trigger off camera flashes. This is done today all without any wires running around the room. This be your key light, fill light, rim light, hair light or special effect light. I will discuss above types in a future blog.
I first would like to say that time it takes for a flash to fire can be as short as 50 micro seconds. Most cameras have a syc speed of 1/250 sec or less. That means that the shutter is fully open like a door so that the sensor can capture the entire light output. At higher shutter speed like 1/500 you will get a black line across the image if the image is lite by the flash. You must know and remember the syc speed for every DSLR that you have.
Common syc speeds:
5D Mark II/III-1/200 sec | Canon 50D - 1/250 sec | Canon 6D - 1/180 sec
Note: This is an independent review of equipment available. No manufacturer pays us to evaluate their equipment. We will accept sample to evaluate. None were given here.
1.0 Flash Triggers
These are simply flashes that can detect when another flash occurs. I am reminded of a family event in our Portrait studio when we were shooting the new twin boys. The key and fill flash were all set up with 60 in umbrellas with a white background. The boys looked lovely in their baskets. The fill was set to fire on flash trigger from the key. The happy grandfather saw how cute the boys looked and took a picture with his compact flash. The whole room lite up and his image was all white (over exposed - too much light).
Theses type of flashes, some come with a S1 and S2 switch. A lot of professionals like to shoot in fully manual mode verse TTL or ETTL mode. In TTL mode there is a pre-flash to determine the exposure setting required. This pre-flash can trigger the sensor in the flash and cause it to fire prematurely. So in manual you would use the S1 setting and in TTL you would use the S2 setting. The flash could not recharge fast enough if it pre-fired for the main flash in TTL mode. We have several low cost flash units that are good for lighting up background objects like pictures, stained glass, etc. Price range from entry level to top of the line. I am referring here to the entry level, battery powered (2 cells) type.
PROS:-Cheap to buy. Can use many though out a shoot.
CONS:-Must see the flash to fire; slow recharge rate. Fixed low output power on lower cost units. May only hold 1, 2 or 4 batteries.
Signal Controlled Flashes
This group is comprise of the IR and Radio signal controllers.
IR (infrared) Group
Made popular by Canon, Nikon and Olympus in their professional series flashes. I am not covering any other manufacturer. The Canon 580 EXII is the master flash controller and with it you can control 3 groups (A-B-C). This requires that you use one expensive 580 EXII on the camera to emit the IR signal. This can be moved off camera and a lesser expensive ST-E2 or equivalent. We use the Yongnuo ST-E2 with the flash ratio control set up on the back for quick flash set ratio changes. I will discuss this more in a future blog but I just love the way you can quickly change the flash ratios without using a flash meter. The range is limited to about 40 feet, but we never have had a problem with the range, just the line of sight.
Pros: Built into the master flash or some cameras. Requires line of sight for unit to fire. Can control groups of flashes (no limit on number of flashes).
CONS: Is now older technology. Line of sight required. Works best in doors away from bright sunlight. Limited range to 40 ft. Limited to syc speed. Yes High speed syc does work but you normally just don't get any more power from the Canon 580 EX II.
I personally have not had any issues with this flash except for line of sight.
Another Type of Controller that we use is ST-E2
This makes for a great studio setup and frees up one of your Canon 580 Ex II for use as a Key or Fill light. The ability to change light ratios in under 10 seconds is amazing.
Pros: It costs much less than the Canon model and uses two AA batteries. Range is also better.
CON: Line of Sight. Not enough power for bright sunny high speed syc days.
Remote Radio Control Flash Triggers
I will divide these into manual control and TTL control.
Manual Control Radio Triggers
You can find a whole raft of low cost triggers on E-Bay.
We have used the top one and another type. Some must fit on the hot shoe to work while others will have a syc cable that plugs into the camera. With the syc cable and the ST-E2 or a Canon 580 EX II, you can control line of sight flashes and trigger hidden or line of sight flashes. The above image is NOT pocket wizard but a made by the C-Hina Company. There are Many manufactures that make quality controllers like Quantum, Pocket Wizard, RadioPoppers, ect but these cost a lot more. Limited out side to flash syc speed in bright conditions.
Pros: Not expensive. Most use AA batteries. Range limited to 100m (which is plenty). Reliablity is good.
Cons: Non TTL. Most don't have a battery meter built in. New batteries or freely charged ones solve the problem most of the time. Limited to flash syc speed.
TTL Radio Controllers
TTL stands for Though The Lens Metering. It is the best way to get proper exposure control. Many professionals use TTL. Others prefer to use manual controllers. We like so top professionals prefer TTL and we can always increase or reduce the exposure setting on the back of the camera. You will have to pay more and in some cases a lot more for TTL.
I search all of the current TTL radio controllers made by the C-Hina company (ie made in China), but all only worked via the hot shoe and none had a separate cable input or output mode.
I wanted a system that I could use with my 580 EX II and Quantum 5D and other High quality flashes. This meant that I need controllers that could operate without a hot shoe. This left us with 3 choices that I know of. Radiopoppers, Quantum and Pocket Wizard. The winner here for us is Radiopoppers. The one thing that I don't like is the non AA battery but what I do like is the batter checker which is tops. Range is way more than needed. They are small and quite compact and light. When shooting a wedding I always have a 580 EX II on my camera. I don't need anymore weight to carry for 10 hours. The transmitter uses NO cables (I have one manual radio control trigger where the cable keeps falling out of the camera connection). The receiver will fit on our Quantum or 580 EX II. We also have an non TTL flash (300 W/s) that can be fired by the Radiopopper PS with a JR receiver. It also supports high speed syc which you might get some more flash power with a Quantum 5D. The Quantum 5D requires the QNexus attachment to work in TTL mode with either the Infrared or Radio transmitter.
Here are the winners.
TTL control plus manual control at an affordable price. Not cheap but professional.
You only need the PX transmitter, PX receiver and JrX Receiver (no transmitter)
Summary:
If you are just starting out you can try the low cost triggers. You will quickly move up to the TTL triggers. You can buy the more expensive PW but they have had problems with the radio interference of the Canon Flash. The system is expandable to as many PX receivers and or JrX receiver you need. Remember Jrx is manual control which is limited to syc speed. Once setup, this system is very easy to work with. Just in stall and turn on and you are ready to go. However, if TTL is your final goal or path if you start with the Jrx system, then the receivers can be used with the PX-TTL system in the future. That gives you something to think about.
For more information contact Radiopoppers. If you found this useful, remember to please give us a G+ as we then can see the feedback. Have a great day. Kaptnk
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