Picked up some Phottix Strato Trigger

[scootermcq]

I grabbed some strato triggers last night, and the initial tests last night seem really positive for what I am looking for. I will do some indepth testing and report/review them later.

The key thing I bought them for was the TTL pass through on the on camera flash. In the run & gun situations of wedding photography, full manual flash can be a challenge and most inexpensive triggers will not support any TTL. This allows me to mount my flash on a stroboframe and still have it TTL, while having an off camera flash triggered wirelessly (albeit manually).

I have tried the commander mode, and it works great sometimes, but it is not reliable on a bright, sunny day. I hated trying to switch on the fly between commander mode sometimes and TTL cable other times, fighting misfires etc. Now the flash on camera can still control it's own power level and you can control the off camera flash either by having the assistant move closer or back off or with aperture. I also like it can control a few different groups with a switch, so you can just flick for which lights you want to use.

I had a couple wireless triggers already and now I can mount the transmitter for the other set in the hotshoe of the strato transmitter and with the 2 receivers I bought for the strato control 4 strobes wirelessly without having to buy more receivers (I was firing 2 stobes optically in studio)

It also works as a wired or wireless shutter release, which can come in handy as well. (No more infrared trigger releases)

Bottom line is I can now mix TTL with manual flash which I could not do before and it does appear to work as advertised.

[carl yeomans]

There are dozens of reviews on the net about these trigger even the new V5's that are due out soon.
Review: Phottix Strato Wireless Flash Triggers | ishootshows.com

[scootermcq]

Originally Posted by carl yeomans

There are dozens of reviews on the net about these trigger even the new V5's that are due out soon.
Review: Phottix Strato Wireless Flash Triggers | ishootshows.com

Thanks Carl. That is a very detailed review, and the only thing I can add is I agree with the review and they do work great. It makes me look forward to the 2011 wedding season and working with them, they will be a great tool for this. The only additional negative I have found is being a little larger, I have to mount them backwards on my "softbox on a stick" which means I have to swing the head around on my flash and the controls are facing the softbox, making it just about impossible to adjust the power settings. The only way I will be able to control the power on that flash is to have the assistant adjust distance or adjust my aperture.