wireless triggers

[Niresangwa]

I realize that this post falls under the category of 'other gear' strictly speaking, but would like the advice of fellow pentaxians, and know that there are a few of you who can probably answer this, or at least give advice

I'm up against a situation where a location assignment is going to demand some dramatic off camera lighting. I'm comfortable with the set up and the job flow, thats not the issue but i'm going to going to have to go strobist-on-the-go. The lighting I use indoors is all AC powered.

As I don't really have a use for this kind of rig on a regular basis, I'm not interested in dropping a few hundred dollars for PW's that will see the light of day once ever couple of months.

Right now I'm considering the Cactus V4's, but am interested if anyone has used the V2's with anecdotal success, as they're substantially cheaper. A few missed shots here and there don't concern me, so general reliability and ease of use is the factor.

My main light is a Metz-48 which I'm very happy with, I also have a couple of cheaper sunpak units which can trigger optically, though I don't want to trust this, and would prefer to use hotshoe wireless triggers. I'm assuming this small array will function (i'm fine with manual power setting, dont need TTL).

So, V4's, V2's ...maybe something else I havent come across?

TIA

[Mr Guy]

Well, the best answer depends on what you consider "expensive" and "tricky" to be. My personal favorite is Alien Bee's Cybersync. . I've used Pocket Wizards, and these honestly don't seem substantially different to me except in size and price tag. The biggest difference between the newer triggers and the Cybersync triggers is the option to add TTL. I'll be the first to admit that I use a hodge podge of math for a rough estimate and then honing in to get the light I want, so I just don't use TTL to very good advantage.

The cheapest option is, of course, optical slave or wireless TTL mode. You've given your reasons for not liking this, so I'll only say that wireless TTL on the K-20D is workable, but I don't really fully understand it, nor work with it much, so I tend to only use it for snapshot type stuff if I really need to get the picture but I'm not sure what conditions will be by the time I snap it.

Cactus triggers have a pretty decent reputation for being mostly reliable in most conditions. At the cost, there's not much more than you can expect. Based entirely on word of mouth, if I was getting paid and it was critical, I might not go this way, but otherwise if I didn't think I'd use them much, I'd have a set of these in my bag for necessity use. The big note I'd add, is that V2s, as far as I know, are hotshoe only. You'll need V4 for your studio lights.

Alien Bee Cybersync are simple and reliable. Like the Cactus triggers, they just trigger. They are well made and effective, nothing fancy, and half the cost of pocket wizards. Personal experience is they are equally reliable as pocketwizards, so if you don't care about manual flash settings, in my opinion, they are sufficient and priced right. Like the V4, they can drive studio cables, and can be purchased in either battery models or AC driven models that can be plugged in line with your studio lights.

Personally, I find once you move the flash off camera and get a set of triggers, you'll likely find you always want to. I constantly acquire different ways to position my flash, and have a whole array of stands, clamps, and Gorillapods. In my opinion, the Metz 48 wired to a trigger that's tethered directly to a Gorillapod is an instant use, convenient off camera flash.

[inkista]

Wouldn't recommend the V2s, V4s are about as cheap as it gets. You could also look at Yongnuo RF-602s, with all the same build-quality/reliability warnings as the V4s. Same price. But can also be used as a wireless shutter release, which is nice, and comes with 1/4" and 1/8" cables/adapters. They work in the 1.4GHz frequency band the Cybersyncs do, vs. the 433MHz band the Cactus triggers use. The upshot is there's no external antennas to deal with, and they're legal in more parts of the world.

[Niresangwa]

Thanks for the advice! After a lot of reading in the strobist group on Flickr, I had it down to V4s or the RF-602. Because they just needed to be quick and dirty, cybersyncs and PW's were out of the question, and frankly V2's seem to get slaughtered in every single review i read.

Ultimately I ended up going for the RF-602, mostly based upon the strength of this pretty comprehensive review. I picked up an extra flash, a Tx and 3 Rxs for about $100, which is just the ticket!

With the AC lights I'm using cables, so I'm unlikely to use these aside from when out in the field.

Thanks again. If they suck, I'll let ya'll know.

[inkista]

I like my 602s. The only thing I consider to be a PITA is that there's no way to "lock" them on the hotshoe--so watch for slippage.

[Niresangwa]

So the 602's arrived 6 days after purchase. Spent the weekend playing with them, and I have to say for the price, these things are incredible. Build quality was way better than I expected, and the ability to use them straight out of the box without even looking at the instructions (!) made me very happy. Only tested range up to about 75ft, but no misfires in a few hours of play time outdoors. Have had no problems at all with the synch speed. Very Happy, and would happily recommend them.

The other flash I picked up I was also really happy with, (YN640). Controls, all manual, are super simple and nice big buttons, fully posable flash-head, good build (battery door excepted but oce its closed its solid), nice juice, and the built-in diffuser and bounce card were the same as the Metz-48. For $45 you can't go wrong.

It's quite easy to see the truth that once you start working with this equipment, it can be addicting...

Thanks again everyone