Brown Dog
28-06-2011, 06:41 PM
Picked a new set of flash triggers at the PMA on the weekend. I had been thinking about upgrading from my Yongnuo CTR-301P's as they seemed to have reached their serviceable life. They constantly misfire, dont really sync properly at speeds over 1/160s, occasionaly they just seem to fire when ever they feel like it (like every 45 secs).
So I lashed out and bought a set of Phottixx Stratos and thought I would share my impressions so far.
These triggers would fall somewhere between (in terms of price and functions) ebay triggers and full TTL capable triggers like skyport or pocketwizard. While still a basic manual flash trigger they do have a couple of extra features that are an improvement on the fleabay versions I have.
First Impressions
While a little more pricey than the eBay triggers ($160 for transmitter and 3 recievers) the build quality is definitely a step up compared to my Yongnuo's. They feel heavy, solid and more like a professional piece of equipmnet than the toy like quality of the CTR-301's. Eg the foot on the transmitter is metal and has a lock down mechanism...the CTR-301's are all plastic
Receivers and transmitters take AAA's :bounce:...no more hunting for stoopid CR2 batteries. To me this alone is worth the extra cash. All I need is a handful of rechargeable AAA's and Im set for batteries (already have the charger for the speedlight batteries)
Other features I think are cool
4 individually selectable channels(with a simple slide switch not dip switches)... you can individually select a channel or select all channels at once. I found this useful while setting up multiple lights. Instead of having to switch on/off the reciever of each light to observe the effect on the image, I could control which light fired from the camera. Once setup was complete I could simply switch to "all" and fire away.
Through TTL hot shoe...I think this feature will kind of future proof these triggers. With this full TTL hot shoe you can still operate (on camera or via a cable) a TTL flash with the transmitter attached to the camera. So in the future as my nikon flash collection grows I will still be able (if necassary) to use my existing manual flashes combined with a couple of speedlights working with CLS...best of both worlds
In use
So far they work as advertised every time...they sync at 1/250 every time (no more half black shots). And a quick test in the backyard confirmed they will at least work
to a distance of 50m.
Only problem I have uncounted so far is because of the elongated shape, with most of the device pointing out the front when a flash is mounted it wont mount normally on one of my softbox brackets. Not a big deal as I just swiveled the flash head 180 and mounted it backwards.
Anyone considering some flash triggers but not quite having pocket wizard money to splash around, the pottixx strato are definitely worth a look
cheers
BD:)
So I lashed out and bought a set of Phottixx Stratos and thought I would share my impressions so far.
These triggers would fall somewhere between (in terms of price and functions) ebay triggers and full TTL capable triggers like skyport or pocketwizard. While still a basic manual flash trigger they do have a couple of extra features that are an improvement on the fleabay versions I have.
First Impressions
While a little more pricey than the eBay triggers ($160 for transmitter and 3 recievers) the build quality is definitely a step up compared to my Yongnuo's. They feel heavy, solid and more like a professional piece of equipmnet than the toy like quality of the CTR-301's. Eg the foot on the transmitter is metal and has a lock down mechanism...the CTR-301's are all plastic
Receivers and transmitters take AAA's :bounce:...no more hunting for stoopid CR2 batteries. To me this alone is worth the extra cash. All I need is a handful of rechargeable AAA's and Im set for batteries (already have the charger for the speedlight batteries)
Other features I think are cool
4 individually selectable channels(with a simple slide switch not dip switches)... you can individually select a channel or select all channels at once. I found this useful while setting up multiple lights. Instead of having to switch on/off the reciever of each light to observe the effect on the image, I could control which light fired from the camera. Once setup was complete I could simply switch to "all" and fire away.
Through TTL hot shoe...I think this feature will kind of future proof these triggers. With this full TTL hot shoe you can still operate (on camera or via a cable) a TTL flash with the transmitter attached to the camera. So in the future as my nikon flash collection grows I will still be able (if necassary) to use my existing manual flashes combined with a couple of speedlights working with CLS...best of both worlds
In use
So far they work as advertised every time...they sync at 1/250 every time (no more half black shots). And a quick test in the backyard confirmed they will at least work
to a distance of 50m.
Only problem I have uncounted so far is because of the elongated shape, with most of the device pointing out the front when a flash is mounted it wont mount normally on one of my softbox brackets. Not a big deal as I just swiveled the flash head 180 and mounted it backwards.
Anyone considering some flash triggers but not quite having pocket wizard money to splash around, the pottixx strato are definitely worth a look
cheers
BD:)