SerialCoder
$25 RF Slave
So, I've been goofing around with my Vivitar 283 (old gear I've had since high school) doing a lot of bounce flash to try to improve my technique for impromptu portraits. I was firing the Vivitar using a Nikon adapter on my Canon's hot shoe with a 10 foot cable. This of course was beginning to annoy me with the trip hazard so I figured I would look into RF (Radio Frequency) remotes to see what was out there.
I have to preface this with a side note about me, I'm a cheap bastard... Ask my wife. If I can save 50 cents, even if it means going through ridiculous efforts, I will. It's a weakness like chocolate or heroin. That said, you can imagine how I was shitting myself when I went looking for a device to fire my flash and found them to be exorbitantly priced. 75-200 on the low end... So being the cheap bastard that I am I started scouring the net for some cheap and cheerful solution. Naturally I reached eBay and found a super cheap Chinese made device that does exactly what I needed. So now the bigger dilemma is...
Am I willing to lose $25 to give this thing a shot? I labored over that one for hours, but in the end, I realized that I've blown double that on a bad dinner before so I did the buy-it-now for $19.99 + $9.95 shipping. A few days later I got it in the mail and had to leave work early due to excitement... (I'm a dork that way) So I open it up and find that the package is covered in china writing. I open it and behold!!!! No instructions... It's cool, I'm crafty, I like figuring things out.
The Transmitter
The hot shoe transmitter is pretty cut and dried. It came with the battery already installed. It has a test button to push when you want to fire your flash manually or if you want to, uh, test it. It also has four dip switches on the bottom that you can use to change the frequency that it's transmitting on. That's about it.
The Receiver
The receiver is relatively simple as well but I still had to open it up to check it out. There are two outputs on the receiver, the first is a behemoth 1/4" mono plug that is used for professional strobe units. The second is the familiar pc plug that has been used for eons for flashes. I opted to chop off the 1/4" plug because it was getting on my nerves and I couldn't seem to wrap it up tight enough. My Vivitar has a short cord that fits right in to the pc plug on the back. The next step was the Velcro, I cant stand dangly shit so I ran to Lowe's and picked up some Velcro to mount the receiver on the flash unit. Add one $3.99 mini tripod and it's ready for mobile strobability.
My Summary
For $30, this thing rocks! My limited tests have shown that I can go at least 50' indoors (that's around corners as well) Having the freedom to pop some clean light from anywhere I want without being tethered is awesome. If you're interested in experimenting with RF slaves and don't have the budget for the good gear, you may want to give this a shot...
$25 RF Slave
So, I've been goofing around with my Vivitar 283 (old gear I've had since high school) doing a lot of bounce flash to try to improve my technique for impromptu portraits. I was firing the Vivitar using a Nikon adapter on my Canon's hot shoe with a 10 foot cable. This of course was beginning to annoy me with the trip hazard so I figured I would look into RF (Radio Frequency) remotes to see what was out there.
I have to preface this with a side note about me, I'm a cheap bastard... Ask my wife. If I can save 50 cents, even if it means going through ridiculous efforts, I will. It's a weakness like chocolate or heroin. That said, you can imagine how I was shitting myself when I went looking for a device to fire my flash and found them to be exorbitantly priced. 75-200 on the low end... So being the cheap bastard that I am I started scouring the net for some cheap and cheerful solution. Naturally I reached eBay and found a super cheap Chinese made device that does exactly what I needed. So now the bigger dilemma is...
Am I willing to lose $25 to give this thing a shot? I labored over that one for hours, but in the end, I realized that I've blown double that on a bad dinner before so I did the buy-it-now for $19.99 + $9.95 shipping. A few days later I got it in the mail and had to leave work early due to excitement... (I'm a dork that way) So I open it up and find that the package is covered in china writing. I open it and behold!!!! No instructions... It's cool, I'm crafty, I like figuring things out.
The Transmitter
The hot shoe transmitter is pretty cut and dried. It came with the battery already installed. It has a test button to push when you want to fire your flash manually or if you want to, uh, test it. It also has four dip switches on the bottom that you can use to change the frequency that it's transmitting on. That's about it.
The Receiver
The receiver is relatively simple as well but I still had to open it up to check it out. There are two outputs on the receiver, the first is a behemoth 1/4" mono plug that is used for professional strobe units. The second is the familiar pc plug that has been used for eons for flashes. I opted to chop off the 1/4" plug because it was getting on my nerves and I couldn't seem to wrap it up tight enough. My Vivitar has a short cord that fits right in to the pc plug on the back. The next step was the Velcro, I cant stand dangly shit so I ran to Lowe's and picked up some Velcro to mount the receiver on the flash unit. Add one $3.99 mini tripod and it's ready for mobile strobability.
My Summary
For $30, this thing rocks! My limited tests have shown that I can go at least 50' indoors (that's around corners as well) Having the freedom to pop some clean light from anywhere I want without being tethered is awesome. If you're interested in experimenting with RF slaves and don't have the budget for the good gear, you may want to give this a shot...