Parcels from China: devices for external flash
So, last time I talked about the remote for remote control of the camera, brought from China. Today I will talk about two gadgets for external flash, who came from the same place.
1. Flashlight Battery Pack SF-17
As the name implies - this is a battery pack for flash. When shooting a “series” using a flash, sometimes the latter may fail due to the fact that it does not have time to recharge, and this is caused, as a rule, not by the weak characteristics of the flash itself, but by high power consumption at high powers. At the exit, in such a situation, you get either a “jog” (if you shoot with aperture priority - the camera simply does not take the flash into account when evaluating the exposure), or if you are shooting in full manual mode - just an undetected frame. Having felt this effect several times at crucial moments, I seriously thought about making corrections to the power of the flash: Having studied the reviews on photo forums / photo lists, I replaced the batteries with Ansmann 2850, and ordered this device as an additional insurance.
By design, the unit is very similar to Nikon’s SD-9: all the same 6 AA compartments, with the same movable lid and “telephone” cord. Comes with a case that allows you to hang the unit on the belt. There is also an opportunity to fix it on the bottom of the camera, but this option seemed to me extremely inconvenient.
Unfortunately, I did not make accurate measurements, but on sensations - the situation has improved significantly, I would even say that the number of "failures" dropped to zero (at least during the period when the batteries are not completely discharged). In any case - 10 batteries in one harness is better than 4.
')
The device is made in various flash options from Canon, Nikon, Metz and Sony (the difference, as far as I understand, concerns only the “tail”). On Ebay, it costs $ 55, which is several times less than the cost of “native” options.
2. Cactus Wireless Flash Trigger Set V4
“Cactus” is a remote “ignition” tool for external flashes, which is deservedly popular with many photographers, and what is especially nice is that the manufacturer takes into account previous mistakes and releases new versions (the fourth came out about a month ago, the first batch sold out very quickly ).
The device consists of a transmitter (mounted on a shoe, universal for various cameras) and a receiver (works with any flash responding to a central sync contact or cable). In addition, the box (which, by the standards of Chinese handicrafts, was extremely pleasantly decorated) contained the following: a manual, two AAA batteries (receiver power), 2 cords for external synchronization (including synchronization with studio lighting, which cannot please), and a mini-album (I didn’t expect it) with the works that were used to shoot this device.
Some technical characteristics:
1. When using a cactus, you can forget about TTL - the device transmits only a trigger signal. In this connection, the flash must be kept in manual mode.
2. The device is multichannel (16 channels, the number of devices per channel, for obvious reasons, is not limited), is synchronized by means of radio communications at a frequency of 433 MHz. The synchronization speed is 1/500 of a second, the effective range is 30 meters.
3. The system is compatible with everything that has a standard shoe, and can also be synchronized with a cable (there is a connector for the cable on both the receiver and the transmitter).
4. Power - 2xAAA in the receiver, and the element L1028 / 23A (as far as I know - something similar is used in the auto-alarm consoles) in the transmitter.
Cactus has been successfully tested at home. The only thing I didn’t like was the lower “shoe” mount of the receiver (it is also threaded under the tripod, which allows it to build a pyramid of the type “tripod-receiver-flash”), which for some reason was forgotten to be fixed (fixation not). In the rest - for 3 days of use no complaints arose - it works clearly, I did not notice any synchronization problems.
The device costs $ 40, it was not possible to find it on ebay.com (at the time of purchase, at least) - I ordered it on Gadget Infinity , it arrived without problems in 2 weeks.
By the way, there you can also order separate receivers (not to be confused with V2 / V2s - they are not compatible with V4!) And non-automatic flashes (in the absence of TTL there is still no sense from automation) at a price of about $ 100 apiece.
I also ordered an inflatable soft box to the heap with Ebay. If you are not afraid of confused looks (especially when blowing out :)) - I also strongly recommend it.
1. Flashlight Battery Pack SF-17
As the name implies - this is a battery pack for flash. When shooting a “series” using a flash, sometimes the latter may fail due to the fact that it does not have time to recharge, and this is caused, as a rule, not by the weak characteristics of the flash itself, but by high power consumption at high powers. At the exit, in such a situation, you get either a “jog” (if you shoot with aperture priority - the camera simply does not take the flash into account when evaluating the exposure), or if you are shooting in full manual mode - just an undetected frame. Having felt this effect several times at crucial moments, I seriously thought about making corrections to the power of the flash: Having studied the reviews on photo forums / photo lists, I replaced the batteries with Ansmann 2850, and ordered this device as an additional insurance.
By design, the unit is very similar to Nikon’s SD-9: all the same 6 AA compartments, with the same movable lid and “telephone” cord. Comes with a case that allows you to hang the unit on the belt. There is also an opportunity to fix it on the bottom of the camera, but this option seemed to me extremely inconvenient.
Unfortunately, I did not make accurate measurements, but on sensations - the situation has improved significantly, I would even say that the number of "failures" dropped to zero (at least during the period when the batteries are not completely discharged). In any case - 10 batteries in one harness is better than 4.
')
The device is made in various flash options from Canon, Nikon, Metz and Sony (the difference, as far as I understand, concerns only the “tail”). On Ebay, it costs $ 55, which is several times less than the cost of “native” options.
2. Cactus Wireless Flash Trigger Set V4
“Cactus” is a remote “ignition” tool for external flashes, which is deservedly popular with many photographers, and what is especially nice is that the manufacturer takes into account previous mistakes and releases new versions (the fourth came out about a month ago, the first batch sold out very quickly ).
The device consists of a transmitter (mounted on a shoe, universal for various cameras) and a receiver (works with any flash responding to a central sync contact or cable). In addition, the box (which, by the standards of Chinese handicrafts, was extremely pleasantly decorated) contained the following: a manual, two AAA batteries (receiver power), 2 cords for external synchronization (including synchronization with studio lighting, which cannot please), and a mini-album (I didn’t expect it) with the works that were used to shoot this device.
Some technical characteristics:
1. When using a cactus, you can forget about TTL - the device transmits only a trigger signal. In this connection, the flash must be kept in manual mode.
2. The device is multichannel (16 channels, the number of devices per channel, for obvious reasons, is not limited), is synchronized by means of radio communications at a frequency of 433 MHz. The synchronization speed is 1/500 of a second, the effective range is 30 meters.
3. The system is compatible with everything that has a standard shoe, and can also be synchronized with a cable (there is a connector for the cable on both the receiver and the transmitter).
4. Power - 2xAAA in the receiver, and the element L1028 / 23A (as far as I know - something similar is used in the auto-alarm consoles) in the transmitter.
Cactus has been successfully tested at home. The only thing I didn’t like was the lower “shoe” mount of the receiver (it is also threaded under the tripod, which allows it to build a pyramid of the type “tripod-receiver-flash”), which for some reason was forgotten to be fixed (fixation not). In the rest - for 3 days of use no complaints arose - it works clearly, I did not notice any synchronization problems.
The device costs $ 40, it was not possible to find it on ebay.com (at the time of purchase, at least) - I ordered it on Gadget Infinity , it arrived without problems in 2 weeks.
By the way, there you can also order separate receivers (not to be confused with V2 / V2s - they are not compatible with V4!) And non-automatic flashes (in the absence of TTL there is still no sense from automation) at a price of about $ 100 apiece.
I also ordered an inflatable soft box to the heap with Ebay. If you are not afraid of confused looks (especially when blowing out :)) - I also strongly recommend it.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/58073/
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