mikew09
11-04-2012, 8:03pm
OK, thought this may of interest to those of us on a budget. I became increasingly frustrated with the failure of my slave Canon 430 EX II flashes to fire from my on camera Canon 580 EX II. Due to the trigger being light source and not wireless.
Had just bought the flash gear and a lens so was not cashed up for the more up market flash triggers such as pocket wizard.
After some googling I came across the Cactus range of triggers V5 (not long released latest model). More googling and in majority of reviews appeared pretty good. So for less than $150 I purchased 4 (two Duo packs) V5 Cactus remote wireless triggers giving me 4 receivers or 4 transmitters as it turns out.
Now having given them a fair trial I have to say I am very pleased with value for money. These units though not having all the bells and whistles of the up market units are very usable and operate exceptionally well. These were the only units I came across at the price that are dual function, each unit can function as a transmitter or reciever.
Plenty of positive reviews on the web but thought I would speak of them first hand as a AP member. Just to start, these are well priced in the lower end of the marker for wireless triggers but work superbly.
Pro's:
use 2 x AAA batteries, not product specific and I would say I have had around 5 hrs use and still going strong
Fired every time up to at least 20mtrs which is as far as I have tested but are rated to 100m.
Wireless signal is excellent and will fire when on the car floor with door closed and windows up.
Good side and easy to find a corner in the bag to accompany my kit. All four units together equal about the same size as my 580 flash
Appear robust with metal hot shoe and easy to access controls
Each unit can act as a transmitter or receiver at the flick of a switch. I like this idea as if one fails I can simple use another and switch it to transmitter
Support mutiply channel functions and channel groups although I have not tested this as yet.
Each unit comes with a base plate to allow free standing and has thread metal insert for mounting on light stand
AGAIN - out of the 100 or so flashs to date the trigger has worked everytime.
Nice press button test feature on each unit to identify units are communicating and to which groups the unit is assigned
I paid an extra $6 for a remote shutter cable that allows you to use the units as a remote shutter trigger in combination with remote flash triggers.
Con's:
Reviews on the web mention that the screw for securing the unit to the camera hot shot can be difficult to access - to be honest I do not find this as bad as some reviews I have read but I imagine could be difficult to unscrew if you have larger than average hands / fingers
No TTL but at the price (so what). Not an issue for me as, I mostly use manual for remote flash units anyway but no doubt TTL would be a nice addition but not a feature I miss. However, this does mean no high speed sync if wanted and the flashs do not wake up from sleep mode on the press of the camera trigger. I assume the sleep time can be adjusted on the flash units but not investigated yet.
To date, these are the only two con's I have found with the units.
HOPE THIS IS HELPFUL INFO FOR ANYONE ON A TIGHT BUDGET
Cheers,
Mike
Had just bought the flash gear and a lens so was not cashed up for the more up market flash triggers such as pocket wizard.
After some googling I came across the Cactus range of triggers V5 (not long released latest model). More googling and in majority of reviews appeared pretty good. So for less than $150 I purchased 4 (two Duo packs) V5 Cactus remote wireless triggers giving me 4 receivers or 4 transmitters as it turns out.
Now having given them a fair trial I have to say I am very pleased with value for money. These units though not having all the bells and whistles of the up market units are very usable and operate exceptionally well. These were the only units I came across at the price that are dual function, each unit can function as a transmitter or reciever.
Plenty of positive reviews on the web but thought I would speak of them first hand as a AP member. Just to start, these are well priced in the lower end of the marker for wireless triggers but work superbly.
Pro's:
use 2 x AAA batteries, not product specific and I would say I have had around 5 hrs use and still going strong
Fired every time up to at least 20mtrs which is as far as I have tested but are rated to 100m.
Wireless signal is excellent and will fire when on the car floor with door closed and windows up.
Good side and easy to find a corner in the bag to accompany my kit. All four units together equal about the same size as my 580 flash
Appear robust with metal hot shoe and easy to access controls
Each unit can act as a transmitter or receiver at the flick of a switch. I like this idea as if one fails I can simple use another and switch it to transmitter
Support mutiply channel functions and channel groups although I have not tested this as yet.
Each unit comes with a base plate to allow free standing and has thread metal insert for mounting on light stand
AGAIN - out of the 100 or so flashs to date the trigger has worked everytime.
Nice press button test feature on each unit to identify units are communicating and to which groups the unit is assigned
I paid an extra $6 for a remote shutter cable that allows you to use the units as a remote shutter trigger in combination with remote flash triggers.
Con's:
Reviews on the web mention that the screw for securing the unit to the camera hot shot can be difficult to access - to be honest I do not find this as bad as some reviews I have read but I imagine could be difficult to unscrew if you have larger than average hands / fingers
No TTL but at the price (so what). Not an issue for me as, I mostly use manual for remote flash units anyway but no doubt TTL would be a nice addition but not a feature I miss. However, this does mean no high speed sync if wanted and the flashs do not wake up from sleep mode on the press of the camera trigger. I assume the sleep time can be adjusted on the flash units but not investigated yet.
To date, these are the only two con's I have found with the units.
HOPE THIS IS HELPFUL INFO FOR ANYONE ON A TIGHT BUDGET
Cheers,
Mike