I think I'll try the antenna trick too if Johann tells us where to get
them and what his experience has been. I've also been seriously
thinking about buying some Elinchrom radio slaves which are fairly new
on the market. They don't have quite the range of Pocket Wizards (600
feet vs maybe 1/4 mile) but they are small and light, reliable and very
much cheaper. I was watching a video testimonial from Will Crockett
about them last night who says they're a great Pocket Wizard substitute
if you don't need the extreme reach of the Pocket Wizards (as in through
multiple walls of a large building)
<http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?ci=0&sb=ps&pn=1&sq=desc&InitialSearch=yes&O=jsp%2FRootPage.jsp&A=search&Q=*&bhs=t&shs=elinchrom+radio&sb=ps&pn=1&sq=desc&InitialSearch=yes&O=jsp%2FRootPage.jsp&A=search&Q=*&bhs=t&Go.x=0&Go.y=0&Go=submit>
Be sure to get the "universal" version which is designed to work with
any flash. The more expensive "RX" version is specifically designed to
work with Elinchrom RX series lights as it can control power level
remotely. Alien Bees makes a similar transmitter/remote power control
but theirs have suffered from triggering problems. Don't know if it's
sorted out or not.
Chuck Norcutt
Ken Norton wrote:
> I have three sets of RD616 units. You still get a LOT of false triggers when
> you have two receivers in close proximity. How close? Well, usually, I do
> a three-light portrait setup and can get away with it--but not always.
> Anything closer than 3 meters will usually give me an occasional false
> flash. But in a previously mentioned venue, I've had one trigger another
> with a spacing of 20 meters.
>
> I myself will be looking for the 433 MHz antennas. What an excellent idea.
> I modified one of mine with a hoop of 12-gauge wire. Works great, but
> unfortunately, it ended up ripping the trace on the circuit-board. My
> feeble attempt to modify a second transmitter resulted in a hack-job worse
> than a I like Johann's configuration MUCH better. I will do the same.
>
> As to increase in distance, Chuck? Well, under ideal conditions, I can get
> the stock unit to reliably trigger up to 30 meters. But in my testing, even
> my jerryrigged unit gave me solid results up to 100 meters. Probably
> farther, but my neighborhood didn't have a straight street long-enough to
> verify.
>
> Now for the really bad news. The 16-channels are effectively 1 channel. I
> have tried changing the channel on my transmitters to build "groups" of
> flashes or something as simple as changing the channel to disable the
> external flashes without having to disconnect the transmitter from the
> camera. Changing channel assignments is no guarantee of channel isolation.
> I fought this at a big event recently and finally got so frustrated that I
> ended up just removing the transmitter most of the time.
>
> Quote from "The Birds": "Why are they doing this? Why are they doing this?
> They said when you got here, the whole thing started. Who are you? What are
> you? Where did you come from? I think you're the cause of all this. I think
> you're evil! EVIL!" - Doreen Lang
>
> AG
> http://www.zone-10.com
>
>
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