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cactus wireless mini review Anonymous
so i just want to give you dudes a mini review of the cactus wireless triggers

i read a lot of comments on forums when searching for wireless triggers and a lot of the DPR homos are like, shit sucks, buy a pocket wizard. fuck that $200 for each unit. so i was contemplating the alien bees triggers or the sky ports, those can be had for under $200 for a whole set

anyway, i figured i'd try the cactus because they're like $40 after shipping. they work fairly well with my studio flashes (the receiver i have is the studio variant, so your experience may differ if you use the small camera flash receiver) and everything fires 95% of the time. so yeah there are some times it won't fire, but i am not sure if the problem is with my cheap flashes or the trigger.

syncs up to 1/200 and it only missynced once so far, half the frame was black. never tried a long range test but it works up to like 10 meters at least.

don't have any real complaints about it, not going to complain about the misfires for the price i paid. used the saved money for a soft box instead.

so if you have the money for it, get yourself the better ones like the alien bees or sky ports but these really aren't as bad as people say

not affiliated with gadget infinity by the way
>> Anonymous
>>289208
Nice try, but shit sux. It spazes out with my 430EX because of EMF interference. You can attempt to shield it with alumium foil, but that's sporatic and creates shorts. This is a good setup if you know electronics and dyi and will mod it to make it work.

If you use Canon Flashes that are not 5XX, good luck.
Elinchrome Skyports are superior.
This is like debating the Canon 50/1.8 vs 1.4. For each 1.4 you can buy 5 cheapo 1.8s. I have had the shoe on these things break like crazy.

This whole "mini review" sounds like you're trying to justify not buying a better product that works when you're farther than 1 meter away.
>> Anonymous
>>289210It spazes out with my 430EX because of EMF interference.

i don't know what you're talking about. i don't see why it would mess with a camera flash. i can understand if it goes in the same frequency as your wireless phone, but a flash? please

also:

>> your experience may differ if you use the small camera flash receiver

i don't use these with camera flashes. they work well with my monolights

>>289210For each 1.4 you can buy 5 cheapo 1.8s. I have had the shoe on these things break like crazy.

if you're not an idiot about it, the 50/1.8 isn't going to break.. my 50/1.8 II in plastic is still great.

>>289210This whole "mini review" sounds like you're trying to justify not buying a better product that works when you're farther than 1 meter away.

and you sound like you're just trying to justify spending 10 times more money?

i already said if you had the money for the alien bees or the sky ports, get them because they are more reliable.

but i still wanted to set the record straight for people on the fence about the cactus triggers. and they do work from more than 1 meter away, 10 meters works for me ;) and i don't see why you would want to work that far away
>> Anonymous
I have one of them and it's fucking great. Use the transmitter with the PC socket and it fires 100% of the time that you're in range.

Although I have a friend who has one and he says it craps out on him 1/4 of the time. Like 25% of his shots have a misfire on the flash. I guess it's just a matter of quality control.
>> Anonymous
>>289213Use the transmitter with the PC socket and it fires 100% of the time that you're in range.

oh, i use it on the hoshoe, what difference does it make if it's through the PC port?

and how do you attach it to your camera? like, after it's plugged to the port, it dangles there, you tape it?
>> Anonymous
>>289216
I am usually shooting with the tripod so with the cord it's long enough to tape to the tripod shoe and leave there (the cord dangles on the tripod when it's not in use).

I dunno why it works so well with the PC socket. It just seems to fire all the time, perfectly. I've had it misfire occasionally when attached by hotshoe, but I've used it a LOT on multiple occasions and haven't been able to get it to fail yet.
>> Anonymous
>>289212
I'm guessing you haven't had 2 50/1.8s break on you yet, have you. I'm trying to justify the importance of quality control, reliability and build quality over "so cheap, you should by 10". I'd rather know my equipment isn't going to break. Once you've had one this die, it makes you less liable to trust the next one you get. Human nature.

All electronic devices have EM noise. It just happens that the noise coming from the transmitter is not shielded. When used with a 430EX(which is suspect is not shielded either) It discharges the flash continuously. Ask your engineer friends about it.

Unfortunately, you can't use a PC cable here because the lower end canons don't have a pc cord connection, unless you purchase a special hot-shoe connection.
>> ac !!VPzQAxYPAMA
>>289243
>I'm guessing you haven't had 2 50/1.8s break on you yet, have you
Yes, I believe that was the point he was trying to make with "if you're not an idiot about it, the 50/1.8 isn't going to break". I've also been using my 50/1.8 for about three years so far without any issues.
>> Anonymous
>>289243Once you've had one this die, it makes you less liable to trust the next one you get. Human nature.

hmm, okay?

once i've had great experience using cheap things that work, it makes me more liable to not spend 10 times more money for something that will do the same thing. human nature lolololol

idiots sometimes