How good are the "poverty wizards"?

[jerryph]

The Gadget Infinity remote wireless flash triggers are commonly referred to as the Poverty Wizards due to their very cheap price, but also well known for their short triggering distance of about 30 feet.

When mine came in, I measured their distance, and indeed, they did stop firing the strobe at just before the 30 foot mark.

On the strobist group (www.strobist.com), there were a few people who added antennas and what not to their triggers and claimed improved distances. Not having anything to lose, I made my own little internal antenna following the steps outlined by someone who'd had some success. This is what it looks like:


http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3002/2640927216_d860d35cb0.jpg

Well, I am going to cut to the end of the story... this little improvement lets me trigger the flash from as far as 358 feet away!

How do I know this? This afternoon, I took out one of those measuring wheels, placed a strobe outside on my street and walked as far as my cul-de-sac street permitted.


I started off at the 30-foot mark, the place where the factory unchanged triggers ended:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3133/2681342310_94a511fff4.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3185/2680524871_27d6084154.jpg

... and went all the way as far as my street permitted!:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3241/2680526333_8f9d0b52cb.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3178/2680526375_75617b5301.jpg

Not bad for a $35 unit and a virtually free and easy modification. They should change their names from poverty wizards to UNDERESTIMATED wizards!

I have the complete series of pictures on my flickr page. The set is located HERE (http://flickr.com/photos/jerryph/sets/72157605997210124/).

[dkippen]

Congratulations Jerry - but for what application would you use this for?

[jerryph]

We all know that great pictures come from when the light is taken OFF camera, but how do we trigger the flashes when they are not on top of the camera? Well, we can connect using long wires (called sync cables), or we can spend big bucks on Pocket Wizards and/or Radio Poppers, and then there are the very cheap and affordable ones called Gadget Infinity Cactus V2s triggers (these are the ones that I own).

You goal is to wirelessly trigger the flashes from ANYWHERE in a room. :)

A good example is that I can be at the back of an auditorium, no need to mess with pushy people and jostle for camera room. I can place 2 strobes on the stage or place them in the rafters, strategically placed, and be all the way at the back of the room 100 feet away and get perfectly exposed shots of whoever is anywhere on that stage.

By no coincidence, my niece's HS graduation happens this coming year and their auditorium is just that size. I already have permission to place the strobes anywhere I want, even with umbrellas on stands on stage to the sides. I can be in the back of the hall with my 70-200mm lens and camera on a tripod and get excellent results from 100 feet away.

Also becuase these are not optical triggers, no one else will trigger my strobes except me, no matter how many people with point and shoot cameras are there firing away. :D

Another nice thing is that because I can use my battery powered strobes on light stands, I can be anywhere, a park for example, and still get perfectly lit pictures any time of day or night... all without wires.

Imagine, being able to take portrait shots from any reasonable distance or number of people and still have your strobes fire without you needing to be connected via wires to your strobes.

Another potential place? How about a gym? 2 lights placed strategically and all my shots are well lit with reasonable shutter speeds and bigger apertures. One can clearly light 1/4 of an entire basketball court with 2 good battery powered strobes set at a meager 1/2 power!

The possibilities are endless. :)

Read up on it a little at Strobist. Look for Lighting 101 for more info. :)

[LensBaby]

I hate using the sync cables! I love to move my lights around just to practice different lighting effects, and the cable can be a pain more than anything. I have only used my cable a few times.

[jerryph]

I never used the cables more than perhaps 10 times. After that I went optical triggers, and then finally got the Cactus setup. Cables were a pain in the... well, you know what I am trying to say... lol

[dkippen]

Jerry - this makes sense now.