Dave, always put a smile on my face, when you post something. Great to see you on RU-vid / Adorama. "Back in the day", hell yeah two decades, do count as "decades". Please keep them coming!
Excellent video and good choices. In my case PocketWizard (along with a flash meter) was the way to go with a variety of Profoto and a set of modern and vintage flashlights. Recently, however, I wanted to upgrade to the latest Profoto wireless strobes, but instead I decided to test an alternate system from Godox. I also acquired a few Godox triggers for my Nikon flashlights, and the entire system of strobes and flashlights now work in harmony, TTL and HSS included. Saved a bundle too over the competing system I initially considered!
David... As usual, these vids really hit the mark. I have done a lot of work with "Really Mixed" strobes. I use the Adorama Flashpoint Budget Strobes which have a Guide Number of 190 or 300 Watt Seconds, not too shabby for $100. I use the Phottix Stratos Multi II transceivers and receivers to tie it all together with Canon Strobes as well. I also use the Canon 90ES which is no longer made, but it can act as a Master. The Canon 430EX which can act as a Slave only. Of course, I have a Canon 600EX RT and a Yongnuo Knock off of the Canon 600. I truly appreciate this video as it is "Right up my alley" as us older folks put it. Thanks again for giving me some better ideas!
David’s system is good. For a budget solution I use yunguno triggers with a mix their speed lights and a con Ex43:0ii as well as a Godox studio strobe. The triggers provides both manual and TTL control over the speed lights, while I need to manually control the studio strobe
How is your Yongnuo gear holding up? I used Yongnuo gear for a few years but had reliability issues. Sometimes the speedlight would not fire and I had to take out the batteries and swap them around to different positions (and sometimes that would work.) Then one day, my YN speedlight and transmitter would no longer power up when inserting brand new batteries. No more signs of life.
Hi David, i am a Nikon shooter and i can use SB600 speedlights triggered by the CLS system and i also use a Speedotron D802 pack with 3 M11 heads which i use a radio trigger for. When i use them both together i use the CLS system on for the Nikon Speedlights and an old school optical trigger on the Speedotron pack which works very well. Thanks for the Info and have a good week.
We have been using the ORLIT system since it first came out and have done extensive testing and feedback for Adorama over the past few years. It has been a very reliable system for us with misfires and issues being few and far between. We have taken as many as 30,000 photos in a single week at fashion shows with great results.
@@DavidBergmanPhoto haven't had the chance to use the newer flashpoint lights yet. Hoping to get some soon. I do like the ORLIT ROVER when I need something lightweight but yeah speed lights still have their place.
If you primarily use a system wirelessly like the Canon Speedlights but just need to add a single large strobe, you can grab the shutter sync by adding a Pocket Wizard to the pc sync socket on the camera. You'll need to adjust the power setting of the big strobe in-place, but you can still control your Speedlight settings remotely with a ST-E3-RT. A whole other issue involves matching the color coming out of the different brands of strobes.
One other option which I use. I have two Godox TT685s with a x-pro trigger. I also have an older speed light that I can use as a third flash if needed. I put it on Slave mode (S1). This light does not support HSS nor TTL when used as a slave. Thus I put it on S1 mode and manually set the power of the flash. When any other flash near by goes off it does trigger this flash. Some day I will get another Godox TT685, but until then this will work - just takes a little effort.
There's always those cheap chinese brands like yongnuo. For studio environment they will work fine. The godox X system which will also trigger some flashpoint gears since adorama rebranded some godox flash.
Current Godox remotes and current speedlights will trigger all the current Flashpoint lights and vise versa at this point. A Godox or Flashpoint speedlight for Canon will even work full function(TTL/HSS/Remote power adjustment) to control Godox/Flashpoint speedlights meant for other camera brands and all the Godox or Flashpoint monolights with built in receivers. The only ones that don't work(to my knowledge) are the AC powered FP budget strobes(300w/160w/120w) but that's because they don't have radio control capabilities. They can still be triggered by their built in optical slave.
I used Yongnuo flash gear for a few years but I had reliability issues with it. Sometimes the speedlight would not fire. I had to take out the batteries and swap them around to different positions and often, that fixed the issue. Though one day, my Yongnuo speedlight and transmitter would not turn on anymore when inserting brand new batteries. No signs of life anymore. I think I'll choose a different brand for my next speedlight.
So I’m just curious - will channels on Godox transmitter be compatible with same channels nr on for example neweer flashes etc? For example I have godox transmitet and one godox speedlite and one neweer speedlite. Just curious if I set them on same channel does it work or not? Hehe 🤔
Hi Dear I want to buy the visico 5 400w portable flash to use with my Nikon Z7II and I can see they don’t have a trigger, my questions is if I can buy any brand trigger?
I had 4 600 ex RT’s but at certain venues with wifi the link drops on the off camera flashes and only delink relink if you turn the 600’s off and on again, and that’ll last from 2-10 minutes then drop the link again. Beyond infuriating at a wedding reception. Canon refuses to acknowledge or fix this.
I have a Canon 5D Mark IV camera and a Canon 600 EX-II-RT Speedlite flash. Can I add 2 or 3 Godox AD200 Pro units and fire them plus the 600 EX-II-RT at the same time from my Canon camera?
Just sharing my experience.When using Canon ST-E3-RT Ver 2 trigger, one need to be aware of the effective range. I used ST-E3-RT to control Canon Speedlite EL-1 and Westcott FJ400 (ORLIT equivalent) and noticed that the FJ400 does not trigger reliably when I am more than 30m away. In fact, many a times it does not trigger the FJ400 even though I have line of sight and no blackage.This is worse if you are using EL-1 as a trigger.
I use Lightpix Labs T2 transmitter and receiver. The transmitter is tiny. It stays permanently on the camera. I put a Nissin controller, or a Godox controller, on the receiver. I keep this controller close by me. I lose TTL, but I can control any number of flashes remotely. With a second T2 receiver, I can use both systems together and control even more flashes; all remotely. Lightpix Labs even has their own flashes that can be controlled from the transmitter atop the camera remotely. The FlashQ flashes are not powerful, but are good for a little fill.
Is there a MATRIX, published anywhere, showing compatibilities between radio transmitters of each brand known to sell one, vs speedlights (and greater) of various brands?
those optical peanuts are not good in a lot of situations... other flashes, strobes lights and lasers will make them go crazy. I found out the hard way. haha. Go wireless when you can
Hi Dave, Thank you for your awesome videos. I also have a compatibility issue. I primarily own all Canon gear which includes three EL-1 speedlights and a Canon Speedlite Transmitter ST-E3-RT (Ver. 2). I am on the cusp of purchasing a Hasselblad X2D (for specific studio work) and would very much like to use my Canon Speedlites and transmitter if at all possible without having to invest in more (compatible) Speedlites. My preference is to mount the transmitter on the X2D and safely fire the EL-1(s) remotely. What options (budget friendly or not) would you recommend where I can keep my Canon Speedlites even if I just safely (due to trigger voltage) shoot in manual mode? Thank you !
Hmm, first time seeing that Speedlite. I doubt it would be compatible out of the box. But you could probably add a Godox receiver to that Speedlite to trigger it.
Hi Great video. Are the Orlit flashes still available? I've done a search and can't seem to see which other brands also communicate with the Canon ST-E3-RT, can you point me in the right direction? Looking for a small Monolight to add to my speed lights, to give more power to the key light. Thanks
These triggers all use old rc radio technology 2.4ghz and 5ghz. With rc radio controls you can pair your equipment with pretty much anything because it's all about frequency channels, but they essentially lock you into presets. That's not to say that you would be able to control the flash power with the triggers.
I have a Neewer I6T EX 600W TTL HHS Flash with built-in receiver. Works fine with the trigger that came with it. But when I tried to trigger it with a Godox X Pro C 2.4G, it will fire, but I can't adjust the power from the trigger. I'm a little frustrated because I'd heard that many Neewer products were actually just re-brandings of Godox goods. Thus I assumed that Neewer and Godox lighting would be more compatible.
@@DavidBergmanPhoto Interesting. I'm an amateur and when I first started, I bought a lot of Neewer products. They seem to be heavily promoted on Amazon: "Best Seller" or "Amazon's Choice." Good Amanzon reviews, with many stars & lowest prices. I assume they are not sold by Adorama or B&H. Although Neewer probably appeals to mostly amateurs, I bet there are a lot Neewer consumers out there. You might want to do a review on Neewer gear.
Hi dear ,thank u for xour perfect content ,I try to buy Item #0118 Optical Slave - Canon EX Compatible - with Male PC Connector - Sonia Brand But it's out of stuck ,do u know how can order
My remote wireless transceiver has 3 channels but I want to create an extra channel as a rim light using an old canon EX 430 II flash. If I set my Yongnuo master to shoot in all manual will the added dumb optical slave on the canon flash work correctly because though they are ETTL capable it will prevent the other flashes’ from firing with a pre-flash?
I assume you mean "groups" instead of channels, but I get the idea. I don't have that Yongnuo, but in my experience with other transmitters, when you set it on all manual, it will not fire a pre-flash. Those are only needed to send TTL data. So you should be OK if you put all your flashes in manual. Otherwise the optical receiver on the Canon will trigger that flash too early.
I just got the westcott fj400 strobes and would like to use my canon speedlights or even my allienbees with it. How can I connect them and will I be able to adjust my power output on my speedlights? My fj400s came with the Fj-x2m trigger. Can I control my power outage of my speed lights with it?
David- always enjoy your videos but the Adorama Rovelight 610 is discontinued and the unit has a faulty battery which is now impossible to purchase. Very disappointed of my original purchase and the lack of support from Adorama on this subject.
Mate, you are aware that raising your ISO increases your overall exposure including ambient light right? It Does not make your speedlights any more powerfull.
David. Apart from the Canon ST-E3-RT, can the Orlit Rovelight 610 be connected with another trigger brand? If so, which one you recommend? Thanks a lot!
I have a canon 5d mark4 with 2 YONGNUO speedlite YN560 III, I have just got a strobe GODOX SK 400 II. My trigger for my speedlites won't work with the strobe, without changing my speedlights, is there a trigger that will work my setup?
Thanks for your videos. I have a Canon 80D. I use as my main flash a Godox AD200. I find a nice deal to buy Neewer Vision 4. Does my Godox tigger works with the Neewer flash? If not, how can I use both at the same time for photo shoothings
love your work, just have a question about .. i using my Sony A7Riv camera with Profoto A1X with Profoto trigger , all is fine. and i got my Sony speedlites HVL-F43M. can i connect together? please send me more detail from trigger to connect together please. G.Lam
My advice for Jerry is to sell his equipmen and buy Godox equipment. It's so much cheaper without sacrificing image quality. You can have better quality (with more flashes), ease of use, and redundancy.
So I am looking to add more off camera lighting. I was recommended godox ad200 and another one. I have a canon et II Rx flash. If I wanted to buy the godox ad200 and treat it as a slave, but also use my canon flash off camera, should I buy the canon wireless transmitter, or buy godox and use it as the master and the canon as a slave? I’m trying to figure my best options.
Thanks for the information David and I have a question for you which is I have a Bolt VB-22 bare bulb reflector flash unit which is great. How would or what would I need to have this VB-22 flash unit communicate (as a master unit) with either my Canon speed lites 600EXII-RT or Godox TT 685c (as slaves). All of these flash units will be used with Canon cameras. Thanks Brother!
Great video and loved the combinations you showed, But could this all work in high sync? And what if the big strobe was say an Elinchrom that doesn't do HSS?
If the flash supports HSS (which that Orlit does), then yes - it would work. But the flash has to support it because it literally changes the way the flash fires. It's not as simple as a transmitter telling it to go faster. :)
Just bought the AD200 PRO and the AD600 from a buddy and have been wondering if I can trigger them with my Yonguo YN-E3-RT which is identical to Canon's ST-E3-RT. So you answered the first part: yes, it can trigger them! Your video's a blessing! But I can't figure out how.
Hi David great vid. thanks for the info. I bought the optical slave using the link you provided. it seems I need additional part to plug in the slave. will you let know what that is? I have a speedlite 580EX. thanks
Yes - I have two of them! Best way I've found to solidly mount four Speedlites. I don't use them as often anymore because of the available of the Orlit and Flashpoint strobes that work with the Canon radios. Before those, I did everything I could to stick with one system and have 8 Canon Speedlites to prove it. :)
So, how many Canon Speedlites will it take to match my 9600 watt second Speedotron head? Wow, triggering more than one flash! We used to call that 'using a slave'. Completely brand agnostic. Unless you'd like to so something like light a large interior with speedlites and a fuck-ton of batteries.
Lots! But yes - optical slaves were very common back in the day. No big deal. And as I show, they still work well for manual firing. But most people want to use the advanced functionality of their modern strobes - controlling settings from the camera, TTL, HSS, etc. And no optical slave will do that. Progress, right?
I enjoyed your great tutorial on different ways to mix flash/strobe systems, however, I have a question regarding the Canon Speedlite system and its inability to trigger Second Curtain sync wirelessly off camera. I own a Canon 5D Mk IV along with the Canon Speedlite transmitter (ST-E3-RT) and two Canon 600 EX-RT Speedlites. I want to trigger my two Canon Speedlites off camera in second curtain sync and cannot do it within the Canon system. Is there a reasonably priced radio trigger/receiver out there which can trigger my Canon Speedlites? I shoot in Manual mode so ETTL is not a requirement.
I know this comment is old, but it"s baffling to me that there's not a lot of transmitters than can do this on Canon. I use many systems and the only one I have that can do this is the Elinchrom Pro Transmitter. However, Canon has upgraded their protocol lately when they came out with their "sell a kidney to get the speedlite" SL-1. At the same time, it seems like their also upgrade the ST-E3-RT to a Mark II version and, from my understanding, the new units have the capacity to do second curtain sync wirelessly. Still the same poor 30 meters max distance for the system, though.
Long story short, stop using proprietary hardware made to work only with itself. Order Godox or even Neewer equipment and a Good 2.4ghz trigger(X1T or N1T) and call it a day and you can use damn near any make and model mono light or speedlite you want. No special expensive stuff to buy.
Hi, Are you sure that for : Godox X1Ttrigger for a given camera band would work with any 3rd party flash(say JinBei) built in with 2.4GHz network, will communicate without extra receivers or so ? I'm trying to make sure this, as I gave aGodox X1T and I want to confirm if it would work with a JinBei protable studio flash which has the 2.4GHz built in.
Should be renamed mixing triggers with Canon, as I got zero from this. Wasted 12 mins of my life. I’m sure if you’re a Canon user, this is for you though.