Advice for studio triggers and metering

[naturemike]

Hello,

I'm a landscape photographer who is diving into the world of studio lighting. I plan on mostly shooting products and headshots. I'm looking into getting 2 Impact Venture 600 flashes and want to know the best way to meter and trigger them. Impact makes a radio controller for their flashes but is cannot be triggered from a light meter. Is that really much of an issue? If so is there any other option out there other than pocket wizard that can be triggered from a light meter? I was interested in Youngnuo brand because of the price advantage.

Thanks for helping out!

Mike

[Manfred M]

Mike - Welcome to CiC. Would you mind clicking on the "My Profile" button on the top of this page and adding at least your first name and where you are from to your profile?

When it comes to radio triggers, I think you will find that these are all proprietary in nature and different brands do not mix at all and if they do, it is at a very basic level; i.e. firing the flash but no remote control of the flash. The closest thing out there to a "universal" design are the PocketWizard units, but as you have noted these are quite expensive.

If you want to trigger a flash from a flash meter, so far as I know you are going to be stuck with the Sekonic / PocketWizard combination.

I use PocketWizard with my Paul C Buff Einstein 640 studio lights as well as my Nikon Speedlights and use my Sekonic L-358 with the PocketWizard compatible radio to trigger the units. I use the PocketWizard Zone Controller to remotely manage the lights (it supports 3 separate zones in 1/3 stop increments). The only work around I see if you want to go with lower cost triggers is to buy an extra trigger and use it off-camera to trigger the lights while metering.

[inkista]

... I'm looking into getting 2 Impact Venture 600 flashes and want to know the best way to meter and trigger them.

Can you define "best"?

Impact makes a radio controller for their flashes but is cannot be triggered from a light meter. Is that really much of an issue?

Not necessarily. Most flash meters can let you just manually hit the trigger to fire the flashes and measure that way. But you can also typically cable any radio transmitter that has a sync input up to the meter and fire from the meter that way vs. an internal RF module. Just be sure the transmitter's sync port is input, not output (or can be configured either way). Some of the cheaper radio transceivers, like the Yongnuo RF-603II triggers, only have a sync output, for use to trigger a cabled flash, not to receive input from a camera/meter.

If so is there any other option out there other than pocket wizard that can be triggered from a light meter?

Sekonic has modules/meters that can trigger in the PocketWizard, Phottix Odin II, and Elinchrom Skyport systems, iirc. RadioPopper's reverse-engineered a module for older Sekonic meters, as well.

I was interested in Youngnuo brand because of the price advantage.

Yeah, just me, but don't go there if you need to hook a transmitter up to a light meter; none of the YN triggers has a sync input port. The Godox X1T transmitter's PC sync port can be configured as input or output, as can the newer XPro's 2.5mm sync port (the XPro, however, only comes in Canon/Nikon flavors so far; with Fuji and Sony versions announced. The X1T has Canon, Nikon, Sony, Fuji, and Four-Thirds flavors out). I think the Odin II and Cactus V6II triggers can also have their sync port configured as input, but I'm not 100% sure on that.

You may also want to look at the Godox system, if you're using strobes for hobbyist/semi-pro usage. All the lights have built-in radio triggers that allow for remote power control. All the speedlights have built-in transceivers (so they can be master as well as slave), and all the speedlights, the AD200, AD360II, AD600 (battery-powered 600Ws monolight), and QTII series of plug-in strobes can do HSS over radio so long as the master unit is TTL capable (which both the X1T/XPro are). Their QSII, DPII, GSII, and SKII plug-in studio strobes don't do HSS/TTL, but do have the built-in radio triggers and can have their power remotely set from an X1T/XPro.

Oh, and the AD600Pro has been announced. Like the AD600, it can also be separated into a pack'n'head with an extension head accessory, and adapted to AC with another accessory. Faster recycle, but shorter battery life. And the mount is metal and unstepped. And absolutely every bit of it (bulbs, batteries, accessories, etc.) will be incompatible with the non-Pro model.

Pricewise, for equivalent gear, Godox and Yongnuo are very close (say, an X1T transmitter is about $45, which is roughly the same price as a YN-622-TX). And Yongnuo isn't being rebranded/supported by Adorama in the USA. The Flashpoint R2 gear on Adorama is all rebranded gear in the Godox 2.4GHz system.

[naturemike]

[QUOTE=inkista;702371]Can you define "best"?

Wow! Thanks for all of the info everyone. I'm going to do a little more research based on all of this info.

[inkista]

You're welcome.

I probably shouldn't mention this, but the Godox A1 smartphone trigger also has a sync input port. It's a better size/shape to velcro to the back of a light meter, but it's not all that useful, compared to the other Godox transmitters, given that the iPhone's sync speed is a whopping 1/45s (or 1/25s if you have a 5S like me). But if you ever wanted to set off studio strobes with your iPhone camera...

[loosecanon]

Most flashmeters will sense the flash and measure it, so all you need is something in your hand that will trigger the flash. The Godox cell II I bought are cheap, rapid response and use the standard jack to trigger the flash. I keep one transmitter on the camera and a second to hand hold and trigger all flashes in use. Individual flashes I can trigger by IR as well as remotely adjust them.