Wireless flash setup. Need advice!

[tasteofjace]

To sum it up, I have an Alien Bees 800, and plan on buying a 430ex or 580ex that I want to control wirelessly.

What are my most affordable options to achieve this?

I shoot with a 5D MKIII

Thanks in advance for any help!!

 

[prestonpalmer]

Recommend getting the new Canon Speedlite 600.....

 

[tasteofjace]

Recommend getting the new Canon Speedlite 600.....

I'm definitely not ready to spend $600.00 on a speedlight. haha.

Also, I have not problem with manually controlling everything. I actually went with a Cybersync setup. I'll probably add a 430ex to the mix as well.

 

[D_Rochat]

I know nothing about Alien Bee lights, so no comment there. I do however use Speedlites with Pixel King ETTL Triggers and I'm happy with them. There are cheaper alternatives, but I wanted the use of ETTL without a hefty price tag. I got mine off of ebay and from Hong Kong.

http://www.pixelhk.com/proshow.aspx?id=101

 

[Scooter]

I'm not up on Alien Bees either, but I do as well use the Pixel King wireless radio triggers on my Canon 50d. I use them with 2 Nissin Di-866 pro flashes in Hi-speed sync and E-TTL. I have never used them in Manual Mode. But the Trx/Rcvr set does come with cords to hook up to studio lights. I purchased mine thru Cowboy Studio . com. So it "should" all work with everything in manual mode. I hope this helps a little ?

 

[technifoto]

This is actually the setup I want, but I have it the other way around: I have a 430EX but want to buy an AB800 LOL.

anyways, go look through Paul Buff's site again and get their receivers and transmitters. You only need one transmitter but depending on how many flashes you want to fire, you need a receiver for each one.

 

[swrightgfx]

I know nothing about Alien Bee lights, so no comment there. I do however use Speedlites with Pixel King ETTL Triggers and I'm happy with them. There are cheaper alternatives, but I wanted the use of ETTL without a hefty price tag. I got mine off of ebay and from Hong Kong.

http://www.pixelhk.com/proshow.aspx?id=101

+1 I don't own but have used Pixel Kings and they are really good and a great affordable option.

That said, I read on a German forum that there are some issues with the Mark III and Pixel Kings, but got this response from Pixel HK. I assume they mean they have tested it and it works fine!?

Can anyone confirm this?

Hello,

It is ok.

Thanks and best regards!
Pixel Enterprise Limited

--------------------------------------------------

Hello,

I was wandering if you can tell me when the Canon EOS 5D Mark III will be supported by Pixel King (I imagine, with a firmware update)?

Regards,

Scott

Not the most in-depth of responses.

 

[yuxinhong]

What I Did is 430Ex II and 580EX II + Phottix Odin,
and i will get another 430 EXII later on

 

[pwp]

As you already have Alien Bees, check out the Paul C Buff system.
http://www.paulcbuff.com/index.php
http://www.paulcbuff.com/cybersync.php

I use 4 PCB Einsteins which I control remotely with Cyber Commander and Cyber Sync hardware. The Cyber Commander gives full control over PCB lights, and a degree of control over non-PCB lights, including speedlights. The CC can control up to 16 lights. If you end up expanding on your Alien Bees and pick up a couple of Einsteins, you'll be a happy camper. They're brilliant... and about the price of a pre-owned 580exII. Amazing.

I'm not sure if the 430ex or 580ex have external plugs to accept the likes of radio receivers but the 580exII does. Someone may correct me on this.

Paul Wright

 

[Chuck Alaimo]

check out the cactus v5 triggers too. They are pretty damn cheap and so far have not failed on me at all. At like $39 each or $59 for a set of 2, they give quite the bang for the buck!

Also, for your mkiii, you may want to pick up a 600RT or the new lower model RT flash because the AF assist beam on the older flashes won't recognize the new 61pt AF system in the mkiii

 

[AdamJ]

Yongnuo 603's are the best bang for your buck. You can get four for $60 on Ebay. They are transceivers so you can use any of them interchangeably as transmitters or receivers. They can also act as a remote shutter release.

 

[Marsu42]

Also, for your mkiii, you may want to pick up a 600RT or the new lower model RT flash because the AF assist beam on the older flashes won't recognize the new 61pt AF system in the mkiii

... meaning the old flashes won't af assist with the 5d3 at all, or not just with some af point configurations?

 

[Canon Cliff]

Yongnuo 603's are the best bang for your buck. You can get four for $60 on Ebay. They are transceivers so you can use any of them interchangeably as transmitters or receivers. They can also act as a remote shutter release.

+1 for the yongnuo 603's

I use these triggers with x 2 580 exii and x 2 430 exii for a mobile studio set up and for of camera creative lighting. They are fairly well made and work without missing a beat! They dont have ettl but i use a sekonic 307s to set them up in a studio environment atleast. I dont think you can go wrong with these considering the price you can get them for.

 

[davidbellissima]

There are a number of cheap options available if you only want manual flash control. If you want manual and TTL control the options are reduced and the cost is higher. That said, some triggers offer the ability to control the manual flash power from the camera.

Here is a blog post discussing some options, with reference to the 5D Mk iii as well.....

http://www.bellissimaphoto.co.uk/photographers/pocket-wizard-versus-phottix-odin-versus-radio-popper-flash-triggering.html

 

[TrumpetPower!]

Since you're shooting Alien Bees, it's a no-brainer. CyberSync all the way.

You can get a trigger to fire (and meter) other lights, but you'll have complete control over your Paul C Buff lights -- power in 1/10 stop increments, linked or independent control of the modelling lamps, bracket control of a group of lights, reeadout of color temperature and flash duration, the works.

b&

 

[sheedoe]

I use both the pixel king and cyber commander simultaneously to adjust my speedlites and Einsteins indepedently. Works great!

 

[ac5d3]

This seems like a great wireless flash setup:
Pixel King TTL + YN565EX

Using Pixel King with Canon 5D Mark III instead of ST-E3-RT and 600EX-RT

 

[Bluezdawg]

As you already have Alien Bees, check out the Paul C Buff system.
http://www.paulcbuff.com/index.php
http://www.paulcbuff.com/cybersync.php

I use 4 PCB Einsteins which I control remotely with Cyber Commander and Cyber Sync hardware. The Cyber Commander gives full control over PCB lights, and a degree of control over non-PCB lights, including speedlights. The CC can control up to 16 lights. If you end up expanding on your Alien Bees and pick up a couple of Einsteins, you'll be a happy camper. They're brilliant... and about the price of a pre-owned 580exII. Amazing.

I'm not sure if the 430ex or 580ex have external plugs to accept the likes of radio receivers but the 580exII does. Someone may correct me on this.

Paul Wright

Paul,
I just purchased 2 Einsteins, CC and the CyberSync transmitters and cannot get them to fire when pressing the shutter release on my camera. They do test fire with the CC. I am shooting with a Canon 6d, which has no PC synced port, so I have the CC on the hotshoe. Is there something I need to setup on the camera flash setting? Baffled in Boulder!
cheers,
dawg

 

[kphoto99]

Get the YN 600EX-RT ($124) as the master and the YNE3-RX ($45) as receivers for the Alien Bees.
I have a couple of the YN-600EX-RT and I am very happy with them.

 

[benique]

I also use a couple of YN-600EX-RT. They work very well and have transceivers built in. I've used them in ETTL and manual mode.