My first look: the EBay 16 Channel Remote Trigger and Canon Speedlites

[Lotto]

Got my Ebay trigger, the RD-616, $30 include shipping from maggic_trigger. Share some initial finding, specifically how it performs with the Canon Speedlites. First the pictures.

The package


Back of the tramsmitter and the receiver. There's a female PC port on the back of the receiver.


Transmitter on camera, quite small, very light. The 1/8 mono port can be used for camera without a hot shoe.


Connect to the 580 EX, the 580 fires the 430 in wireless mode (manual).


Connect to the 430 EX via a hot shoe adapter. Check the EXIF, 1/800 is max sync speed I could get.


And finally as a added bonus, combine with the Ebay shutter remote, we got a wireless camera remote.


Build quality: cheap plastic

Range: about 40' and ran out room to test indoor, worked through 3 walls. About 30' outdoors at night, have not test in day light yet.

Sync speed: with the 20D and 580--1/125 with fresh battery(very limited test on this, since I am more interested in how it work with master/slave combo, which is limited to 1/125 in manual mode). 1/800 with a Olympus P/S.

My units have no problem with the Alien Bees and the Sunpak 383, as long as they are in range.

Now on to the well documended Canon Speedlite problems with the Ebay triggers. It seems the Speedlite admits some kind of interphering noise, which is close enough to the Ebay triggers' operating frenquency, they would trigger the receiver and fire themself randomly. My copy is no exception. There's red LED on the receiver that would light up when it receives the firing signal. Well, if I put the receiver right next to the 430 EX, sometimes the LED will light up every 2 seconds, few times it would flash rapidly, about half the time it wouldn't light up at all. Of course when the receiver is connected to the Speedlite, the flash will fire on every LED flash. The 580 EX does a bit better, I didn't experience the rapid firing part, but more like 1 in 4 chances it will pop itself few times.

There are few suggested work arounds of this problem, the one with most success is to make sure the receiver is at least 18" away from the speedlite. That's what I did and it works, no more ramdom fires.

I will do some outdoor tests later.

So far, for the price I paid, it's a nice and useful toy to play with. If you want serious work done, get yourself some PWs

[Curtis N]

Thanks for the review, Lotto.

I'm curious how you connected the receiver to the shutter release cable. I have the 4 channel version of the flash trigger and the same shutter cable. The shutter requires a stereo submini plug to enable closing two circuits (one for half-press/autofocus and one for the shutter). I would like to know which contacts need to be connected.

Thanks.

[ofdphoto]

What the? How are you connecting the receiver to the 580EX? I'm confused!

[moviemaker]

I was thinking the same thing. I don't remember seeing any jack sockets on the 580

[wazmunstr]

i think he "hacked" it, meaning he added a socket himself. it can easily (sort of) be done with the right tools and some patience. but it voids the warranty.

[Zilly]

got to ask what's this conector as its what i need


i have the same set its brill use it with my metz cl45-1 but need a conector to fire the 580ex

cheers

[FlashZebra]

Lotto,

Thank you for such a fine review.

Your carefully attention to detail, and those great pictures, will certainly enable many others to easily understand what is necessary to deal with an inexpensive radio slave and a shoe mounted flash (and especially a Canon Speedlight).

The ability to be able to refer forum participants to such a well thought out thread will really help, as questions about this exact functionality are repeated almost daily on this forum.

Again, thanks.
Enjoy! Lon

[FlashZebra]

Originally Posted by Curtis N

Thanks for the review, Lotto.

I'm curious how you connected the receiver to the shutter release cable. I have the 4 channel version of the flash trigger and the same shutter cable. The shutter requires a stereo submini plug to enable closing two circuits (one for half-press/autofocus and one for the shutter). I would like to know which contacts need to be connected.

Thanks.

Curtis,

I have intended to make this same shutter activation modification cable for some time, for use with my inexpensive radio slave, but somehow have never got it done.

But, a few months ago I did open up the cable remote I have. The circuit board in mine was very clearly marked in English as to which connector was for the shutter and which was for the focus.

I did have to remove a product label on the cable remote to reveal the two small screws that held it together. Initally it was a bit of a mystery as to how the cable remote case was held together.

Enjoy! Lon

[FlashZebra]

One of the neat things about Lotto's nice handwork is that he now has both a radio slave remote for both a flash and a camera, and likely for less cash than one simple "official" adapter cable from Pocket Wizard.

Of course the Pocket Wizard has more range and is likely more reliable. But, getting all this function for an camera enthusiast for far less than 1/10 the cost of Pocket Wizards is quite a bargain.

So, being able to do some simple soldering can have a significant financial upside.

Enjoy! Lon

[Lotto]

OK, the hot shoe adapter is this one below. I cut off the PC plug and change it to 1/8 mono jack.
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/cont...ughType=search

I added a 1/8 mono jack to the 580 EX..
http://photography-on-the.net/forum/...&highlight=diy

Thanks Curtis and Lon, I will reply on the remote in a sec, got to take a picture...

[Zilly]

great how easy is it to change them over ??

[FlashZebra]

Originally Posted by linarms

What the? How are you connecting the receiver to the 580EX? I'm confused!

If you do not want to add the mini jack to your 580EX (that Lotto did add) just connect the radio slave as Lotto shows on the 430EX (using a hotshoe adapter and soldering on the needed jack).

Or, carefully read my post below to obtain the need inexpensive "no solder" hotshoe adapter.

Enjoy! Lon

[FlashZebra]

Originally Posted by Lotto

OK, the hot shoe adapter is this one below. I cut off the PC plug and change it to 1/8 mono jack.
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/cont...ughType=search

I added a 1/8 mono jack to the 580 EX..
http://photography-on-the.net/forum/...&highlight=diy

Thanks Curtis and Lon, I will reply on the remote in a sec, got to take a picture...

This ebay merchant (photogearok) has a 16 channel radio slave that looks identical to the unit that Lotto purchased (who knows if it actually is identical, it has about the same price and the merchant is in the USA).

http://cgi.ebay.com/16-Channel-Radio...QQcmdZViewItem

But, “photogearok” also sells a nifty hotshoe adapter that already has the needed connector jack on it (no need to solder on a jack).

This adapter is shown in this link, but you have to tack on some extra cash for the adapter.

This particular adapter is very inexpensive; I think only $5.00. I have some of these adapters and they work nicely.

The adapter does look like an optical slave with that white dome on the front of it, but it is not an optical slave, just a hotshoe adapter with the need 1/8 inch (also called a mini plug) on the adapters chassis.

This adapter is all you would need to adapt radio slaves like the one Lotto has reviewed in this thread to a recent Canon Speedlight like a 550EX, 580EX, or 430EX. But it would also work for most other hotshoe-based flash units.

If you decide to get one of these radio slaves from this dealer (photogearok) be sure to tack on some of these hotshoe adapters to your order. They will really come in handy to adapt sundry hotshpoe based flash units into an ad hoc studio setup.

I have not seen this particular hotshoe adapter with the needed 1/8 inch (also called a mini plug) adapter anywhere else.

This hotshoe adapter will also allow you to use the very inexpensive 15 foot Alien Bee flash cord ($8.00) as a backup for the radio slave.

Enjoy! Lon

[FlashZebra]

Originally Posted by Lotto

As an added bonus, the adapter cord shown in this photograph (top left cord) may make a great cord to attach an inexpensive PC based optical slave to the 1/8 inch (also called a mini plug) connections that Lotto has adapted to his flash units.

Important Note: Most optical slaves do not work with recent Canon Speedlights.

Another great upside of Lotto's modification, the inexpensive Alien Bee flash cord (only $8.00) will also plug into the 1/8 inch (also called a mini plug) that Lotto has used. This cord can provide a great backup for the inexpensive radio slave highlighted in this post.

This movement to the 1/8 inch (also called a mini plug) allows robust, consistant, and inexpensive accommodation for nice ad hoc studio utility (and Alien Bee flash units use the same connector).

Enjoy! Lo

[Lotto]

I used a DVOM to measure the connectivities out of stereo sub mini plug of Ebay shutter remote, here's what I got:

Half press shutter=1+2
Full press shutter=1+2+3

Since the Ebay trigger only can make connetions of two terminals, I had to take some short cuts.

1). Connect between 1 and 3. That means we loose the half press function, which also means we can no longer wake up the camera when It goes into sleep mode. But we can turn off the "Auto Power Off" or set it to 15min or 30 mins. So as long as the top LCD sreen is active, we can use these connections. From there, I set the camera to manual focus or prefocus, use custome function CF4-1 or CF4-3 on my 20D. Press the Ebay transmitter once to active the LED in the view finder, press twice to fire the shutter. Just remember, no auto focus at these connections.

2). Use a mono jack (or connect 1 and 2 together with the stereo jack). That works as "half press" is always on (1+2) as soon as the mono jack is plugged in. This "pre-trigger condition" also means a)the camera power is alway on, and depends on your CF-- AF, AE, and focus tracking is always active. b) can not use single shot mode, because the shutter is never fully released. So, I could set the camera to multiple shots mode, the Ebay transmitter would fire the shutter once on every press of the test button, as fast as I could press the button.

Hope this is clear enough.