Is the canon st-e2 the only way to keep ettl?

Dropbear wrote in post #4350262
what rubbish.. for something that 'doesn't work' - a lot of people are very happy with it's performance..

I agree that using a broad statement saying the "chinese stuff doesn't work," is incorrect. However, the statement I commonly hear from a few friends that own the ebay version is "They work okay, but I wouldn't want to have to rely on them for a paid job." Of course, most of the people who buy these units probably aren't getting paid, or aren't being paid much for their work, so they can get by with them. I don't see an issue with using them if they work for your purposes. One of the first times I experimented with them, I tried hooking them up to strobes on a mezzanine in a gym and shooting from the floor. I am not a very good judge of distance, but if you've ever been in a HS Gym, you get the picture. They wouldn't even fire at all.

For something that "works" there are an awful lot of unhappy customers.

rhys wrote in post #4351679
For something that "works" there are an awful lot of unhappy customers.

Part of the problem is probably that you aren't going to get any customer service to go with them. If it breaks, it becomes an "oh well, it was only $30." At least if you spend $70 or so for the Adorama variety, you can probably get a replacement if something goes wrong. But, as I said, people buy the ebay ones because they are cheaper. Don't expect a miracle from a $30 product taking place of a well respected product that costs $200.

The ebay triggers are in my bag to stay .. faultless performance so far.

My only nit is the receiver to light stand mount is not as solid as I would like.

Three things: 1) Relpace the batteries as soon as you get the units .. the shipped ones are for testing only. 2) Keep the transmitter at least a foot or two away from the receiver to prevent false triggering. 3) If you're needing more range or are getting a lot of false triggering see Strobist.com for antenna and sheilding mods.
Mike

Although Iam not a full time Photog like ome of you here, I do make enough to buy new toy and cover expenses when I shoot. I normally shoot sports to be more specific Cowboy Mounted shooting. I can not use flashes when doing this and to date that nt a problem.

But, I did buy the ebay triggers, the one with 16 channels and the receiver that uses 2 AAAbatteies and have not had ny misfires in my tests. I run these units to ethermy Spedatron light pack or to a Vivitar 285 Flash. I shoot most of my flashes as manual shots. Everytime I try the TTL using my TT capable flash it over xposes the shots somehow.

I still need to read the ETTL Bible that I found here.

I think the bay flashes work well with the dumber eqipment and not so well with the smarter quipment. Fromwha I have read. I also think that the four channel ith the htshoe gives the mst complaints. I use a hot she to light stand adapter tat will also hold a umbrella with my units using a vivitar to pc cabe pluged into the receiver hnging down below ot straped to the light stand.

ryu the sixteen channe; triggers you might find they will work where the 4 channel ones failed or it might be that they will not work wil theauto flashes. The cobo cold be the problem and not the triggers ever tries a different flash. IF you using the ebay triggers you are shooting in manual anyway so go with a flash designed to shoot in manual not one designed toshoot in auto mode.

Also, If read the manual correctly on the Vivitars their auto works differently than the new autos. They read the light returned by the flash to determine how much light is needed so if you set up one, two , or more in the same auto setting from my tests they wrk perfectly for auto type woirk plus their strond suit is at they come with 4 manual settings that can behacked to like 10 or 12 settigs very easy.