Camera Labs

I bought these on ebay for £24, including free postage, and they were delivered from Hong Kong to England within 7 days. Here are shots of the retail packaging:





The set I chose consisted of two receivers and one transmitter/trigger. The items are surprisingly small and are pictured below alongside a 50p coin and a 67mm lens cap for scale:




Here are the supplied instructions, on a folded sheet of A4 paper:






Here are shots of a Canon Speedlite 430EXII mounted on the receiver which screws directly on to the top of a light stand:






To set the Canon Speedlite, (a) press the Mode button for two seconds to set the flash to manual, (b) press the Select/Set button for one second, and then (c) press the + or - button to set the power from 1/1 down to 1/64:




Here's the Speedlite mounted on the receiver which can also slide on to a (cheap ebay) umbrella clamp:




Here's the transmitter on my Canon EOS-450D and, as you can see, it's small and unobtrusive:




For Canon users, here's the radio transmitter compared to the expensive Canon ST-E2 infra-red transmitter:






IN USE

Each receiver takes two AAA batteries, which were not supplied but I did have four rechargable NiMH handy.

The transmitter is powered by a supplied 23A 12V mini-battery but I am concerned about the tiny screw that will eventually have to be opened. It's so small that I couldn't turn it with the screwdriver that I use for opening laptops and removing and installing hard drives. I think I'll have to find a screwdriver that's small enough for adjusting screws in spectacles!

The kit has a reputed range of 20 metres which is greater than the Canon ST-E2 Transmitter (8m outdoors and 12m indoors). I was able to test it indoors at about 10 metres with the flash in one room and me in another. I also placed the flash behind a sofa and it was successfully triggered.

In conclusion, this is a cheap way of wirelessly triggering one or more flashguns off-camera. The kit can be used with any brand of flashgun so, if I did change from Canon, I wouldn't have to sell my two Speedlites. The downsides are the build quality which appears satisfactory and only time will tell how long the components last; and the fact that users will have to learn manual flash settings.

Personally, I think I'm ready to make the jump from the easy-to-use-but-expensive Canon ST-E2 Transmitter (which will probably be put up for sale) and solely use these radio transmitters.

If you have any questions, please ask and I'll do my best to help.

Regards,
Asif

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Canon EOS 7D, Tamron 17-50mm f2.8, Tokina 50-135mm f2.8, Sigma 18-125mm DC OS HSM, 2 x Speedlite 430EXII, Speedlite Transmitter ST-E2, Radio Triggers and Panasonic DMC-TZ7.

just read the instructions, you would have thought they would get a better translator

Yes, you'd think the manufacturer would be able to pay someone who was fluent in English particularly as the kit is posted to England. However, it is possible to decipher what the author means and the kit is straightforward to use.

Perhaps I should have specifically mentioned the following steps: (a) attach the trigger to the camera hotshoe, (b) switch on the power button on the receiver, (c) attach the flashgun to the receiver, and (d) adjust the settings on the flashgun as required.

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Canon EOS 7D, Tamron 17-50mm f2.8, Tokina 50-135mm f2.8, Sigma 18-125mm DC OS HSM, 2 x Speedlite 430EXII, Speedlite Transmitter ST-E2, Radio Triggers and Panasonic DMC-TZ7.

just got the same ones.

i am really suprised at how well they work for that kind of money.


this is about 20+ meters away (65 feet)

not bad for a $25 bucks

i also tested, that it can keep up with the 50D's 6+ frames per second for at least 10 shots.

not to bad.

all in all very happy.

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Canon 50D || Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 || Tamron 17-50 f2.8 || EF 50mm f/1.4 || EF 35-105mm f/4.5-5 USM || 430EX II w/wireless system flickr

HOT TIP: They appear to not work with live view.... but as soon as i go back to the viewfinder it recognizes it.

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Canon 50D || Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 || Tamron 17-50 f2.8 || EF 50mm f/1.4 || EF 35-105mm f/4.5-5 USM || 430EX II w/wireless system flickr