Inexpensive Chinese Flash Triggers similar to Pocket Wizards – Aputure Trigmaster Plus
When you thought of off camera flash \ strobe triggers, there used to really only be one game in town, namely the Pocket Wizard Plus II triggers \ transceivers which are the gold standard of non TTL flash triggers.
Starting a few years back though, a lot of other companies started getting in the game. There were the Skyports, CyberSyncs, Radio Poppers, etc. They operated on the transmitter – receiver model where you would typically buy one transmitter and a bunch of recievers to fire all of your external flashes.
A few months ago, when the Chinese company Aputure asked me if I wanted to beta test their new Trigmaster Plus system, which is very similar to the Pocket Wizard Plus II transceivers in that each unit can serve as either a transmitter or a receiver, I thought it would be interesting to see how the Chinese triggers compared to the Pocket Wizards.
I also found their system to be interesting because each unit, like the Pocket Wizards can do a few things like trip the camera shutter, trigger the strobes, or serve as a radio receiver. Unlike the Pocket Wizards though, these units are about 1/3rd the price (I saw some units on Ebay for $55 with free shipping) and they also come with all the cables you could want for free (Pocket Wizard charges a lot for cables). That makes these units at least 3 times cheaper than the Pocket Wizard IIs with the same functionality enabled by default (you have to buy the extra cables for the PW).
The cables that come with the Trigmaster Plus include:
The other big difference is the fact that you can mount your flashes directly on top of the transceivers on the on-board hotshoe. This eliminates the need to use a sync cord from the transceiver to the flash, although you can still do that if you want to or trigger a second flash from one transceiver via a PC-sync cord as shown in the picture below:
The other cool thing about having transceivers that come with the shutter release cable for free, is that if you have 3 transceivers like me, you have 2 identical shutter release remotes, which is awesome for photo booth fun. I threw a party a month ago and left 2 remotes in the booth, allowing whoever to set of the camera, whenever. The result was a lot of really funny pics.
How well do they work? When you have the flashes mounted directly on the transceivers they work very reliably b/c no cables are involved (that could go loose or have a poor connection). There are a lot of switches and ports on the transceivers! It takes a while to get used to setting them to perform each task, but after reading through the short manual a couple times you will probably get the hang of it.
One thing that confused me a bit was the fact that the big button on the transceiver is only for shutter release, it’s not a test button. You need to mount the transceiver on the camera to trigger any flashes – you can’t trigger them by simply pressing the button.
Cables, for the most part are of high quality, except for the PC sync cord, which is of the standard variety you can buy on eBay. I’ve found that pc sync cords are the weak point in any wireless flash system, as the connections tend to go bad rather quickly. I’ve had many sync cables exactly like the ones that come with the Trigmaster go bad on the Paul C Buff CyberSync system.
You probably won’t be using the PC sync cable that much though, as the transceivers are designed to connect to the camera and flash via a hotshoe mount. This is an improvement over the Pocket Wizards, which again don’t have the flash to hotshoe mount option. With the Trigmaster Plus, you will only have to use the PC cables if you plan on connecting a transceiver to a flash via PC-sync cord or if you want to use a flash on camera at the same time.
The other two cables have a coiled cord much like the old school telephone cord and they are of great quality. I’m very happy with those and did not have any trouble with them when testing them. I have a feeling that the ability for the cord to stretch will prevent breakage over the long term.
A few final notes – The transceivers can operate on 6 channels and changing a channel is as easy as pressing a button. Sometimes changing the channel is a bit too easy though and you might bump the button by accident. Also, you can’t really see it in my pictures, but the transceivers have a standard tripod screw mount on the bottom so they can easily attach to a lightstand or tripod – this might take some getting used to type mount if you are used to attaching your flashes to a cold shoe mount. The Trigmaster Plus system takes standard AAA batteries, which is good because you can always find replacements at any convenience store or supermarket.
Overall, so far, so good – there are some minor complaints but at this price you can’t expect everything to be perfect. I haven’t played with these triggers enough or taken them to enough extremes to give a final verdict on range or reliability, but I will probably try them out on an upcoming photo shoot soon.
UPDATE 04/12/2011
I did some extreme distance testing in the open lot behind my condo and I was able to get Trigmaster Plus units to trigger a flash reliably up to 300ft, or the same as the 100m advertised by Aputure. By reliably I mean 3 successful triggers back to back while in burst mode on my Canon 5dmkII
In terms of distance, my estimate is based on Google maps. As you can tell from the pictures below, you probably won’t ever have to trigger from that far away. To test, I placed my flash at the fence on the edge of my condo, and walked out to the end of a field, triggering along the way. My maximum distance was from the end of the fence of my condo out to underneath a tree, far away.
In my test I used both the Paul C Buff Cybersyncs and the Aputure Trigmaster Plus units, and they were both able to trigger out to 100m. I did notice that when I got the transmitter / transceiver units of the different flash triggering systems too close to each other, there was some radio interference leading to reliability problems, so those carrying around multiple sets of triggers should be aware of this.
One interesting thing to note is that my slave flashes are Nikon SB-26 units and I am using the Aputure Trigmaste Plus units for Canon. I have also gotten the Trigmaster Plus transceivers to trigger an older Sigma for Canon flash that I have as well.
Has anyone else used the Trigmaster Plus? What do you think? Let me know in the comments!
Alex -
I have use it and even test it’s range. The results?
Just look at
http://www.flickr.com/photos/88448278@N00/5615979707/in/photostream
http://www.flickr.com/photos/88448278@N00/5615979669/in/photostream/
Daniel -
The PocketWizard MiniTT1 and FlexTT5, says that used to break on some place of the Hot Shoe or Tripod base, does those ones are solid? cause those ones are attached to the same way. One mor think changing the point, I have one Trigermaster set but not the Plus one, and i realized that tose have on the trigger button the ability of half trigger to focuse, and the full to shoot, does the Test button on Pocket wizard Plus II do the same? and out the price does those are better that PW + II. Im thinking on have like 3 sets of flashes on game at the same time, does this affect the functionality? As you mention that there are radio interference between them.
Thanks.
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Dave -
I didn’t see you mention that these do or don’t have TTL control capability like the PW’s do. So do they have TTL and which flashes are they TTL compatable with? Would be a great subsitute to FlexTT5’s if they do.
Anna -
I recently got the trigmasters to use with my Canon 40D and Canon flash 430EXII It works great, but I cannot seem to figure out how to change the power of the flash since it does not seem to communicate the TTL info. I try lowering it manually on the flash, but it still flashes too bright. Sorry these probably aren’t technical terms at all. Have you found a way to be able to control the brightness of a flash being triggered off camera with the aputure trigmaster plus? I might just be missing something obvious.
Peter -
Anna, you have to set your 430 on manual and adjust the power from the flash itself.
The only TTL triggers on the market as of now are the Radiopoppers, Pocket Wizard Mini, Phottix Odin, and Pixel King. The TTL triggers are a bit more expensive and only compatible with whatever system you have (usually Nikon or Canon)
ilias -
I am a wedding photographer using the trigmaster plus for about a year, not without some problems.
Generally they work great, no distance issues all. From time to time though it seems that they sort off lose connection with each other if they are inactive for a while. The solution i have found is to press the test (round button+ channel button) and they “connect” again. After that they work flawlessly until the next break.
Is anyone else experienced the same problems?
johann -
Cannot get my two trigmaster to work. Tried everything. Even tried the rround button and channel button as ilias mentioned. Any advice.
johann -
Cannot get my two trigmaster to work. Tried everything. Even tried the rround button and channel button as ilias mentioned. Any advice. Really frustrated
Peter -
The big round button is mostly if you want to use the trigger to release the shutter on your camera. The test button is actually to push that button and the channel button at the same time. That’s a little weird I know.
Also, make sure the trigger on your camera is set to TX/RX mode and the one on your flash is set to RX mode.
If you have more problems you can contact Aputure directly – they are helpful people. https://twitter.com/aputurephoto
johann -
Thanks for the response. I have really tried everything according to the instruction manual but to no avail. Will have to return the units.
Josh -
I’m also Having trouble with the Aputure Trigmaster Plus TX3N for Nikon D90, I purchase two of them to pair up with my D90 and my Flash Sigma EF-350 DGST it does not work at all I try everything like Johann say by the book and nothing I email Aputure and waiting on their response