UKC

Looking at buying an 'Off Camera Flash Cord' because i can't afford wireless ones at the moment and I'm relatively new to using flashes.

I thought I'd canvas opinion to find out what sort of length people think is best to go for. The options seem to be 0.6m, 0.9m 3m, 10m.

I think the cords under 1m are likely to be pretty useless at getting that off-camera look, so I'm leaning more towards a 3m or 10m but I don't want to buy something which is still too short or conversely so ridiculously long that it turns into a mass of spaghetti every time I get it out.

Any recommendations from people on here?

In reply to Onion: Wireless can be pretty cheap - unless you're really up against it you won't save much. I've got a couple of Yongnou triggers off ebay - cost me all of £20 (new) and work fine.

In reply to What Goes Up:

Interesting, I hadn't realised they're so cheap. Are they TTL?

In reply to Onion: No, just manual, but I'm just about to upgrade to the new ETTL ones they've recently released which cost a princely £60 for the pair. Fraction of the price of PocketWizards, and generally acknowledged to be much better too.

In reply to Onion:

also, most of the time you don't need ttl for off camera flash.

In reply to Onion:

search for item number 110837938400 on the well-known auction site - they work for me!

In reply to Onion:

I bought a pair of remote triggers for my Nikon for an off-camera workshop run recently by SeanB of this parish. They were only about £25 and work fine. He also strongly suggested (and I'd go along with it now) that you learn to use the flash(es) manually, so TTL can be ignored.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B002RD9GNA/ref=oh_details_o08_s00_i00?ie...

In reply to Fraser:

As someone above said, you don't really need TTL for off-camera flash.

If you're making the effort of using interesting lighting, you'll want the control of manual flash too.

In reply to Onion:
TTL is only useful in very specific circumstances, mostly i'll be easier to shoot manual. I only use TTL for cross-pol. macro pictures, since the picture fills the whole frame. Even then, sometimes the exposure is just odd and can vary a bit.
Manual is better, and control the light with the aperture.
As for triggers, stay away from the super-cheap pt-04, they're not so good, the V4 and V5s are much better - they also work with the new laser-trigger that cactus has. Can't remember a misfire from my V5s, they're very solid triggers.

In reply to Onion:

If you end up getting remote triggers get radio not infra red, the latter is rubbish.

In reply to Onion: i got a set of these earlier this week and seem quite good (only had a few tests with them, havent tryed using them in the feild yet) but seem quite good for when you just need to move your flash off camera

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Channel-Wireless-Trigger-Control-Transmitter/dp/B00...

In reply to What Goes Up: I'm not going to knock ebay triggers, they are fantastic for the price, however better than pocket wizards they aren't! I have used a lot of triggers over the years and unfortunately nothing really beats the PW, they work when you need them to, which is everytime. Ebay triggers are good, but not as reliable, but for most people thats not an issue.

In reply to Onion:

In response to your original question, I bought a 1m bungee-style cord when I started and I find it too short. Would prefer something at least 2-3 times the length so would probably go for a 2m or 3m one if I chose again.

In reply to Onion: What camera do you have? I have a 2m third party Canon ETTL2 cord for sale. I was just about to list it on ebay, but happy to hang on it you are interested.

In reply to Onion:

Thank you everyone for your replies.

In the end I decided to go with a cord rather than the wireless triggers, although I would like to end up eventually with a set of wireless triggers.

Manual use appeals but given my inexperience I decided TTL would be the safest option for a load of pictures I've got to take this weekend. If I get the time I'll play with manual but I decided it was a bit chancey to rely entirely on manual...

In reply to Snax:

Sorry Snax, I didn't see your post until this morning after I'd bought a cable.

Otherwise, I'd have been interested.

In reply to Onion:
http://strobist.blogspot.co.uk/2006/03/lighting-101.html

Possibly the best resource for learning flash. I've had great results in a short period of time with really basic kit.

In reply to Removed User:

Super, thanks.

In reply to Onion: Just thought I'd feed back as I went ahead and bought the ETTL version of the ones I mentioned above. As someone else mentioned, TTL isn't always / usually a necessity, but for me it was worth having because I mainly shoot weddings with controlled lighting and then moving subjects, so very different obviously if you're shooting controlled climbing shots etc.

Anyway, I got two units for £60. Best range with direct line of sight that I've had with them this evening was about 150ft give or take, but I ran out of space a bit after that. I've tried them at closer range through brick walls and they were firing fine from one side of my house to the other, so through three sets of bricks and 30ft distance.

That's about it for now - just a quick play around but on first impressions they do the job. I prefer these to the (same brand) non-TTL ones I had before. Bigger than I expected though - about the size of a credit card and 2cm deep, so not the most discreet of bolt-ons, but not too heavy.

All in all, a thumbs up from me. Wish they were a bit smaller and sexier but in terms of functionality they seem to push the right buttons. Can't complain for the price at all.

BTW, these basically make my previous radio triggers redundant so if anyone wants them give me a shout, lob a few quid into an MR collection pot, and I'll stick them in the post to you.

In reply to What Goes Up:
I would be very very happy to take your redundent triggers off you if they are still available.
Thanks
Alex