Sync cords evil. I hate to think how many sync cords I've purchase and how many shots I missed because they failed. As I dusted off my vintage 1984 Broncolor Flashman (named when the Sony Walkman was at the height of its popularity) power packs with the idea of using them for a project, I realized I did not have a reliable sync cable. So, rather than buy a $20 cable, I decided to pop for a budget model radio flash trigger from Calumet $39. After a quick test this evening, I'm kicking myself for not buying one in 1984. Well, not too hard - Broncolor charged about $900 for their model back then.
The piece on the left is the transmitter, which goes in the camera hot shoe. The spring pin is a little long, so it takes some effort to put it on a Nikon D700 for some reason. The larger piece on the right is the receiver, which can be attached to the strobe with a clip or the supplied Velcro tape and plugs in to the strobes sync jack. The plug felt a little loose, but there were no mis-fires in my test. I was able to trigger the strobe from just fine about 60 feet away, through a wall.
On a side note, for the test, I bounced a single head off the ceiling with the Broncolor Flashman set at 1/4 power, the lowest setting. It lit a 10x14 room so well that at ISO 200 I had to stop down to f/22! I'm truly amazed that the Broncolor packs still work after 26 years. By the time I bought my first Broncolor kit, I'd worn out three Balcars, three Normans and one Pro Photo kit in the course of nine years. I guess it pays in the long run to buy the best if you can afford it.
Don't shoot on the second curtain wiht this trigger, you'll see the curtain on almost every shutterspeed!
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