remote controls

[jacob]

[ QUOTE ]
Get the pocket wizards, they are made much better...

[/ QUOTE ]
Hi Steve, made much better how?
It's something I was leaning towards but the others here have got my eyes opened to the other possibilities...thanks for any info [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[jacob]

[ QUOTE ]
Hey there Jacob,

what ever you do, do not buy the A/B wireless remote (if it is the only remote you are going to use) it is a hunk of junk. I bought it and I failed to fire about 1/4 of the time. The only good thing about their wireless remote is the ability to adjust the light out put with out haveing to climb a ladder, I can stand by my subject trigger the light and ajust without having to move. I kept the remote for that reason. I use Pocket Wizards to fire the lights while takeing photos it is a bit redundant but it works better than the whitelightening remote alone.

Ron


[/ QUOTE ]
no kidding Ron.
finally something not good about AB's?, otherwise been hearing everything good about their products. also didn't like the fact that their remotes had to be hung in a pouch and not on the h/shoe.

[stevenD]

I had 5 Alien Bee / White Lightning Lights and was happy with them and do recommend them, but their other components are, well let's just say "you get what you pay for" and leave it at that.

[HMetal]

Going through the latest B&H catalog, I found the exact AC Radio Slave system that I bought from eBay.

The funny (or maybe extremely sad) thing is that, on eBay, I won it for $15.00. From B&H, the price is $124.95 USD. Insane.

This is the kit: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/cont...ughType=search

There are about 3 or 4 or them on eBay.

[jacob]

[ QUOTE ]
Going through the latest B&H catalog, I found the exact AC Radio Slave system that I bought from eBay.

The funny (or maybe extremely sad) thing is that, on eBay, I won it for $15.00. From B&H, the price is $124.95 USD. Insane.

This is the kit: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/cont...ughType=search

There are about 3 or 4 or them on eBay.

[/ QUOTE ]
hmmm very tempting to look up, will do it, thanks H.

[Al_Nowak]

Interesting...

I hadn't seen this particular one.

But there is some contradiction in the description. Is it really radio or just ultrasonic. Ultrasonic is just sound above normal hearing range. For the bucks and quoted range (20 feet), I'd guess ultrasonic.

No particular problem UNLESS you are in a noisy environment or like to play your stereo loud when shooting. Sounds in the appropriate frequency range could trip them off. It could also affect your pets as some animimals can hear frequencies well beyond the human range.

There was a Chinese radio unit being sold on eBay for a while. But it apparently didn't have an FCC certification and so it was ruled illegal to import, sell, and use.

[HMetal]

[ QUOTE ]
But there is some contradiction in the description. Is it really radio or just ultrasonic. Ultrasonic is just sound above normal hearing range. For the bucks and quoted range (20 feet), I'd guess ultrasonic.

No particular problem UNLESS you are in a noisy environment or like to play your stereo loud when shooting. Sounds in the appropriate frequency range could trip them off. It could also affect your pets as some animimals can hear frequencies well beyond the human range.

[/ QUOTE ]

Being as my nickname is HMetal AKA Heavy Metal I'll save you the guessing and tell you that I play my music "cranked" while shooting, when I can. However, my taste in music doesn't end there. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Second, I have a dog, a cat and birds, and none of them seem bothered by the use of this wireless slave setup.

Amyways.. I just finished another session tonight and the wireless remote system was flawless in operation and did not affect my animals, nor was the remote operation affected by any of the many frequencies exhibited by my rather eclectic choice in music (Pink Floyd, The Beatles, Rolling Stones, The Who, Ra, Flaw, Disturbed, Godsmack, Blackmore's Night, Cross Canadian Ragweed, Big 'N Rich, Gweorge Jones and others too numerous to mention).

I also have a room full of computer equipment (servers and desktop workstations) and none of those are affected by or have affected the wireless remote system.

The things just work as billed.

Lastly, considering that B&H sells them, I wouldn't expect that there are any FCC (or their Canadian "CSA" counterpart) problems, or we wouldn't be able to import them here in Canada. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[Al_Nowak]

Let's clear up a few points regarding the eBay units.

I haven't used or seen these particular units so I have no way of knowing if they are really radio or ultrasonic. My previous post included a comment that for the price, it's likely they are ultasonic. It's a lot cheaper (and easier electronically and from a regulatory perspective) to build an ultrasonic unit.

Since the burst they transmit to trip off the slaves is very short, it's unlikely to harm your pets. However, you might have noticed a dog perking up their ears when the flash is fired if the burst is long enough. Maybe not... if the frequency is high enough, even the dog won't notice it. Also if it's considerably above 20 KHz, your sound system may not affect it. Most speakers' response falls off considerably above 20 KHz. However, in a very noisy environment, there are lots of sounds that can reach well up into the spectrum. They might use some burst coding (a la TV remotes) to distinguish triggering bursts from random noise.

If they are radio units, they MUST have an FCC certification to be legally imported into the USA. Part of that certification is the requirement for a permanent lable somewhere on the transmitter unit stating which part of the FCC rules the unit is operating under. No label... not legal. I didn't see what appeared to be an FCC certification label in the pictures of your unit, but they don't show all surfaces. Ultrasonic units don't need FCC certification.

The radio units from China that were being sold on eBay (not the units you have) had no certification. The FCC issued a citation to the seller that the unit was illegal. That citation is available on the FCC web site if you'd like to check it out.
FCC order

But that didn't stop Porter's and a number of other legitimate retailers from stocking and selling the units. They just were not aware of the law. The FCC doesn't consider ignorance of the law a valid excuse though...

It'd be interesting to see if any of the common ultrasonic ranging stuff trips your slaves off. Such ranging equipment was used to do autofocusing in some Polaroid cameras. It's also used in some short-distance measuring equipment, I have a cheapy distance finder with about a 20 foot range that works on ultrasonic.

In any event, if the unit works for you... great. Heck, I might even bid on a couple. Most of the time I only need a 10 or 15 foot range from the strobes. But my bet is that while they may call them radio... they are really ultrasonic. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]