When I first started with Radio Triggers you had basically two options, some cheap modules of questionable reliability that were marketed under a number of brands, and LPA Design’s Pocket Wizards. That was a scant 5 years ago, and since then the radio trigger marketplace has changed dramatically. Pocket Wizards, while still the Cadillac of radio triggers, have had their reliability and capabilities matched and in some cases beaten. In short, the question of which triggers are best has become considerably more complicated.

The simple reality is that there is now a massive number of competing radio trigger products on the market in every product space. The entry-level market, for example, is awash in similar products from various brands that have little if anything to differentiate them from each other. Almost all of the studio strobe makers have joined in the radio trigger market, producing triggers designed primarily to provide users of that manufactures strobes with remote power control and cordless triggering; though many of these systems also have generic modules available. TTL systems have become more commonplace, with a range of products from inexpensive designs to fully featured and integrated ones.

My intent here isn’t to recommend a product. What I use and what I need aren’t what you use or you need, and my solutions aren’t necessarily your solutions. Instead, what I’ve tried to do is cover most of the available systems and the pros and cons as I see them. You then can use this as a launching point to dig further into the solutions you find best fit your needs.

Continue on to page 2 for an overview of features and functionality to consider. Skip to page 3 for an overview of the systems. Skip to page 4 for data tables comparing the various systems.

A Primer on Features & Functionality

At this point, reliability isn’t nearly as much of a gage of quality as it used to be; even the cheap triggers have been through enough design iterations and have fixed most of their early reliability problems. Instead, the biggest differentiating factor between all the radio trigger systems is features that expand the capacity beyond simply triggering a flash or camera.

Addressing Gear: Channels, IDs, and Groups

Any kind of triggering system that doesn’t rely on wires uses some kind of shared medium, and any time there are multiple things on a shared medium there needs to be a way to address those things. This brings me to the most fundamental feature set, the trigger’s addressing system.

Various brands use different terminology and different mechanisms to deal with the addressing. The terms you want to be familiar with are channels/frequencies, IDs, and groups.

• Frequency – The radio frequencies the device transmits and receives.
• Channel – A high level grouping of devices to keep photographers from triggering each other’s cameras or flashes.
• ID – An address that is encoded inside the channel to specify which devices should listen to this signal.
• Group – An address that’s encoded inside the channel to specify specific a device or groups of devices to be triggered.

Not all systems use the same terminology, in some systems channels are more like device IDs, and frequencies are hidden from the user. A lot depends on how the triggering system communiciates between units. The actual technology can become quite complicated, and many systems blur the lines in a lot of places, especially when the system has been around long enough to evolve more features.

Using different radio frequencies, is the simplest way to allow multiple users to work in the same area without triggering each other’s strobes. Systems that are more complex will use digitally encoded packets for the actual control signals. Those packets will often contain ID and group information, which selectively fires flashes without having to give each photographer their own radio frequency.

More frequencies can be useful, but they aren’t strictly necessary. A typical studio shooter will use 1 channel and likely not have to worry about interference form others. On the other hand, the more photographers you get in an area or event, the more frequencies, channels, and IDs you’ll want to have available.

Groups are similar to IDs in a sense, though groups are used for logical organization of flashes or cameras inside a photographers channel or ID. In other words, your channel or ID would identify all of your flashes or cameras, and your groups would selectively identify your key, fill, hair and background lights.

Frequencies

What I’m talking about here is the actual frequency the transmitters work on. Many RF systems these days use the ISM (Industrial, Scientific, Medical) bands, specifically the 2.4GHz spectrum (from 2.400GHz to 2.500GHz). If that range looks familiar, it’s because many things run on these frequencies, from cordless phones, to wireless networks. On top of that, many devices, like microwave ovens, can emit interference on these bands when they’re running.

Other devices, most notably LPA Design’s PocketWizards, run on licensed spectrum that is outside of the typical ISM bands. As a result, in some cases these devices are less susceptible to environmental interference, though they are certainly not immune.

The one downside to running outside of the ISM bands is that there aren’t international treaties that set aside the space. Meaning that in various regions the regulations may require non-ISM devices to operate on different frequencies. LPA Design’s PocketWizzards for example, use 340-354MHz in North and South America, 315.50-317.00 MHz in Japan, and 433.62-434.22MHz in most of the rest of the world. A PocketWizard user who takes their US PocketWizards into Europe and uses them can be found, if caught, in violation of the law and penalized for using radio spectrum they’re not licensed or allowed to use.

Range

The next consideration in remote triggers is range. Aside from simply allowing one to get rid of wires, radio triggers provide users a means to fire cameras and flashes at great distances. How much range one needs varies, and more isn’t necessarily better, just more.

Some of the longest-range units can provide reliable sync signals as far as 1600 feet (500m). Most systems are limited ranges of 300 feet (100m) or 100 feet (30m).

In most cases, 100 feet is often enough range for most wireless flash situations. That said, while it’s not directly summed up in range, longer ranges often have transmitters that are more powerful and better antennas, meaning that they also tend to be more reliable at shorter ranges when in environments that aren’t conducive to radio transmissions. While a system rated for 100 feet may be capable of doing that in an empty field in the middle of nowhere, it may not work reliably across a 30 foot wide room filled with people.

Remote Power Adjustment

The heading is very much self-explanatory; some systems offer a means to remotely adjust the power of the flashes from the controlling camera. Sometimes, this is coupled with TTL metering, other times it’s just manual flash control at a distance.

Remote power control is one feature that can make a shoot go significantly smoother. Moreover, I’d argue that the fewer assistants and more pressed for time you are, the more likely remote power control will be useful. Instead of having to walk over to a flash to make an adjustment, you can make the adjustment on the fly and keep shooting. As a result time can be used more efficiently to squeeze in an extra couple of poses or setups, instead of having to manually adjust you lights.

TTL Metering

The final major feature that’s worth considering is TTL integration. TTL integration allows the camera’s meter to and computer to communicate with the flashes to set flash powers automatically.

The major consideration when it comes to TTL systems is compatibility. For starters, any TTL capable system not implemented by the camera manufacturer itself is reverse engineered. This isn’t necessarily bad, but it does mean that support for new cameras and flashes may take some time.

Advanced Features

There are a lot of other interesting features that some systems add on top of basic flash control. The range and scope of these features can vary considerably.

Some systems offer the ability to save settings to a computer or micro-SD card. Others offer ways to cycle through flash units to provide them more time to cool down and recharge.

Overview of The Systems

Trying to organize this round up has been a daunting task. There are now dozens of brands with their own systems on the market and many of the brands have everything from basic to advanced systems. Plus there’s a dozen ways to look at the data. Are you coming from the perspective of studio shooter looking for their first RF trigger system, or a general-purpose photographer looking for a reliable system that can be used in a lot of situations quickly and easily?

Basic Triggers

There are an ever-growing number of players offering basic radio triggers. There are no advanced features to be found here, just the basic functionality of triggering a remote device. This is the least exhaustive list part of the list.

Cactus

Cactus got their start about 5 years ago, as I recal. They’re currently on the 4^th and 5^th generation of radio triggers. In terms of quality and reliability, there’s not much to say. They’re entry-level products and are built and priced as such.

As far as Cactus goes, I’m not sure, if they’re the original manufacturer for their own triggers, or if they’re reselling another companies triggers. Searching through eBay or similar sites will find a lot of similar looking triggers under various brands. Don’t make the mistake in assuming that because they look the same they’ll be compatible.

• Cactus Website
• Buy from Amazon^{(Affiliate Link)}

Cowboy Studio

Cowboy Studio’s triggers are much in the same vein as Cactus’s; they’re inexpensive basic triggers. Unlike Cactus Cowboy Studio sells a verity of products not just radio triggers. I’ve included them in this list largely because they are very popular in the results on Amazon.

As far as Cowboy Studio triggers go, there offered in 3 versions, 2, 4, and 16 channel variants. I can’t speak for compatibility between the versions, or with whatever they’re ultimately replaced with. Compatibility in this level or product is not usually a high priority, so keep that in mind if you’re considering these. What you buy now, may not be expandable easily in a couple of years.

• Cowboy Studio Website
• Buy from Amazon^{(Affiliate Link)}

Basic Systems

The biggest step up from the basic triggers is when you move to a fully supported system. Almost all of these systems have an entry-level basic triggering component, but those basic components are designed to be compatible with more sophisticated higher-end devices. Though the distinction is almost arbitrary, I’ve grouped most of the radio trigger systems made by strobe manufactures into this level, as they offer a high level of functionality with controlling the manufacturers strobes but not necessarily an awful lot of flexibility beyond that.

Broncolor

Broncolor is a studio strobe manufacturer that decided to develop a RF trigger system. The primary feature of the Broncolor RFS system is control over compatible Broncolor strobes. Broncolor does sell receivers that can trigger any camera or strobe on the market, all-be-it without remote power control. Like most RF triggers, Broncolor uses the standard 2.4GHz ISM band, with a maximum range of 660 feet (200m).

Broncolor’s triggers provide 99 unique IDs spread over 40 frequencies to provide a lot of separation for photographers using the system. In addition, the RFS 2.1 system will address up to 40 individual lights for remote power control.

• Broncolor Website

Elinchrom

Elinchrom is studio strobe manufacture that has developed a RF trigger system. Elinchrom’s Skyport system is largely aimed at providing Elinchrom users with remote power and triggering capabilities when used with Elinchrom strobes. However, they do offer a generic trigger model for triggering other brand devices.

Elinchrom site about their system is comparatively quiet on details, though from looking at the image of their transmitter, it appears that they SkyPort system supports 4 channels and 4 groups. At ranges between 40 and 130m depending on triggering mode.

• Elinchrom Website
• Buy from Amazon^{(Affiliate Link)}

Paul C. Buff CyberSync

Paul C. Buff is best known for their classic White Lighting and entry-level Alien Bees studio strobes. Their CyberSync RF trigger is perhaps not so well know. Designed primarily for controlling Paul C. Buff’s strobes, however, the receivers are generic enough to be able to fire other brand equipment.

The system consists of 2 types of transmitter modules, the Cyber Commander offering remote power control, and the Trigger Transmitter offering only triggering capabilities. Receivers come in a number of flavors, some battery powered, some AC powered, and some designed specifically for certain Paul C. Buff strobes.

A few key features distinguish the Cyber Commander from most of the most of the counter parts. One is the large LCD display and dual joystick controls. Second is the transmitter’s ability to save configurations to a build in micro-SD card and restore them later. Finally, the Cyber Commander is the only trigger unit that has a built in light meter.

Like most of the systems listed here, the CyberSyncs use the 2.4GHz ISM band, and have a range of up to about 400 feet.

• Paul C. Buff Website

TTL & Advanced Systems

Much like the basic systems, the distinction here is largely arbitrary. I consider the system to have stepped up to being advanced when it offers either TTL support, control over a verity of 3^rd party devices, or very sophisticated functionality in the actual triggering.

Canon RT Speedlites

Canon, yes the camera company, is the new comer to the radio trigger market. Unfortunately, though not unexpectedly, Canon’s RF triggering system is not designed to work with 3^rd party devices as most others are. Currently the Canon RT system consists of the Speedlite 600Ex-RT and Speedlite Transmitter ST-E3-RT.

Like most triggering systems, Canon’s RT system communicates the 2.4GHz ISM band. Range is limited, compared to most of the contemporaries, at only 100 feet (30m). Users identify their equipment by programming a 4-digit ID offering 10,000 possible IDs.

Since the RT system is designed by Canon for their cameras and flashes it’s largely useless to non-Canon users. Moreover, the system builds on a close cooperation between the camera and the flash, resulting in varying levels of support and integration depending on the age of the camera. Post-2012 cameras can control up to 5 remote groups, and can be remotely fired by having a 600Ex-RT or ST-E3-RT in their hotshoe. Pre 2012 cameras are limited to 3 remote groups, and must be connected to the 600Ex-RT or ST-E3-RT via a cable to be triggered. Additionally there are subtle differences in possible max shutter speeds depending on the camera type.

Since the Canon RT system is built into their 600Ex-RT flashes instead of being a standalone module, the system is a little differently than the others discussed here. The 600Ex-RT can be used as the commander module as well as a remote flash or camera trigger; the ST-E3-RT can be used as the system commander, as well as a remote camera trigger.

• Canon Website
• My Canon 600Ex-RT Review
• Buy from Amazon (600Ex-RT^{(Affiliate Link)} , ST-E3-RT^{(Affiliate Link)} )

PocketWizards

LPA Design has been in the RF trigger business for a long time, and they’ve built a reputation as the leading manufacturer in this field. Their system spans the range from basic to advanced, with all the options featuring solid build quality and cross compatibility within their product line.

Since LPA Design is neither a camera manufacture nor a strobe manufacturer, they’ve had to focus on building functionality into their triggers themselves, and they’ve done this in spades. LPA Design’s PocketWizards are quite possibly the most fully featured and broadly compatible system on the market. In fact, if I were to attempt to cover all the features offered by the various flavors of PocketWizards I could easily triple the length of this already long overview.

PocketWizards, unlike virtually all other brands, don’t use the typical ISM bands for their radio signals, North American, European and Japanese models all operate on incompatible parts of the spectrum. The use of non-ISM bands does pose some issues with portability; you can find yourself on the wrong side of the law if you say use NA triggers in Europe. Typical range for most PocketWizards reaches up to 1600 feet (500 m). However, the TTL models are more limited.

PocketWizards use channels to separate photographer’s devices, and there are three types of channels, basic, quad-trigger, and control-TL. Basic channels (1-16) provide only simple triggering capabilities. Quad triggering channels (16-32) provide access more advanced features and up to 4 groups that can be toggled on or off independently. Finally, 20 control-TL channels provide full TTL communication and remote power control over 3 groups when used with appropriate receivers and compatible devices. Additionally, due to their widespread use for triggering cameras at major events, LPA design offers the ability to program custom frequencies/channels into some of their models to insure that your equipment is never interfered with by another photographer.

With the exception of the MiniTT1, all PocketWizards are transceivers, meaning it doesn’t matter which one you put on your camera or your remote device.

The ControlTL compatible transceivers are currently offered in Canon and Nikon versions, supporting either E-TTL2 or i-TTL protocols respectively. In addition to being able to do TTL metering with remote flashes, the ControlTL units can remotely control the manual flash power of up to 3 groups of Canon or Nikon strobes, Elinchrom RX series studio strobes, and Paul C. Buff Alien Bees and Einstine studio strobes.

Further, PocketWizard triggers have been integrated by, or offered as part of, Profoto, Bowens, and Dynalite strobe generators, as well as having been built into Sekonic flash meters.

• PocketWizard Website
• Buy from Amazon^{(Affiliate Link)}

Profoto Air

Until recently, Profoto relied on LPA Design’s PocketWizard units to build into their studio strobes. With the introduction of the Pro 8 line, they elected to go their own way producing their own RF system.

Like the vast majority of systems, the Profoto Air system uses the 2.4GHz ISM band, and offers photographers 8 channels to choose from and a 1000-foot (300m) range. The system offers 3 kinds of transmitters/transceivers. The basic model offers only triggering (both sending and receiving) capabilities. The controller version offers remote power control over up to 6 groups of Profoto Air compatible strobes. Finally, the TTL version offers Canon users full TTL metering and remote control over up to 3 groups of Profoto Air compatible strobes.

With the exception of the Air Remote TTL, Profoto’s Air Sync and Air Remote can be used as both transmitters and receivers. The Air Remote TTL is a transmitter only.

• Profoto Website
• Buy from Amazon^{(Affiliate Link)}

Radio Poppers

Radio Popper entered the market in the 2007, with one of the first TTL wireless systems. Unlike ControlTL PocketWizards, TTL Profoto Air, or Canon’s RT system, the radio popper system works by simply relaying the optical TTL remote system used by various manufacturers of their radio channel.

One advantage to Radio Popper’s methodology is that they aren’t dependent on reverse engineering the protocol and therefore there’s virtually no delay between being able to use new gear with their system. On the other hand, since the system works as a RF tunnel for the otpical commands, it does require special consideration when mounting receivers so the flashes they’re controlling only see the commands issued by the receiver not those issued by the master flash.

Radio Poppers currently offers 3 systems, the Nano a basic triggering system with no TTL capabilities; the JrX, a more sophisticated triggering system with remote power adjustment; and the flagship PX system that offers piggyback TTL control.

All 3 of Radio Popper’s systems are made up of single purpose transmitters and receivers.

Unlike virtually all of the systems outlined already, not all Radio Poppers are cross compatible. PX Transmitters, can trigger JrX receivers, however, JrX transmitters can only control PX receivers connected to Canon flashes.

• Radio Popper’s Website
• Buy form Amazon^{(Affiliate Link)}

Yongnuo

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Yongnuo, even though I haven’t fully researched their options yet. Yongnuo has been been a source of relatively inexpensive i- and E-TTL capable hot-shoe flashes for quite some time. Leveraging their reverse engineering of Canon and Nikon’s TTL protocols, they’ve branched out into radio triggers, including TTL capable ones. They make quite a verity of options, from basic triggers to fully TTL capable triggers, to a clone of Canon’s ST-E3-RT controller. Eventually I’ll sort out well enough to be able to summarize properly. That said, Yongnuo is one place to look for relatively inexpensive basic and TTL triggers.

Yongnuo Website

Comparative Tables

Radio

Configuration

Sync

Dimensions and Weight