In Search of the Perfect Trigger (Part 5)

We have been taking about flash triggers and each of them has it's pros and cons. The best trigger I have ever used is the made by Pocket Wizard. It is very reliable and it can trigger from very far away. It does not have the line-of-sight requirement. The issue I have is it is very expensive (about US$140 each and you need at least 2). Here are the pros and cons of Pocket Wizard:

• Pros:




• Reliable. No line-of-sight requirement. Can trigger from far away.
  
• Scalable. Just add more Pocket Wizards if you want to add my flashes.
  


• Cons:




• Very expensive.
  
• No TTL
  
• The device is bigger than I expect but it is not that heavy.
  

Now the question is which trigger do I use? The answer is all of them.
In a simple one or two flashes setup, I would use Nikon CLS. It is quick and simple to setup. When I need to use more flashes and non-Nikon flashes (i.e. AlienBees), then I would use a mix of triggers. Here is my typical setup:

• AlienBees: triggered by its internal optical trigger.
  
• Nikon SB800: set to SU-4 mode to be triggered optically.
  
• Nikon SB600: plugged it to the pocket wizard and to be triggered by it.
  
• Vivitar 256: plugged it to the Sonia optical trigger.
  

I plug another Pocket Wizard on the camera's hotshoe. Now when I push the shutter,
The SB600 will be triggered and its light will trigger the other flashes. This setup works very well in my studio setup and it is much cheaper than using 3 or 4 Pocket Wizards.