Gadget Infinity Cactus V2s Trigger Mod Originally uploaded by strobemonkey
I finally did it. Sick and tired of the unreliable flash triggers I bought on eBay, unable to fork over the cash for some Pocket Wizards, I went all DIY-strobist on the triggers.
I did a shoot tonight for the paper. I got out my flash to try to fill the shadows from the setting sun a bit.I was shooting what was more or less a small football practice, so had to work with available light and had no control over the subjects. The SB-400 could not put out enough light at the distance I needed to not interfere, so I used the Vivitar with the cheap eBay wireless triggers. Frustratingly unreliable yet again. (More on this shoot in an upcoming post.)
I did the low tech version of the Gadget Infinity Cactus V2s Trigger Mod. I had seen mods like this talked about and had seen the solder-less route described in How to get 300+ feet & 100% triggering with Cactus V2s sans soldering on flickr.
I don’t have a solder. I would not know how to use it if I had one. I would likely do some serious damage soldering with my eyesight. So I just tied it on and will hope for the best. I did test out a few wires, finally going with a piece of the Ethernet cable whose remains now litter my desk. I cut it just short of twelve and a half inches. I can’t see well enough to get it closer to the magic 12.39 without a bunch more patience than I have on hand. Threading the hole on the left side is more than a bit tricky for me, but a little trial and error with a pinch of luck and it caught for me. My wire does not look as neatly coiled as the one in the photo, but who cares? It works.
My tests so far tonight have been amazingly succesful in the house. I will traipse around outside tomorrow in the daylight and may have more to report then. All the flashing lights have my dogs in an uproar. I need to leave it for now, so I don’t wake the rest of the house!
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