While shooting a wedding on Sunday I was having some issues with my Pocket Wizard Flex TT5 and Mini TT1. I have never had great success with these – expensive triggers – so I keep a set of inexpensive triggers in my bag. Cowboy Studios NPT-04 4 Channel Wireless Hot Shoe Flash Trigger & Receiver SET – these are pretty good and robust and because I shoot my strobes in manual these guys get the job done.
Just as I was getting ready to shoot the cake cutting the trigger fell of my hot shoe – this was my fault, duh! – and when I picked it up it was dead! Not a great situation. My second shooter caught the cake cutting while I reverted back to the Pocket Wizards…when they eventually started working. (I think they are haunted)
Today, I decided to take a closer look at the broken trigger. It is held together by a single screw and when I opened it I saw the problem, the battery had dislodged. I reassembled the trigger and every thing worked great. These are great little triggers but I will have to be a little more careful when I use them.
Tip: keep a small cross-headed screwdriver in your bag in case you need to do some roadside repairs!
I am currently testing Younguo YN-622 ETTL triggers to use as my back-up and my early tests are very promising. I will still use the NPT-04 triggers because they do work well but probably use them as a back up in my studio.