CowboyStudio NPT-04 4 Channel Wireless Hot Shoe Flash Trigger

CowboyStudio NPT-04 4 Channel Wireless Hot Shoe Flash Trigger Receiver
Customer Ratings: 4.5 stars
List Price: $22.45
Sale Price: $21.66
Today's Bonus: 4% Off
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OK, 5 star rating. As many people have already said, they just work. Believe me, I wish a lot of things I buy `just worked'. LOL

I wanted to comment just to state the obvious... obvious to some, maybe not so obvious to others. But before ordering these I emailed Cowboy Studio's with a couple simple questions... then never got back to me. In fact, it was like I sent my email into space... don't expect this company to be on top of customer service via email. I suggest calling them, although, when I DID call them I got an answering machine (yes, like... and answering machine). I bought these triggers anyway... so I figured I'd answer my own questions in case others had the same questions.

Q1.) Do they work only if they can clearly see each other (ie. line of sight) or will they work if the flash is hidden somewhere, like in a softbox or just around a corner somewhere?

A1.) They indeed do NOT need to `see' each other. My first test I had the flash in my kitchen, then I walked 3 rooms away behind my fireplace. Not only was I 3 rooms away, but in between were the standard walls made of plaster as well as a brick wall from the fire place. Yup... it fired perfectly. Next, I put my flash inside one of my wife's leather pocketbook's. I figured if it would fire inside a closed leather pocketbook, it would have no trouble inside a cloth softbox. Indeed, the flash fired perfectly.

Q2.) Does it work like TTL... or... can I at least adjust the flash power from the back of the camera?

A2.) No and no. However, if you set your flash to M, you can adjust the power this way. If you set your flash to 1/2 in M mode, it'll fire at 1/2 power. If you set it to 1/4 in M mode, it'll fire at 1/4 power.... you get the point. If you have the flash on any setting other than M, it will still fire, but it'll fire at full power. So at first I had my flash setup as a slave to fire from the camera's commander mode. With these triggers on the camera, it fires the flash, but only at full power. I then set my flash to TTL mode. Again, the triggers fired the flash, but only at full power. Now, I read somewhere that these triggers only fire the flash at full power... this isn't true... you have to set the flash to Manual and adjust the flash power from the flash itself. I didn't realize this at first... and it wasn't written anywhere since these triggers come with instructions in Chinese (at least it looks like it's written in Chinese, I don't know).

Q3.) Do I have to change any settings in the camera in order for these triggers to recognize and work.

A3.) Nope. Literally, just slide the thing on your hotshoe... that's it. In fact, it doesn't matter what setting your camera is set to. Same goes with the flash.

Summary: The range CAN be obstructed and the flash will still fire. Set your flash to manual mode and adjust the flash power from the flash itself. That's it.

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