Lately I’ve been doing much more on-location shooting, but the act of packing up my studio lights is quite a chore and hoping to have access to a decent electrical outlet can be disappointing. The setup and break down of this equipment saps a good 20-30 minutes of my time and makes everyone (that showed up on time, that is) wait for me to be ready. But lately I’ve become intrigued by the techniques employed by the Strobist community and decided I would go light and do it their way.
With photography being more of a side job than an occupation at present, I have to be frugal with my equipment costs. I have already eliminated the frustration of synch cords in my studio, so I knew that I would have to bite the bullet again for the cost of a wireless system when I moved to using a Strobist’s equipment list for location shots. Pocket Wizards, the current go-to wireless devices for this purpose, are well out of my budget at around $200.00 a piece, of which you need two. The only other alternatives until recently were grossly unreliable. I should know; the Cactus receiver I purchased was firing my strobe without any signal from the transmitter. Not good.
But then I discovered Paul Buff’s CyberSync™ 2.4GHz Radio Remote Control system. For little more than half the price of one Pocket Wizard, you can get the transmitter and a battery powered receiver. They have 16 available frequencies in case someone nearby has some of their own, and a range of about 400 feet depending on your location.
My first tests have shown this equipment to be very reliable. Though I have yet to have a shoot that tests the effective range of the CyberSync transmitter/receiver, I have used them on a recent shoot where the Strobist method was my only solution due to the close quarters in which we were working. (Check out the pin-up shot of Angelique on the home page of my web site for a sample image.) The CyberSync system worked flawlessly, and I couldn’t be happier with the results.
Kudos to Paul Buff and the folks at AlienBees for a great product at a sensible price. Their customer service is excellent, too, by the way. That is always a plus in my book. I’ll be sure to post an update on my future experiences with the CyberSync system. Stay tuned!
Tags: CyberSync, Pocket Wizard, Reviews, Strobist
Thanks for info on the Cybersync. I too have had bad luck with the Cactus “Poverty Wizard” and am currently looking for a reasonably cost effective but reliable solution. I am curious what cameras and flashes you used the Cybersync with, and how close you were able to get to your cameras maximum sync shutter speed.
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