Reddit reviews CowboyStudio NPT-04 4 Channel Wireless Hot Shoe Flash Trigger Receiver

Cowboy Studio transmitter and reciever

Thing has lasted me almost a year of hard abuse thus far and freaking never misfires and I've never needed a longer range, surprisingly. I still don't understand why you guys buy those expensive pocket wizards when something cheap like this works so damn well. :p

I have this one, and I've had no problems with it whatsoever. Works great and does everything I need it to. Shooting on a 5D as well.

As av4rice said, this is going to be tough with only one light.

A shoot like this is typically done with 3-5 lights - key and fill on the subject, one to two lights blasting the background, and maybe a hair light behind the subject if you want to get fancy. That's the basic way to do it but there are endless variations - that's what makes good studio photographers great. If you have an iPad, check out Scott Kelby's Lighting Recipes app - it's free and shows a bunch of different lighting setups for different shots.

Are you looking to do more of this type of shoot in the future? Can you afford to buy or rent a bit of gear? I'd suggest at a minimum a cheap wireless trigger so you can fire your flash off-camera. I use the Cowboy Studio NPT-04 which is $22 on Amazon. The build quality is crappy and there's no TTL support, but they're way cheaper than Pocket Wizards or Radio Poppers and work just fine. I use mine with both small battery powered strobes and studio strobes. This will at least allow you to move your flash off camera for a decent key light. If you don't have a second light, a reflector (or piece of foam board) can function as a reflector for some fill.

Keep in mind this is all part of the creativity of shooting - you can probably get decent results with the flash on camera and bounced toward the subject, but most great portrait shots you might look at for inspiration will have been shot with off-camera lighting. Fashion photography tends to lean towards straight on lighting above and/or below the camera. Other types of portraits go for more depth (shadows) with the key light to one side. Look at the eye catchlights in photos you'd like to emulate to figure out how they were lit.

The background is going to be tougher. Maybe others have suggestions on how to do it with one light, but I can't think of how I'd do it. Can you spend $30 or $40 at Home Depot? I'd grab a couple of these clamp lights and pair them with some daylight bulbs (around 6000K temp to match your strobe). Set a few of those bad boys pointing toward the background and you should have no problem blowing it out.

It may seem obvious but setup everything at home and practice before you get to the shoot! Pin a white sheet up on your wall and play around. Figure out how you're going to make the shot work with limited gear. Expensive studio gear makes things easier, but there's no reason you can't get great results with a well-thoughtout barebones kit.

Last, if you really have to you can blow out the background in post, but to do it well will take a while. Getting the background right on site will save you hours in post.

Oh these dirt cheap wireless flash triggers from cowboy studio. They haven't failed me yet.

Yeah tripod is an idea, the good ones do cost quite a lot. I've just upgraded to a carbon fibre Manfrotto 190 that I'm happy with, but it cost me a bit over $400 AUD which kinda blows it out! The 055 is probably better for studio work, being bigger and sturdier, but I got mine for on the road.

A flash is a good idea. The more practice you get with the flash, the better - I'm still learning and so I can't really help you with the Yongnuo. I do know that a lot of people use them, and they're the go to off-brand alternative. I use a single 430exii, and looking to get a trigger. I hear that the Cowboy Studio wireless triggers work pretty well, looking to get some myself. Amazon Link. There are packs slightly more expensive (like $28) that come with more than one receiver. Good reviews, really cheap, though I don't have any experience myself. You must manually set the flash.

Anyway, off-camera flash is a good first step in making a pro product, and I imagine takes more practice than using different softboxes and whatnot. You could get him a pretty nice setup for $200 I think.

Here's a good link that someone else linked just today. Seems like a good guide, though note all the links have referral codes for that website in them, if it bothers you. Here

Don't spend money if you don't need it. This is all you need to trigger a 430EX II off of a T3.

http://www.amazon.com/CowboyStudio-NPT-04-Channel-Wireless-Receiver/dp/B002W3IXZW/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1335808830&sr=8-2

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003CIRTH4/ref=oh_o04_s00_i00_details

is what i have now, and

http://www.amazon.com/CowboyStudio-NPT-04-Channel-Wireless-Receiver/dp/B002W3IXZW/ref=pd_bxgy_p_img_b

is what i was gonna look into getting. but someone below said he uses something that is almost as just as cheap so maybe these might work? what do you think?

http://www.amazon.com/Yongnuo-Wireless-Trigger-Shutter-Transceiver/dp/B004YW79F4/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1334613115&sr=8-4

• Trigger & Receiver
  
• Umbrella & Stand

Get some CowboyStudio Wireless Flash Triggers and any manually adjustable flashes you can find. Play around with diffusers (a Chinese restaurant soup container works)

Someone else mentioned to try taking a shot directly looking at the softbox and see what happened. The flash DEFINITELY fired, but the picture was completely black, leading me to believe that you guys are right about the flash/shutter being out of sync. I really hope it isn't the triggers...but they are a pretty cheap brand I got for Xmas a few years ago.

Here are the Triggers I'm using.

Thanks, do you know of any cheap wireless transmitter+receiver that can trigger through the hot shoe?

Or can this cowboy studio one trigger through hot shoe? or does it only trigger through the PC Sync?

I was eyeing the YN622's too. For the cowboystudio triggers would this NPT-04 kit work?

Yeah those are great options to get done what you want to do, However there are cheaper options if price is your driving factor. This guy is a bare bones basic flash trigger, which means that you won't get any ETTL capabilities and will have to manually set flash power. With the unit you pointed out, you will get ETTL metering, however, with the 430EX II it is my understanding that you still do have to manually change all other parameters (unlike some of the other flashes the unit you picked out supports, you can't change things like curtain sync or flash group from the camera with the transceiver IIRC).

The 622c is quite a good little unit, for the price. It will give you a bunch of ways to expand, with 7 channels you can set up multiple flash banks in the future by adding transceivers and flashes. It's also better made and will give you better range than the simple Cowboy Studio trigger. Though what it comes down to is, how much do you want to spend and what features do you think are necessary?

A dedicated radio trigger will help you do things like trigger flashes that aren't in the same room as your camera (for things like real estate shots), or if the flash is in such a position that the pop up flash doesn't reach the sensor on the flash. For things like portraits or still lives, the pop up flash can change the exposure of the image, and will show up as a source of light if not configured properly.

For as cheap as radio triggers are, just grab one like the [Cowboy Studio] (http://www.amazon.com/CowboyStudio-NPT-04-Channel-Wireless-Receiver/dp/B002W3IXZW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1394476818&sr=8-1&keywords=cowboy+studio+flash+trigger) I use. Super cheap and gets the job done. Maybe not the best option at crowded places where other photographers might be using similar frequencies, but at home or in your own studio it will suffice.

Hmm, if you have cables for them, it would be worth trying to fire a flash off camera with no film loaded. Sadly I'm not familiar with that kind of trigger, but I have had decent luck with the Cowboy Studios manual triggers - http://www.amazon.ca/CowboyStudio-NPT-04-Channel-Wireless-Receiver/dp/B002W3IXZW

I have a Canon 6D with a super cheap CowboyStudio Hot Shoe Flash Trigger (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002W3IXZW/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1)

I currently have the receiver attached to the sync cord that came with the AB and the transmitter attached to the camera.

I'm getting the same effect whether I have a slow shutter or fast shutter. I researched that the max sync for the 6D is 1/180 but it is still not producing any results having a shutter speed at or below 180. I tried a shutter speed as low as 1/6 and it was only lit by ambient light in the room.

I just bought these and they work perfectly at around 1/10 the cost of Pocket Wizards (no TTL though). Just starting to experiment with off-camera lighting myself.