Alien Bees B800 Question

justin24

I am purchasing two tomorrow. I see that Alien Bee sells wireless triggers. The b800's have built in slave triggers. So if I buy the wireless trigger which looks like a pocket wizard would I be able to shoot wirelessly? When I called Alien Bee they said each strobe needs 2 receivers?

Jeremy Winterberg

justin24 wrote: »

I am purchasing two tomorrow. I see that Alien Bee sells wireless triggers. The b800's have built in slave triggers. So if I buy the wireless trigger which looks like a pocket wizard would I be able to shoot wirelessly? When I called Alien Bee they said each strobe needs 2 receivers?

The built in slave is only triggered by another flash. You would need one Receiver per strobe and one transmitter for your camera. I use the Cactus v4 system. It's relatively cheap, and they work really well for me.

ian408

I would personally go with Pocket Wizards or something else that is more versatile.

Art Scott

justin24 wrote: »

I am purchasing two tomorrow. I see that Alien Bee sells wireless triggers. The b800's have built in slave triggers. So if I buy the wireless trigger which looks like a pocket wizard would I be able to shoot wirelessly? When I called Alien Bee they said each strobe needs 2 receivers?

someone misunderstood something here....I use White Lightning 5000, one of the 1st in the line up of Paul C Buff flash units.....you only need 1 reciever for each flash unit and 1 transmitter for the camera.... and I use a very inexpensive trigger that I have had for over 2 yrs now with no probs....these look very close to the ones I have and the price is about spot on...here is what my ebay search revealed....... approx 12 pages of inexpensive reliable flash triggers..... http://tinyurl.com/33mm6kp

du8die

Jeremy Winterberg wrote: »

The built in slave is only triggered by another flash. You would need one Receiver per strobe and one transmitter for your camera. I use the Cactus v4 system. It's relatively cheap, and they work really well for me.

I just bought two today. How does this work outdoors (Quality, not technically)? Is it reliable?

Thanks,
d8

Jeremy Winterberg

du8die wrote: »

I just bought two today. How does this work outdoors (Quality, not technically)? Is it reliable?

Thanks,
d8

The Cactus v4's are very reliable, I actually bought two more receivers today to add to my collection.

justin24

Awesome thank you art. I don't feel like spending 180 dollars for each PW. There is an ebay selling that has a shop setup near me that sells what you see on those links you sent.

Art Scott

du8die wrote: »

I just bought two today. How does this work outdoors (Quality, not technically)? Is it reliable?

Thanks,
d8

The ones I linked to above work like a charm out doors upto approx 300 feet......the optical slave that is built into the Alien Bees can be a problem outdoors in bright sunlight (they will sometimes just shut down.....)....

Good Luck

Art Scott

justin24 wrote: »

Awesome thank you art. I don't feel like spending 180 dollars for each PW. There is an ebay selling that has a shop setup near me that sells what you see on those links you sent.

What kind of a price do they have on them?? do they have a website to purchase off of?

Good Luck.

justin24

www.ephotoinc.com

I got the transmitter and a receiver for 25.00 and an extra receiver for 15.00

du8die

Art Scott wrote: »

The ones I linked to above work like a charm out doors upto approx 300 feet......the optical slave that is built into the Alien Bees can be a problem outdoors in bright sunlight (they will sometimes just shut down.....)....

Good Luck

Thanks Art,

I went back and re-read my response, and realized I was completely not clear. I have the V2's, and like them. I just bought 2 AB800's - should be delivered tomorrow. I was more wondering how the optical slave worked in them. Your post answered for me. Thanks!

d8

capitoljayhawk

Jeremy Winterberg wrote: »

The Cactus v4's are very reliable, I actually bought two more receivers today to add to my collection.

I just checked these out. Will they trigger an AB800? I looked, and it looked from the site I checked like they are meant to trigger speedlights.

Jeremy Winterberg

capitoljayhawk wrote: »

I just checked these out. Will they trigger an AB800? I looked, and it looked from the site I checked like they are meant to trigger speedlights.

You can plug the receiver into an alien bee using a 1/8th cable. Trust me, it works.

SCC Photography

Jeremy Winterberg wrote: »

The built in slave is only triggered by another flash. You would need one Receiver per strobe and one transmitter for your camera. I use the Cactus v4 system. It's relatively cheap, and they work really well for me.

You actually don't "need" a receiver for each strobe. You can buy a pair of transcivers (PocketWizard is my recommendation), and obviously mount 1 to your camera and the other to one of the AB's. The remaining AB's will automatically fire when the the primary fires. However, if you're in a setting where other strobe photography is taking place, you would certainly want a receiver on each unit.

Studio: It doesn't matter - one receiver in a series of strobes is fine.

Wedding: If you have lights tucked away in various spots you obviously want a receiver on each so that other flash photography does not make those lights fire. Also, it gives you the ability to set lights on different channels so you can choose which you need based on how you zoned out the wedding.

Village Idiot

Certain ab triggers and radio poppers have the advantage to remotely control their power. I believe pw's even have a way to remotely control ab lights.