Sites like Strobist - as well as some of the examples I’ve shared on Cheapshooter - require off-camera flash. While this can be accomplished with cheap cords, things can become complicated pretty quickly. Wireless is certainly a better option, but high-end flashes can deplete even the hardiest budget pretty quickly. Professional options like Pocketwizards are even more expensive. What’s a budget shooter to do?

Enter the Gadget Infinity Radio Triggers. With a transmitter and two receivers costing just under $50, you can get started with off-camera flash pretty easily. But just how well do they work?

Surprisingly well. I purchased a set and an extra reciever of the 4-channel wireless receivers for use with a Vivitar 485HV and a Canon 430EX flash. They arrived in the mail in about a week from Hong Kong (not bad) and were smaller than I had imagined. While I wouldn’t say they are fragile, I wouldn’t put them through too rigorous of a shooting session, either.

I had heard differing stories about their reliability. Some photographers swear by them, others simply at them. My own results were a mixed bag. One of the receivers works perfectly 100 percent of the time. The other doesn’t work at all unless - strangely enough - the battery door is removed, at which point it works about 80 percent of the time. I swapped in a new set of batteries, but this didn’t seem to improve the performance at all.

The other major problem with the budget radio triggers is sync-speed. While my Canon 30D supports a sync-speed of up to 1/250s, this is reduced to about 1/150 when the triggers are in use. This can be pretty frustrating and may introduce problems with camera shake with a longer lens.

Still, I would definitely recommend the radio triggers. Considering the functionality they enable, they’re worth their weight in gold. Firing off-camera flash remotely opens up a whole new world of lighting possibilities, techniques and styles. If you’re interested - and don’t want to shell out the big bucks - the Gadget Infinity triggers are a great place to start. Are they a 100 percent reliable? No. But with a little time and tinkering, they’ll get you the shot you want.

Real-World Examples:

Here’s a sample shot I took with the triggers. One flash was fired into an umbrella to the left of the subject, the other was placed on the floor behind the subject and gelled to create the background.

While I haven’t tested the triggers at extreme range, they fired reliably at 10-15 feet - enough to fire the flashes for the hair light and umbrella used in this image.

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