Ghetto repeater: Using my Cybersync trigger to fire poverty wizards... two separate brand radio receivers fired from one trigger all in sync

I started off using "poverty wizards" when I followed Strobist.com and played with off-camera flash as cables got in the way. I had problems like everyone else and started doing the mods ie. adding an antenna to get more distance and adapting a AA battery pack to the receiver. Then I found myself with 4 flash units and dying radio/trigger units. I knew I'd eventually have to step up to something more reliable but Pocket Wizards with 4 receivers, ouch! Then the dreaded day came when doing a fashion shoot for a magazine and my poverty wizards failed and I was running three lights. With two MUAs, two models, two stylist, the magazine editor all on-site I started to sweat. I had to think quick and used a pc cable to fire my main speedlight and put the other on slave and add a optical eye on the last light as it didn't have built in slave function. We were indoors so it worked out. But the next day I ordered what my limited funds allowed as I just bought a 35mm 1.8 for my Nikon and upgraded my Pentax body to a K-7 so I did some research and got a Cybersync trigger and 2 receivers.
Now back to the story... so I am shooting tomorrow and have one of my lights getting a firmware update. I would like 3 lights but will be shooting into the sun and optical slaves won't work in bright light. So how can I make this work? I have several poverty wizards sitting around so I thought how can I use my reliable Cybersyncs and maybe use a poverty wizard as a psuedo-repeater and make it more reliable ie two lights closer to each other away from the main/key and camera trigger.


Here is my Seagull adapter, MOD, and in this case using a PC connection to the 1/8 into the Cybersync receiver as I will need the 1/8 on the Seagull for the other half of this mod.
You could use the cable that came with the poverty wizard "micro to PC" but I had cut one already and spliced in a 1/8 for another project. Yes, I do tons of projects :)
The final mod: the Cybersync trigger on the camera hot shoe will trigger the same brand receiver, Cybersync, which is connected via PC cord to the flash (via Seagull adapter) which will be light #2 for the upcoming shoot. The PC and 1/8 share an electrical connection inside the adapter so it causes the 1/8 cord to micro, connected to the poverty wizard, to fire. The poverty wizard receiver will fire light #3 which ie acting like a pseudo repeater as it will prolly be out of range if just used on camera or from the main/key light.

Point and Shoot like a pro

A photographer shares his pictures at a dinner party. The hostess says, "My, you must have a really expensive camera to get such great pictures." He smiles and replies, "you must have really expensive pots and pans to have made such a great dinner."
This is a continuation of my wireless point and shoot trigger and how to achieve dramatic photos using a cheap little camera. I get asked what kind of camera I use quite often and I'm here to show you that it's not so much the camera. Unedited photo taken with my little ole Canon A570 IS
Part I: Water & Sunset
Part II: Land
Part III: Set up and equipment video

Shadows and Surf and using one hard light

I've been doing a lot and I mean a lot of water shoots. It's risky taking your gear into the water. I've had two hot shoe adapters snap now, used to connect my Cybersyncs, and luckily both times I wasn't in the water so the flash unit has fallen on land and has not broken. Yes, it rattles a bit now but still works A-ok. Nice to trust $300 of equipment on a $5 attachment. Always have to consider the weakest link. I've made some mods and have tethered my flash to the stand and rigged a more stable connection between flash and umbrella holder. I use one light, hard, because I can't risk having anything that becomes a sail with the wind and have it die in the lake. I've recently thought about getting a water proof bag but worry about the heat from the flash and shooting in 80+ degree weather and high humidity. Hopefully soon I'll do some underwater shoots after I get my waterproof DSLR bag. So the natural light portion of the post. I've started a shadow project inspired by ANTM. Hold a drape, patterned fabric and let the sun cast shadows onto my subject. I made a behind the scenes video for one of my shoots. The second half of it is one of my water shoots. It doesn't show when we venture further out into the water but you get the gist as far as variable shooting conditions and shooting without an assistant. Enjoy!

Wireless point and shoot trigger?

The most important thing to not getting those flat deer in headlights type of pics with your point and shoot (PS) is to use off-camera lighting. I will not go into all the details as this is not a lighting class, you can find those online anywhere just do a search. I am going to talk about the setup I will be using and explain other setups in other posts. They will all do the same thing, allow your PS to communicate with an off-camera (OCF) or external flash. The setup I will be using is just the most convenient, efficient and failsafe. Since there is no hotshoe on the PS here is my Mod.

A: My modification uses an optical slave and a wireless (radio) trigger. By attaching the two together, it allows my on-camera flash to trigger the optical slave which in turn triggers the radio unit that triggers my off-camera flash (OCF) to go off. The OCF is placed somewhere, usually 45 degrees from the subject, to produce some dimensionality and not flat lighting as seen in the test shot below.

B: By placing the optical trigger as close as possible to the oncamera flash, I increase the reliability of the light trigger signal, which will help out immensely in outdoor day shots.

Normally, the optical slave is attached or built in to the external flash and can just be triggered by the onboard camera flash. So why not just use that? I will explain that in my most basic of setups and it can work in most common situations. However, as I stated earlier, this setup is the most failsafe and also will allow for some shooting that you can't do with the easy set up. This also allows me to dial down the onboard flash to it's lowest setting which will save on batteries and not affect the main picture by adding extra direct light.

Test shot: The image below was shot using the above setup. Tripod mounted Canon A570IS PS, self-portrait, on 10 second timer. Flash on lightstand camera right.

DIY Ghetto Wizard Gut Hack

Ok. So I've been using poverty/Fleabay wizards ie. Chinese wireless flash triggers. I generally have not had many problems with them so haven't considered plopping down serious $$$ for the oh so coveted Pocket Wizards. I started strobing last year after coming across the all-mighty-himself, David Hobby, and his Strobist site. Changed my life. Anyways, as I was saying, generally did not have much problems then it all hit the fan and of course when... during a fashion shoot for a magazine. I have 4 lights, all triggered via poverty wizards so you can see why I was reluctant on plopping down for 5 pocket wizards at $188 a pop. I had to revert to backup plan and shoot corded and rely on slave modes. I decided it was time to upgrade. Research led me to Cybersyncs. Got em via UPS yesterday. Now comes the problem of how to hook all of these to hot-shoe flashes as the poverty wizzes have a built in hot-shoe. I am shooting 2 nightclub events, first time shooting in that kind of environment, and am following K10D: Bar/Nightclub photography tips. The poverty wizards are no longer a trusted option so going to use the Cybersyncs as I don't want to deal with cables around people who are dancing. So basically, one hand-held light off-camera and want to make a convenient wireless solution with my new trusty Cyaberyncs.

A: the not-so trusting "Poverty Wizards" Pt-04. They served me well in learning strobing but not reliable anymore for my needs.

B: One of my pt-04 receivers died after a year so I noticed it looked like the Cybersync could fit snugly into the body after removing the bottom portion with my dremel. I took the 1/4 to mini cord, (won't use) that came with the Cybersync, cut it and soldered red wire to the lead (center) of the hotshoe of the pt-04, white wire to the ground. Added a zip tie to prevent the wire from being pulled out and drilled a hole for the cable to peek through.
C: this is temporary use so just taped up the space that was left and around the unit at the bottom.
D: the completed unit :)