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03-04-2015, 11:08 PM - 1 Like   #1
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Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Victoria, BC, Canada
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FlashQ - the perfect macro flash trigger?

First let me start out this review by saying that I am not affiliated with the company producing the FlashQ. I was, however, a supporter of the IndieGoGo crowd-funding project launched in late 2013 or early 2014 to fund the development of the FlashQ.

I read about the project on one of the various photography sites I peruse and was immediately interested. The reason it caught my eye was that I had not been overly satisfied with an earlier purchase of the Cactus V5 remote flash triggers.

It wasn't that the Cactus isn't a great product for triggering off-camera flash, especially when working at considerable distances. What the Cactus V5 is not very good at is use at close distances. My intent was to use the trigger for firing my off-camera flash, mounted on a flash bracket, for macro photography. In a note to the engineers of the Cactus triggers I was informed that the minimum working distance was greater than 30cm. Certain orientations of transmitter and receiver would work at less than 30 cm but it was finicky to set up. The sheer size of the Cactus V5 was also an impediment to use in my macro rig.

From the website description the FlashQ looked tiny and it appeared to be designed with close distance use in mind (but no information on actual minimum working distance was provided). For approximately $50US I was promised one transmitter and two receivers and free shipping sometime in the late summer of 2014. I received regular updates on the progress of the project. A couple of delays occurred due to Paypal and supplier issues, and the demonstrations in Hong Kong. But even with these disruptions my FlashQ arrived at the end of November, 2014, only a couple of months later than expected.

When I unpacked it I was amazed by it's size - absolutely tiny! Transmitter and receiver each use 1 CR2032 coin battery. And once turned on the transmitter immediately paired with the receiver. Using the test button I was able to determine that the FlashQ reliably triggers the flash from 0cm to 10m. Perfect! So good in fact the I immediately went on the website and ordered a second set in white. Being Winter here I have only had a few outings with my macro rig but the FlashQ has so far performed flawlessly.

What else does the FlashQ have going for it? It uses 2.4GHz digital radio signals and has 160 discrete channels to auto-select from. It can handle up to 300V port sync voltage on the receiver, has a 3V voltage on the transmitter male centre pin and comes with sync port for studio strobes. Battery life is claimed to be 100k fires, receiver shoe also has a tripod thread mount and can sync up to 1/250 second.

The downsides? Well no TTL for and an auto power off after 15 minutes (which is either good or bad depending on your situation).

The FlashQ can be obtained from their website.

There is also new IndieGoGo project by the same team raising funds to create an ingenious wireless flash (Q20) that uses the FlashQ transmitter. I am also very keen on this flash for macro use because of it's small size, 6 stops of power output control and other useful features. This project can be seen at https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/flashq-the-little-cube-for-flash-photography#activity

Now what to do with those Cactus V5 triggers...

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cactus, flash, flashq, lighting, macro, photo studio, project, radio trigger, receiver, strobist, sync, transmitter, v5, website
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