First, I cobbled together a trigger set using the cheap Chinese triggers available on Ebay. These did work, but not reliably. One flash would fire, then the other would fire, and occasionally both would fire. This was simply not suitable for professional wedding work.

Next, I bought the Alienbees triggers (a trigger and two receivers). These work very reliably, but I have always longed for a system that would allow the high speed shutter function of my flash units to work for shooting scenics of people on bright sunny days (using faster than 1/200 shutter speeds to maintain bright sky details while illuminating my subjects with the strobes and keeping the flash in sync. Then, I heard about Radio Poppers, which are purported to maintain flash sync at high shutter speeds by “sensing” the signals when your camera fires, and transmitting those signals to your flashes, through the IR port on the front of the flash, along with the flash trigger pulse.

I finally bought the Radio Popper PX units. I was sadly disappointed with them, not because they would not trigger the Sony flashes (they did) but because programming them is a nightmare. Instead of giving you tiny switches you can set, or a neat USB programming method where you could program them with your PC as some other flash triggers offer, you have to remember a complicated series of LED codes on the display, refer to the manual, remember weird button press sequences, and it was a disaster. They also did not remember your settings when you removed the batteries!

I had read earlier that some Sony folks had some success with the Radio Popper P1 triggers. After reading up on them, I found that the P1 trigger is a much simpler turn on/turn off arrangement. Radio Popper agreed to let me trade the PX units for a set of P1 units (even trade). Once I got the P1s, I installed them, and they worked great…or so it seemed. I shot a wedding with this arrangement 2 weeks ago, and sure enough, the high speed shutter function did work, and you could put the flashes in TTL mode and adjust flash output from the Flash Compensation control on the camera (NICE!). The Radio Popper P1 did transmit the signals to provide that level of control, so I thought I was good to go (and very happy).

However, once I got in the “heat of the action”, the P1s did not maintain proper sync for every shot. I would fire the camera, looking right at the flashes, and they were going off, but were not syncing every time. Often they did, but often they did not. As a result, I had a lot of shots with no flash sync. I finally had to break out the Alienbees units and hook them up to get through the night.

There is a sync setting you can adjust on the P1s, however, I have not had extensive time to play with and experiment with this. Also, finding a way to mount these units on the flash in an elegant way is nearly impossible. They’re bulky and clunky. Hot glue and velcro can be your friend here.

Also, the P1 design has a flaw in battery replacement. You have to unscrew the base with a mini screwdriver to change the battery. Not practical when you shoot weddings, where everything happens so fast, you don’t have time for breaking out tools and fiddling. I modified mine with a dremel, cutting a rectangle out of the bottom so I can simply pop the AA battery in and out easily.

The other problem is the triggering. Placing the P1 transmitter on top of the 56 flash would not trigger the receivers. It could not sense the right flash pulse signals. The only thing that would trigger the receivers was mounting the transmitter over the pop-up flash with a plastic mount that RP provides. However, when the pop-up flash fires, your lens will cast a lens shadow at the bottom of your photos (indoors), unless you cover the pop-up flash with black tape.

If you have any specific questions on my setup or experiences, you can e-mail me at captainmercury1 at gmail.com. I’ll do what I can to help. I don’t check that address often, so be patient for a reply.

George,

I am at a loss, as the F58AM should work as trigger on the A900. Sony never said it would trigger the Minolta 5600, but since it will trigger the equivalent F56AM, I would expect the 5600 to work.

You could invest in a HLV F20AM (http://alphatracks.com/archives/144) as Sony states it will work as a wireless trigger on the A900 (and presumably the A850).

I will look into this further and get back to you.

— Tom

Whatcan I do to make the A900 work with a remote Sony has not given me an answer after several weeks of waiting.

George W.

I have been using Sony Alfa DSLRs for about three years. I also wondered why Sony did not offer a wireless trigger system for their A series DSLR cameras other than their popup to off camera HVL-F series flash units. I did a search on e-bay and on Amazon. I found wireless triggers for use on Sony DSLRs advertized on both sites. None of them were manufactured by Sony, most were made in chine or Japan. I have been using a hotshoe mounted trigger on both my Sony A100 and A350 for years now. At first I had problems getting it to work on the A100 but, after a few tries I was able to make it work just fine. I had to make sure that the transmitter and receivers were securely conected. I have had no problem with the A350, I use them often.

Search e-bay, B&H or Amazon for Flash Trigger for Sony DSLR and you will find several of them for about $35.00. The brand names that I use are YongNuo (China) & Fancier, (China) Receiver & Transmitter sets. Extra receivers can be purchased for about $19.00 each and will work on studio strobes wired or wireless

Be a little patient with them and they will work fine for you. Both brands offer 8 channels to enable you to use them without interfearing with other photographers.

I think that most people are inpatient and do not take the time to work with them. They work fine for me and the price makes me very patient. Just because they are made in China does not mean that they are junk. I don’t mind keeping a couple of hundred dollars in my pocket and still getting the job done.

Good luck folks

PS: No I am not from China

http://cgi.ebay.com/Wireless-Flash-Remote-Trigger-for-Sony-Alpha-2-Receiver_W0QQitemZ350207830846QQcmdZViewItemQQptZCamera_Flash_Accessories?hash=item518a036b3e&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=65%3A12|66%3A2|39%3A1|72%3A1205|293%3A1|294%3A50

They have them certified with Canon and Nikon and are working on OK’ing the Sony/Minolta flashes.