Practical Photography

What do the buttons on
my triggers do?
I’m really getting into off-camera flash
and have purchased a set of radio
triggers. But I don’t know what all of
the buttons do. Can you help?
Jeremy Hill, London
Tim says: Wireless flash triggers are an
essential tool for all budding strobists. They
allow you to fire a flashgun wirelessly away
from the camera body so that the light
isn’t striking the subject directly from the
front. This allows for more creative and
flattering light. Using larger trigger sets,
you also can fire several flashguns at once
from one transmitter, allowing for more
advanced lighting patterns. Although
some triggers are very basic, most offer a
range of different functions. We explain
the most commonly found features here,
so you can unlock their full potential...
Flash sync port
Studio heads don’t have a
hotshoe, but connect to the
trigger via the Strobe Sync
port. Most have a cable to do
this, though, if not, you may
need a 6.3mm jack adapter.
Signal range
Some cheaper triggers use
an infrared signal, so only
have a range of a few metres.
Radio triggers are better as
they work at 100m+, and
don’t require line of sight.
Indicator light
R&T modes
Triggers are Transmitters
(T), which sit on the camera
hotshoe, or Receivers (R),
which connect to the
flashgun. Transceivers
both transmit and receive.
A green light shows when your triggers
are working and a red light tells you the
trigger can’t connect to a flash to fire it.
This will help you work out if there’s a
fault, or a loose connection between
trigger and flash.
Test button
Hit this button to check if
all of your flashes are
firing as you would expect
them to. This is built into
all good transmitters/
transceivers, so you can
check this from your
camera rather than going
over to each flash to
check they’re operating.
Should I use my
LCD at night?
I love shooting night sky
images, but every time I
compose with the bright
screen it’s hard to see in the dark
again afterwards. Is there a way
around this?
Terry Hughes, Fakenham
Louise says: The rear display has
to be one of the most useful
features on your camera – you can
use it to compose shots, check
settings and instantly play back
your images. But a bright screen is
a problem for astro-photographers
because it affects night vision. In
fact, once the human eye is
adjusted to bright light conditions,
it can take up to 30 minutes for
optimal night vision to return.
Your best bet is to go into the
menu and adjust your LCD’s
brightness down to its minimum
setting. To do this on a Nikon
DSLR, press Menu, go to the
Setup tab, find Monitor brightness
and set it to -5. On a Canon, go to
the Settings Menu, choose LCD
brightness, then turn it down to
the lowest setting.
You can also help to preserve
night vision by using a torch with
red light instead of white. In fact,
one of the features of Nikon’s astro-
DSLR, the D810a, is that it displays
some LCD information in red. You
can buy an astro torch online for a
few pounds, or some headtorches
have a red light option built in.
NORTHERN NIGHTS PHOTOGRAPHY
Shutter/PC insert port
This port is where you would tether a flash
and trigger to your camera via a cable for
local flash triggering. This is handy for
holding your flashgun next to the camera
with one hand, for a slightly off-camera
angle, but is limited by the PC cable length.
Channels & Groups
Channels stop you firing the flashes of
nearby photographers using identical
triggers. If this happens, you simply select a
different channel. Some models allow you to
group your flashguns together so you can
adjust settings for several at once.
Above The brightness of most
camera screens can be adjusted.
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