Which flash trigger to use

[Steen N]

Hi everybody

I have a pair of Retro pro x, that I use with my Sony A7R4 in Nauticam housing.

I also have the Nauticam flash trigger, that I used with my old Inons. Now I want to get a flash trigger that allows me to use the HSS on my Retras.

I see alot recommend the UWT trigger. I just want to check this forum to be sure I choose the right one.

Any thoughts or comments on this?

Thanks in advance...

Steen

[TimG]

Hey Steen

I use the UWT one in my Subal housing. Works like a charm.

The man behind it, Pavel, should be appearing here soon. He was on Wetpixel a lot and always very helpful. He's keen to be involved here now.

[Steen N]

Thank you Tim

 

[Phil Rudin]

I have used both UWT and Turtle and they are both excellent. I chose the UWT for Sony because I like the battery's rather than charging and I also like that when you switch the camera on it is ready to use. With the Turtle it needed to be turned on/off on the unit like the Nauticam trigger you are using. Perhaps this may be an issue of aging I forgot to turn  the trigger on several times. 

I have used the UWT with A7R IV/V and A1. It works very well with the Backscatter MF -2 strobes in HSS and I will be trying it soon with the Marelux Apollo strobes in TTL, HSS and MTL.

[fruehaufsteher2]

I only know the UWT - at first it looked a bit "neutral" - no housing. Only the electronic parts. But it fits perfectly in the Nauticam housing an works as a no-brainer. Just does what it's supposed to do.

[Steen N]

Thank you guys.

I will go with the UWT

[TURTLE-Balage]

Hi.  

I just joined this community today.  So the difference between the 2 triggers basically the design and the battery.
Pavel use 2 pc  CR2032 as I know.  We use  100mAh    lipo cell in the trigger which has a USB2.0 B connector for charging and setup the trigger.
When we develope the trigger first version we thought  the first trigger have to work with several many different housing and we choose a compact version.
There are a small misunderstandig with the switch in the trigger.  The customer don't need to turn off the small switch off the trigger.   If you remove from the hotshoe that or switch off the camera , the trigger should be go to sleep mode and in this case there is no consuption. :)
I usually charge the trigger after 2 or 3 days it is depend on the number of dives. 
I hope i could help in the choice.     🙂  
 

[makar0n]

Turtle here myself on OM1 - Great little unit, very tiny so fits everywhere and a bit more price friendly. Battery is non replaceable technically but so far works absolutely perfect. LED brightness is neat, normally using on 1/64 power and still working fine even on bad quality/mangled fiber optic cables, that would not work otherwise. No problem with the power switch, yeah its tiny, but you can just leave it on, trigger goes sleepy time when not in use to preserve the battery.

Only issue so far was the LED cable breaking accidentally upon trying to disconnect from the unit (seems really tight plug; not really needed to disconnect per se, you can charge etc as is, from now on I just leave it be) but customer service was great, with very fast responses - had a new one on the way (at no extra cost) in just a few days.

Edited December 20, 2023 by makar0n

[Craine]

I picked up an S-Turtle Smart (v1) secondhand on ScubaBoard about a month ago and used it for the first time on some dives at BHB over the holidays. It worked very well and was much better on the battery of my Sony a6400 than the built in flash ever was. Overall I would recommend the TRT. 

 

Initial setup was pretty fiddly as a Mac user, but once I had it set configuration was simple. I'm running macOS 14.2.1, and while I had the S-Turtle app installed through the App Store, it took some hunting and trial/error to find the correct FTDI driver package and get it installed, as the instructions on TRT's website are a bit confusing. Maybe I ought to do a writeup somewhere. 

[Davide DB]

1 hour ago, Craine said:

Maybe I ought to do a writeup somewhere. 

 

If you like, there's a DIY - Tutorial section waiting for you 😇

[TimG]

Get writing, Craine!

[TURTLE-Balage]

On 1/5/2024 at 10:20 PM, Craine said:

I picked up an S-Turtle Smart (v1) secondhand on ScubaBoard about a month ago and used it for the first time on some dives at BHB over the holidays. It worked very well and was much better on the battery of my Sony a6400 than the built in flash ever was. Overall I would recommend the TRT. 

 

Initial setup was pretty fiddly as a Mac user, but once I had it set configuration was simple. I'm running macOS 14.2.1, and while I had the S-Turtle app installed through the App Store, it took some hunting and trial/error to find the correct FTDI driver package and get it installed, as the instructions on TRT's website are a bit confusing. Maybe I ought to do a writeup somewhere. 

This is the latest MAC OS. Many times, we can't keep up as new operating systems are released so frequently.
The MAC world is not easy.   All times we need to upload the software when we update a small things in the software and they are check everything in the sourcecode. 
If we got a mail we try to answer. 🙂
Have a nice dives with TURTLE. 🙂


 

[christophe chellapermal]

Well i ve had a not very good experience with the turtle but despite this i must say that Balazs still refunded me the full amount and i still haven't even sent him back the unit. Balazs was certainly very reactive to my mails yet it's been hard to communicate at times.  I might have been unlucky with that unit it happens. One thing that really sucks on the trigger is that there is no visual aid to notify you when its on or off a little led on the side would be quite nice. 

[Fabian]

Hi all, just my two cents: I'm using the Turtle Smart from @TURTLE-Balage - I'm very happy with it.

The way I take care of charging is simple: In the evening after diving, I open the backside of my housing, plug in both the USB C of the camera and the micro USB for the trigger - wait and done. No need to take out anything, disassebmle anythinge. With a powerbank I can do it in the field as well.

[DreiFish]

On 12/19/2023 at 4:33 PM, Phil Rudin said:

I have used both UWT and Turtle and they are both excellent. I chose the UWT for Sony because I like the battery's rather than charging and I also like that when you switch the camera on it is ready to use. With the Turtle it needed to be turned on/off on the unit like the Nauticam trigger you are using. Perhaps this may be an issue of aging I forgot to turn  the trigger on several times. 

I have used the UWT with A7R IV/V and A1. It works very well with the Backscatter MF -2 strobes in HSS and I will be trying it soon with the Marelux Apollo strobes in TTL, HSS and MTL.

 

Phil, does the UWT work with the Marelux Apollo strobes in TTL/HSS/MTL? How about the Turtle trigger? I need to pick one for Canon R5/R6 Mark II.

[Phil Rudin]

14 hours ago, DreiFish said:

 

Phil, does the UWT work with the Marelux Apollo strobes in TTL/HSS/MTL? How about the Turtle trigger? I need to pick one for Canon R5/R6 Mark II.

With the UWT trigger and the new Marelux Apollo III strobes TTL/HSS and MTL all work using fiber optic cords. I am not a fan of TTL so most of my tests so far have revolved around the HSS and MTL which I would actually use. I posted some macro images with the strobes here and some test photos on my Facebook page Phil Rudin if you are interested. 

 

I no longer own the Turtle so I have no results from that trigger.

Edited February 16 by Phil Rudin

[Guest]

I use the turtle Manual trigger 

in terms or functionality is great and can be fully operated through the camera

I have had two issues with it 

the led blew up fixed by sticking them with blue tac inside the housing 

and a trigger broke during a trip and couldn’t be repaired

the base that goes to the cols shoe is fragile if your camera hot shoe is stiff like mine the wiggling will break the contacts

I have since received a different two units that have reinforced glue on the hot shoe junction and now it feels totally robust

if you get a unit where the hot shoe junction has no glue I recommend a good dose of resin or strong glue for plastic 

the unit once broken can’t be really serviced so making it super stiff works for me

[TURTLE-Balage]

I’ve been thinking a lot about whether to write anything here, because it could potentially start an avalanche. But I must do it because the picture is somewhat distorted if only those who have had problems with the product write on the forums. The product problems do not reach 1% annually. But we try to resolve such cases as quickly as possible. That’s what matters to us! A satisfied customer spreads the good word about the product, and this can only be achieved with a good product. We regret those customers who have experienced this. I know what it’s like when a system stops working on a trip since I also take photographs. 🙂 I have noted these cases, and we learn from them! It would be nice if other manufacturers were as communicative as we are! 😉

 

Wishing you nice dives! Balazs

[Tino Dietsche]

Hello everyone,

 

I currently use the Nauticam LED trigger for my Sony A7III in the Nauticam housing. But I've been interested in a TTL trigger for a long time. The flashes I use are INON, Z-240, D-2000 and Mini-Flash-2.

 

Which trigger would you prefer for a Sony setup? If possible, the trigger should be able to continue to be used without any problems if the housing is changed. I'm thinking about replacing my Sony A7III with a Sony A7CII, but I'm still undecided about the housing.

 

Thanks for your feedback,
Tino

[Guest]

On 2/22/2024 at 6:21 PM, Tino Dietsche said:

Hello everyone,

 

I currently use the Nauticam LED trigger for my Sony A7III in the Nauticam housing. But I've been interested in a TTL trigger for a long time. The flashes I use are INON, Z-240, D-2000 and Mini-Flash-2.

 

Which trigger would you prefer for a Sony setup? If possible, the trigger should be able to continue to be used without any problems if the housing is changed. I'm thinking about replacing my Sony A7III with a Sony A7CII, but I'm still undecided about the housing.

 

Thanks for your feedback,
Tino

There are only 2 TTL triggers last time I checked the turtle and the uwt. Both offer ttl and additional functionality. The choice of which one you prefer depends on the ergonomics. The turtle is programmable and rechargeable the UWT has battery and you leave it in the housing

[gremlin]

Has anyone got any experience with the Turtle on a set of YS-D2 (non J Variant). The website seems to indicate that one of the variants will work for TTL, the UWT specifically does not work with those strobes. 

[waterpixel]

I have the nauticam one and the turtle. No issue so far; I prefer the nauticam one as I shoot manual only and don't like the flimsy cable of the TRT unit.

 

That being said, flash triggers are too expensive for what they do and i'm keen to get my hands on that one when I can

https://www.fun-in.com.tw/en/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=4043

 

 

[Tino Dietsche]

8 hours ago, waterpixel said:

That being said, flash triggers are too expensive for what they do and i'm keen to get my hands on that one when I can

https://www.fun-in.com.tw/en/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=4043

Has anyone ever tested the part live? Absolutely exciting in terms of price and should probably be compatible with all A7, A9 and A1 housings from Nauticam.

[monkeybusiness]

On 2/26/2024 at 10:04 PM, gremlin said:

Has anyone got any experience with the Turtle on a set of YS-D2 (non J Variant). The website seems to indicate that one of the variants will work for TTL, the UWT specifically does not work with those strobes. 

I am using the turtle with the ys-d3 mkII. I have still kinda unresolved issues for sttl, it does random over exposing. It seems that they really need the original sea&sea fiber cables have inon). 

 

I can report in some weeks when i get the new cables.

[waterpixel]

10 hours ago, Tino Dietsche said:

Has anyone ever tested the part live? Absolutely exciting in terms of price and should probably be compatible with all A7, A9 and A1 housings from Nauticam.

I have not - I reached out and it does not have TTL, just manual, like the nauticam one but at an attractive price point..