ImageBrief: Income From A Different Angle

Yongnuo CTR301P and RF602 wireless flash triggers now available

We are now carrying stock of the Yongnuo CTR301P wireless flash triggers, and the RF602/C (for Canon) and RF602/N (for Nikon) wireless flash triggers. Yongnuo triggers have been getting great reviews on various photography sites, such as Flickr and dpreview.com.

So why are we carrying two different Yongnuo flash trigger systems?

Both systems will mount and work with almost all DSLR cameras with a hotshoe, and almost all speedlight and studio flashes, except for Sony/Minolta equipment. The main difference between the two systems are as follows:

1. Wireless frequency and Wireless range: The CTR301P works on the 433mHz frequency, making it compatible with other 433MHz systems such as the Cactus wireless flash triggers. The range of the CTR301P is around 10m, which is fine for most studio or outdoor photo shoots. The RF602 works on the 2.4GHz frequency, which provides a range of around 100m, and a stronger signal in buildings with interference issues. We have a customer who was having interference issues using his cactus remotes with his Canon 5D. Moving to a RF602C trigger and three RF602RX receivers has removed any interference issues, and he is now getting great results from his 3 flash set up for real estate photography.
2. Mounting System: The CTR301P receivers has a1/4″ thread mount on the base, which fits on a standard light stand, whereas the RF602 as a standard Hotshoe mount. If you want to use these wireless flash triggers with speedlite flashes, that means you need a FH02 umbrella/flash mount for RF602, and a FH07 for the CTR301P  wireless triggers.
3. The RF-602 can also be used as a remote shutter release, so they serve a dual purpose.

Whichever solution you choose, you are bound to get great value, and increased options for  your off-camera flash setup.

AA rechargeable battery tests in Shure microphones

For those of you who are sceptical of using Rechargeable battereis in radio microphones, Mike over at Church Tech Arts has done some thorough runtime testing of various AA rechargeable batteries in Shure UHF-R UR2 microphones with SM-58 capsules. Mike also includes ProCell Alkaline batteries as a comparison for those using Alkaline AA batteries .

The Powerex 2700 AA and Sanyo 2700 AA both had the longest runtime at 14 hours, eneloop came in at 11 hours, and the alkalines ran for 9.75 hours. You can be assured that quality recargeables will pay for themselves. Mike tested a set of 4 year old rechargeable AA’s and found they were still outperforming Alkaline batteries by 4 hours.

Mike has a great overview of why you may have been burned by rechargeables in the past.

Click here for a full explanation of the test setup Mike used.

Recommended battery charge rates in MH-C9000

We sometimes get asked: “what is the best charge rate to use in my MH-C9000 for my batteries?”.

We recommend 0.5C as a standard charge rate. That is 0.5 multiplied by the battery capacity. Here is an example:

0.5C charge rate x 1000mAh battery capacity = 500mA charge rate.

If you are in a hurry, you can use a charge rate up to 1C without concern of damage, but at 0.5C charge rate you will get a more complete battery charge. A slower charge will result in a slightly higher capacity, and it is easier for the battery to absorb the energy at a slower rate, which will contribute to a longer battery life. So why not charge even slower and get more charge capacity and more battery cycles from the rechargeable batteries?

Using a slower charge rate has a diminishing marginal benefit. Going any slower than 0.5C does not result in much difference to energy capacity or battery longevity.Futhermore, we recommend a minimum charge rate of 0.3C. Below 0.3C it is more difficult for the MH-C9000 to detect the change in voltage and know when to terminate the charge.

As a guide, here is a chart for our main battery models:

diagnosing AA batteries with MH-C9000 saves user $40

It only takes one or two bad batteries to affect the performance of all your batteries, because AA batteries are typically used in sets of 2 or 4.Being able to identify which batteries are not performing allows you to group batteries into sets that are still good. That’s just what Tony did. By being able to test the health of the 3 sets of AA rechargeable batteries Tony already had, he saved $40 in the first week of ownership of his MH-C9000, by matching up 2 good sets and not having to replace his old, poorly performing batteries.

Read more about Tony’s experience here.

5 pack rechargeable AA batteries for Nikon SB800

Powerex AA 5 pack for Nikon SB800

We have a fair amount of customers who shoot Nikon, and many of you doing a lot of off camera flash photography in weddings and portraits are using SB800 speedlites. So we talked to MAHA about packaging up their batteries in 5 packs rather than 4 packs, and we now have the Powerex 2700mAh AA battery 5 pack, including an 8 battery case

Should we also introduce a 5 pack of IMEDION AA’s for those of you who are after a low self discharge solution for their SB800?

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Will using a fast battery charger shorten my battery life?

The battery life of a rechargeable battery is affected by how hard you make it work when recharging. Aggressive battery charging will shorten the number of charge-discharge cycles you get from your batteries before you start to see a decline in capacity and/or performance.

The recommended maximum charge rate from most battery manufacturers is 1C, or 1 x the Capacity of the battery. For a 2700mAh AA battery, the maximum charge rate is 2700mA. A 15 minute rapid charger is very aggressive, charging at 4C. Absorbing the energy so fast will cause the batteries to become quite hot, and will shorten the life of the batteries. Any charger that takes 1 hour or longer to charge batteries will meet the 1C recommendations.

For example, The MH-C801D has a standard charge rate of 2000mA for AA batteries, so it is below the maximum recommended charge rate for our 2100mAh IMEDION AA batteries and our 2700mAh Powerex AA’s. The MH-C801D also has a SOFT CHARGE feature, which halves the charge rate to 1000mA, making the charging process even easier on the batteries. I would recommend using the SOFT charge feature whenever you have the time to charge your batteries at 1000mA, and feel free to use the 2000mA charge rate when you need batteries charged fast.

Canon Speedlite flash refresh test results for Energizer Duracell eneloop IMEDION and Powerex AA batteries

There has been another extensive rechargeable AA battery test published. Forum member “SYS” over at the Photography On The Net forum fired his Canon Speedlite 6,560 times to test flash refresh rates,self discharge rates, and the number of flash pops available for various brands of NiMH rechargeable AA batteries. This is an awesome amount of test data and a credit to the photography community.

The ten types of batteries tested were as follows:

Sanyo eneloop “Pre-Charged” – 2000mAh, MAHA Powerex – 2700mAh, MAHA Powerex Imedion “Pre-Charged” – 2100mAh, Rayovac Hybrid “Pre-Charged” – 2000mAh, Rayovac “15-Minute” Rechargeable – 2000mAh, Duracell DX1500 Rechargeable “Pre-Charged” – 2000mAh, Kodak Rechargeable “Pre-Charged” – 2100mAh, Energizer Rechargeable – 2500mAh, La Crosse Rechargeable – 2600mAh, Energizer Max Alkaline – “Use by 2013”

Given that this test was conducted in the USA, some of the tested brands are not available in Australia, however, the significant results are that the Powerex 2700 AA rechargeable batteries provide the faster refresh time than any of the other batteries, and the IMEDION provided the fastest flash refresh time among all the Low discharge (ready to use) AA batteries.

Another significant result is that the Powerex IMEDION AA batteries provided more flash pops that all the other brands of low self discharge (ready to use) AA batteries.

You can read the (extensive) test results and procedures at the Photography on the net forum

Battery Technology Interview on Radio 2RDJ

Earlier this month I was interviewed about battery technologies by Gary Stark of the Gadget Grill. We talked about the difference between Lithium batteries, Nickel Metal Hydride (NiMH) batteries, Nickel Cadmium (NiCad) batteries, and Alkaline batteries. We also talk about the difference between smart chargers and timer chargers.

If you want to have a listen, browse on over to The Gadget Grill, or you can download an MP3 Podcast of the interview here. The interview starts at about minute 17.