Pixel Knight TR-332 Review

I purchased a set of the Pixel Enterprises Knight TR-332 TTL for Canon wireless flash triggers from Gadget Infinity the other day. I thought there was a chance they'd work on my 20D, and maybe even a chance it would be the one thing to fire my Sunpak Digiflash2800 E-TTL II flash.

Shot a quick video after I learned of some really interesting stuff with these units. El-cheapo High speed sync, anyone? :D

Example photos are at the end.

Example photo notes (or, things I was too lazy to edit in with iMovie):

Binders:
full power

White wall (standing about three feet from a wall, camera and flash handheld directly in front of me):
full power, note banding
same settings, no banding
full power, no banding,
full power no banding
full power, banding,
full power, no banding
full power, no banding

Floor/blinds:
full power, no banding (note how much the flash evens out the blinds shadows from the sun)

Island counter:
flash off
full power, no banding
1/8th power, reverse banding (flash registers at bottom of frame, top majority is ambient light)
1/4 power, reverse banding
1/2 power, reverse banding

Rocks/grass:
full power outside

Yard:
full power outside
flash off

Jeep tire:
flash off
full power

Rocks/sidewalk:
flash off
full power

Grass:
full power

Rocks:
full power
flash off
full power

Also: Sorry about the horrible music volume issues. iMovie started frustrating me with its lack of decent volume control.

Edit: Last night I tried this trigger with the same Sunpak flash on a friend's 50D. NONE of the issues that I could test in the few minutes I had could be reproduced on the 50D. There was no reverse banding when setting the flash at less than 1/1 power, and even at 1/8000th there was no intermittent banding. Then again, maybe I didn't fire off enough test shots to accurately tell. But so far, it seems that it definitely DOES work on newer cameras with a DIGIC III chipset and higher.



Update:
Oh, I recently upgraded from the 20D to the 7D, and therefore can finally use my Knight TR-332 triggers. I dragged a buddy out into the hot sun one day, and did some pseudo-HSS tests, which you can take a look at here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tf5_bassist/sets/72157627215594969/

All of these are somewhere between i believe 1/400 and 1/8000. I don't have the EXIF'd versions with me, they'll be added soon.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• canon
• flash
• strobist
• pocketwizard
• ttl
• wireless triggers
• pixel knight
• pixel enterprises
• tr-332
• off camera flash
• lumopro lp160
• canon 20D
• high speed sync
• focal plane sync
• wireless sync

[kalboreloy]

Thanks for a FedEx / UPS fast reply "FedUp" (when they merge) , so we can't do firmware update by ourself for sunpak flash ? Hmm! is it something u think i need to consider compare to canon flash. Pixel king or Phottix Odin is what i'm waiting , but if d price is not too crazy i'm more in favor of phottix coz it looks like the Nikon SU-800 which is very easy to operate .

[tf5bassist]

@kalboreloy Yeah, i can't find my tracking number at the moment either haha.

For this particular flash, no, the firmware update cannot be done on your own that I could find. There's no interface to a computer on this flash. The only model of flash I know that has updatable firmware is a Metz unit that has a USB port.

Both the Odin and Pixel King look really great. Phottix has been making great strides with their systems, so we'll see how the two compare in practicality.

[kalboreloy]

any latest update?  i have the 7d also , can you please tell if all the features like HSS , ETTL , manual exposure compensation etc. went well with your sunpak flash . if it does then really a big thanks so i dont have to spend more for canon flashes. thanks Bro!

[tf5bassist]

@kalboreloy At this point, my Sunpak Digiflash 2800 is currently shipped over to TOCAD America to have the firmware updated to work with the 7D. I'll test it whenever it makes it back, after the chaos of Warped Tour dies down. :D

[prmass1]

I was looking for the tr 331 review but I didn't find it. I guess this is much like it. I am also seriously considering buying it. The only affordable option. Go for the pocket wizards and they cost $420 total vs $145 for these.

[tf5bassist]

@prmass1 The TR-331 and TR-332 are exactly the same, just Nikon and Canon, respectively.

What I can't really speak on is the behaviors between different lines of cameras, regarding HSS and that weird black bar issue.

I have noticed that I'm getting the black bar once in a while on my 7D with these, and it has to do with certain shutter speeds that aren't multiples of native speeds. I'll do more testing later.

[tf5bassist]

@slimhim No, the receiver doesn't really have any settings other than the group/channel config. And it remembers those settings when you power it off, so I basically set the group/channel, turned it off, put the flash back on it, and used something like a butter knife, or a key, or something to hit the Power button on the receiver.

[slimhim]

I did read about that also and I was wondering of it'd be a real concern or not. I mean once you set it once, do you have to do much changing to the receiver? I'm assuming most changes that need to be done to the flash (fully compatible ones at least) can be done from the receiver???

And I may look into Craigslist as well if I can't return them due to it taking longer than their return policy allows. I keep hearing that the Kings are right around the corner. As usual the full specs haven't bee

[tf5bassist]

@slimhim haha yeah, I'm sure it's fine as well. I haven't seen anything on the Pixel Kings, but these are definitely decent units from what I've seen so far. Only REAL problem (when used on the right camera) is the HORRIBLE location of the buttons--when you have a flash on the receiver, hitting those buttons are ridiculously hard.

I may be selling mine, and I'm sure I can get most all my cash back on Craigslist due to people not wanting to order from Hong Kong haha.

[slimhim]

lol yea I'm sure it's Ozone and Canon friendly all built right in. I'll be getting a few in a couple days too I think. I've been trying to hold out until the Pixel Kings come out but not sure how much longer I can wait. Hopefully Gadget Infinity has a good return policy!! ;-)