Quantum Radio Slave 4i

[ColColt]

With the 4i you could trigger four lights. I don't know who would need more than that.

 

[houstonphotographics]

My first thoughts as to possibly getting rid of them was at the time "I thought" I had an intermitten problem with one of the receivers not firing. I traced it down to a faulty pc sync cord. They work fine now. The other side of the coin is I picked up a Sekonic L358 meter (dude basically gave it away)... and also a PW module for it... but of course i need PW...

 

[ColColt]

What's PW? If I was still doing portraits and/or weddings I'd love to have a pair again.

 

[houstonphotographics]

pocket wizards

 

[M Carter]

With the 4i you could trigger four lights. I don't know who would need more than that.

With the 4i, you can trigger one light. It has 4 channels. But only one PC synch outlet. Of course, you can use peanut slaves on your packs, or you can buy or rent as many receivers as you can get your hands on, as long as they match the letter code (A,B,C, or D). EBay usually has plenty of stuff, finding the right letter code is the issue.

For architectural stuff (not my specialty but I did enough of it), it wasn't unusual to have 5 or 6 or 7 lights hiding behind furniture and walls, and using peanut slaves was often iffy due to where the packs were hiding. I had plenty of lightweight extension cables to get peanuts out into the light, but had several instances of renting 2 or 3 more receivers, too. Had a friend who shot some new airliner and rented every available Speedo pack in Dallas and Houston... no idea how many receivers he used though!

The PW wasn't just overkill - most of us who shot with Quantum slaves can recall flashes popping off left and right and randomly, due to - who knows what?? - being on the frequency. Often happened to me in hospitals and big industrial settings - and it could be a royal pain, shooting 4x5 and burning in the existing lights and suddenly getting an extra strobe pop - another sheet in the trash. The PW put an end to that for many people.

 

[ColColt]

With the 4i, you can trigger one light. It has 4 channels.

You can trigger four lights if you have four receivers as I did. I only used two at weddings, the main and fill light. Each was attached to a Talon light stand with PC cord hooked into a Photogenic light.

 

[wiltw]

Any single radio transmitter can transmit and trigger n lights, where n appoaches Infinity...one only needs n receivers!


The PW Plus transmitters could be used to trigger up to 16 separately controlled channels, were the Quantum 4i could only transit to 4 separately controlled channels. Of course, neither could trigger a combination of channels (e.g. channels 1 and 3 but not 2 and 4).

The earlier PW II only FOUR channels just like Quantum 4i, but PW claimed it had 16-bit CODED signals. But even if you read the manual, there was no information about how to SET and USE coded signals to prevent interference from another photographer. So if you purchased based on what the box said, you were disappointed if you wanted to set up coded signals.

The benefit of PW Plus was if you ever participated in a group shoot workshop, it was unlikely that 16 channels had someone using every channel, so you could find a free channel to use as YOUR channel. In a public setting like in a basketball court, each pro at the venue could have a channel of his own, if everyone cooperated and coordinated channel selection.

PW did have longer range than Quantum. But given the generally higher price for the PW, the Quantum had the edge in the marketplace for a long time. PW was wise enough to enter cooperative relationships with makers of studio lights and light meters, and started to get an edge because of simply smarter corporate tactics (dare I attribute it to a 'strategy'?!)

 

[TSSPro]

I'd love to have a whole slew of Q-flashed at my disposal! They're a great product, but I haven't seen a slave described by the OP in a long time.

 

[ColColt]

the Quantum 4i slaves worked for me every time and were reliable whether in the studio or on site at a wedding. You can't ask for more than that. Moreover, there was never interference from other photographers falsely triggering them.

 

[wiltw]

Yes, the Quantum 4i lost some market share to the Pocket Wizards greater number of channels and coded triggers, but it was also signficantly less expensive than the PW, too, in the mid 90's. I sort of lost touch with that segment of the industry, since I discontinued shooting weddings and had no reason to purchase more current radio slave gear. On the battery front, interest in Quantun stuff diminished significantly over the past decade and a half, with the emergence of battery packs for xTTL flash units based upon AA batteries.

 

[M Carter]

I've been doing some film testing this week, some kind of esoteric. Had three Speedo packs going, but got tired of the Quantum fairly quickly - that big-ass transmitter is a pain compared to today's tiny stuff. I can't work with it on the hot shoe for 35, usually clip it to my belt for metering and then to the tripod for shooting, regardless of camera. (And one of my receivers has finally died as well).

So I got out the cheapo amazon set, which won't fire with my meters or RB lenses, only my SLRs. Spent yesterday emailing tech support at various places to see if there's a sub-$200 setup that will work for me. I see Aputure has entered the market with some nicely-featured units (including being able to switch each to transmit or receive), so I may buy a set and test it. Aputure has done a great job with LED lights and various budget-cinema items, they've become a real contender amongst the Asian knockoff stuff.

I'll spring for a PW if I really have to, but for now, the bigger-format film stuff I do is experimental and non-invoicable. Trying to retain some semblance of fiscal sanity.