Build Your own Sound Activated Flash Trigger -

Event Details

Time: September 15, 2010 from 6pm to 8:30pm
Location: AMT Labs, Inc
Street: 680 North 700 West
City/Town: North Salt Lake City, 84054
Phone: 8018104749
Event Type: tech
Organized By: Simspix
Latest Activity: Sep 16, 2010

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Event Description

This has been completed.
Thank you to all who attended and helped with this event. It went fairly smooth. For those that attended, here is a link to a hot shoe adapter that will work with the wire that you received. I have not personally tried this unit and I include the link for illustrative purposes only not as a recommendation.

Here are some tips for using your new flash trigger:

Use a fresh 9V battery. Most inconsistencies are caused by a bad or low battery.

Use your flash on 'MANUAL MODE'. Do not use TTL or eTTL. This may cause inconsistencies in the flash firing.

For Shooting
Remember that flash intensity is based on duration. The brighter your flash, the longer the duration. This means that the the faster your motion, the lower your flash power should be to keep everything sharp. Try long exposures combined with a self timer.

A typical scenario would be to: Set the camera on a tripod. Set your self timer.
Pre-focus and then turn your camera to manual focus(use something high in contrast to obtain the correct focus point. A bar code from a soda can works well)
Set the camera in manual mode.
Choose appropriate aperture based on flash intensity. If you do not have a meter, start at f8 and take a test shot.
Set a long shutter speed such as 4 seconds
Dim the lights in the room. It does not need to be pitch black but it does need to pretty dark. A dim light in the distance will allow you to work.
Start the self timer on your camera, trigger the flash with whatever you are trying to photograph. Review and repeat.
To vary the delay, move the flash trigger closer or further from the sound source.

Good luck!

Comment Wall

Comment by Jeff Hillhouse on August 2, 2010 at 11:54am: Doug, is there any chance to be able to add the delay on the trigger at the same time? That seems like a very important part of the trigger, and I'd rather do it all at the same time.

Comment by Scott O. Smith on August 2, 2010 at 12:02pm: Great idea Doug, I'd love to join and make me another trigger.

Comment by Simspix on August 2, 2010 at 1:01pm: Jeff, It's easy enough to add but it is a little more complex of a circuit. It has an IC on it and a few more circuits. So, it takes longer to do and a slightly more than beginner level of soldering. We can get you a kit that has the delay circuit. I think it is only about $6 or $7 more.

When I first built one years ago, I combined mine with the delay and also a shmitt gate. I then put a few switches on to turn the delay off and on and switch between the shmitt and the sound trigger. Typically when I use the sound trigger, I usually end up turning the delay off because it is easier to just move the unit closer or further from the sound.
If I had it all to do over again, I would build the sound trigger as one unit, the shmitt gate as another unit and the the delay as it's own unit. This way you could use the delay with either the sound trigger or the shmitt gate. Just plug the sound triggers output to the delay's input and then hook your flash up to the delay. Does that make sense?
So, if you want the delay, I would recommend a second project box/board etc. and do two units. But anyway you want to go would work. Just let me know.

Comment by Jeff E Jensen on August 2, 2010 at 10:45pm: I would definitely like to build one, though I might be out of town that day. I'll let you know as soon as I know for sure.

Comment by Jeff E Jensen on August 3, 2010 at 7:34am: So, what is a shmitt gate?

Comment by Simspix on August 3, 2010 at 7:43am: A shmitt gate is a kind of photogate. Basically when something breaks a light beam it will trigger the flash. Much like how your garage door senses something in its light path and retracts.
If anything breaks the beam(passes in the gate) the flash will trigger.

Comment by Mike Roberts on August 5, 2010 at 5:34pm: I would also like to build the shmitt gate and the delay when you do those. I also have a spare soldering iron i can bring.

Comment by Jeff Hillhouse on August 6, 2010 at 9:41am: OK, well you would know better than I would :) If you think it's better without, then I'll just it that way. I forgot that last year at the meeting you just moved it closer or farther away to get the delay...

Comment by Simspix on August 23, 2010 at 9:05am: Here are a couple pics I took a week and a half ago with my flash trigger. The first two are shot with an air soft gun.

And this one was shot with a paint ball gun with a pink colored paint ball.

Comment by Nard Nebeker on September 16, 2010 at 5:31pm: Doug,
Once again thanks to you and your helpers with the flash trigger. It was easy to do and fun besides. I'm sure that all who attended appreciated what was done.
Nardo