Generic/Cactus brand and Phottix brand radio remote controllers for Canon EOS cameras.
Copyright © 2007 NK Guy
http://photonotes.org/reviews/radio-remotes/
The main product reviewed here consists of a transmitter/receiver pair housed in lightweight black plastic enclosures. They’re quite simple to use. You plug the receiver into your camera and turn both camera and receiver on. You can then use the pushbutton on the transmitter to take photographs at a distance without any physical connection between you and the camera. The commands are transmitted using radio-frequency signals, not infrared light, and so do not require line of sight between the transmitter and receiver. If you’d rather have a wired connector I also have a review of a number of those.
There are no company logos, model numbers or anything printed on either transmitter or receiver - they’re both totally generic and anonymous, though they are sometimes sold under the brand name "Cactus." I bought mine through an eBay reseller based on Hong Kong known as "Link Delight," and it seems reasonable to assume that the devices are built in China. The product arrived within a few days, though packed only in a bubblewrap envelope. This no doubt kept shipping costs down, but does little to protect against possible crush damage. The product did not ship with instructions. It cost around $25 US plus shipping, though I’ve seen the same thing listed on other sites for up to $150 or so, so shop around.
Note that Adorama of New York appear to import and sell this product in the USA, judging by the photos on their Web site. They do, however, charge a much higher price than most of the eBay operations at about $100 US. There is also a German company called Zap-Shot which sell a similar product that is said to have the proper government certifications for the USA and Europe, but I have not tried it. The Zap-Shot product is available with a 2.5mm minijack connector for low-end cameras and does not ship in an N3 version at present.
The picture includes a UK 10p coin for scale. The coin is roughly the same size as a Canadian or US quarter or a 1 euro coin.
Possible uses
On paper this sounds like a terrific product. There are many occasions when it’s really useful to be able to trigger a camera remotely. For example, let’s say you’re a wedding photographer shooting in a traditional church. You might install a camera on a tripod in the upper balcony, aiming down to the aisle with focus preset. Then, as people file out of the building you can concentrate on ground-level shots while firing the upstairs camera remotely. I photographed a wedding recently where I was able to put a remote camera by the altar, so I was able to record shots of the actual ceremony without physically being present.
Or perhaps you’re doing wildlife photography. You might attach a camera to a tree and retreat some distance away so as not to alarm the animals. Perhaps you’ve got a camera clamped to an inaccessible part of a vehicle, such as a motorbike or ship. Or you’re photographing some extreme sports event and want a camera put in a dangerous place. Wireless remotes come in handy here too. Or maybe you have a camera mounted directly above a basketball hoop for dramatic slam-dunk shots. Maybe you want to take a group photograph or crowd scene but you want to be included in the frame. It’s easy to hold the tiny transmitter hidden in your hand and trigger a photo that way. Or you do architectural photos of buildings using a pole-mounted camera.
In short, this device is potentially very useful indeed for many creative situations.
The receiver
The receiver (left in photo) is a rounded fat lightweight plastic box, and comes equipped with a small pushbutton, an exposed 4-position DIP switch block and a dual-colour red/green LED. It’s powered by a 3 volt lithium CR2 photo battery (non-rechargeable; of the same type used by a lot of consumer Canon film cameras) and has a short wire with, depending on which version you purchase, either a friction-fit plug compatible with Canon N3 plugs or a 2.5mm stereo minijack E3 plug. (which plug works with which camera is explained elsewhere on this site) There is also a version sold for use with Nikon cameras.
To turn on the receiver you press and hold the orange-red button for a second or two. The LED will pulse red, and you can then release the button. At this point the receiver is in listening mode and will respond to signals from the transmitter. It pulses the LED in red every few seconds to indicate that it’s still in that mode. To turn it off just press the button again. You cannot use the pushbutton on the radio receiver to trigger the camera - the button is solely for turning the receiver on and off.
I don’t know if the receiver has a power-save timeout or not. I left it for 15-20 minutes at one point and it still responded. I also have no idea how long the lithium battery is likely to last in listening mode. I suspect quite a while, as lithium batteries are pretty capacious, the one used is about half the size of a AA battery, and listening mode shouldn’t draw too much power. But I’ve not tested this.
The receiver’s DIP switch block, since it consists of four slider switches with 2 positions each, supports up to 16 different combinations. This lets you use up to 16 receiver-transmitter pairs without risk of inadvertent triggering. You can of course also have multiple cameras all respond to the same transmitter simultaneously by giving each one its own receiver, set to the same digital code.
Since the signal is sent in a digitally encoded form it should be moderately resistant to accidental triggering from radio interference, but obviously it’s highly doubtful that the thing has any form of error correction. The switch block is exposed and open on the top, which makes it quick and easy to change settings, but also means the product isn’t particularly water or dust resistant.
Annoyingly the receiver hasn’t got any easy way of being fastened to anything - no rings, loops, mounting points. Given the way it’s normally used I think a sort of clip thing to attach it to the camera strap would be very useful. Its odd curvy design (as though the designers expected people to operate it handheld, which makes no sense for the receiver) means you can’t easily attach adhesive velcro to hold it in place. I suppose you’re expected to just plug it in and let it dangle, which isn’t very secure if you’re moving the camera around at all.
The transmitter
The transmitter (right in photo) is narrower and thinner, has a small two-position momentary pushbutton, and the same exposed 4-position DIP switch block and dual-colour LED as the receiver. It has a tiny telescoping metal antenna (10cm long, fully extended), and is powered by a slender 23A (that’s the battery designation - it’s not an amperage rating) 12 volt alkaline battery of the type used in car alarm remotes, garage door openers and the like. It looks like a keychain remote for a car lock, and has a small plastic opening on the end, so could be attached to a keyring or something similar. The body is about 6.5cm long and a bit over 3cm wide.
The transmitter has a two-position pushbutton, like the shutter releases on contemporary cameras, so you can half-press to focus and fully press to take a photo. The LEDs on the devices turn green at a half press and red on a full press. That’s how it works in theory. However, while the devices obediently go from green to red on pressing, I can’t seem to get autofocusing to occur, though it triggers actual picture-taking just fine. It’s very odd, as I’ve tested the pinouts and they seem to work right. And my camera responds fine to a regular wired remote. Not sure what’s going on here.
Unlike the Canon RC-1 this device does not have a 2-second delay mode. In fact, there isn’t any noticeable delay at all, unlike some other radio remotes. This absence of a delay does increase the risk of accidental triggering slightly, but also means that you can use this remote as a basis for interesting instant-triggering projects.
The working distance is advertised on the Link Delight Web site as being up to 10-20 metres, which is quite a range. I tried it in a large indoor space and was able to get easily 25 metres away from the camera before the receiver stopped working reliably. I’ve wandered around and used it at varying distances through walls and floors and it’s always responded fine. In short, this thing has a pretty good range, at least when the batteries are fresh. Not as far as a Pocket Wizard, mind you, but again the cost comparison comes into things.
The trigger is not super-reliable. In the aforementioned wedding only about 2/3 of the shots actually triggered. This didn't matter particularly for the shoot I was doing, but for some pro situations it could be a disaster. Pocket Wizards are your best bet if you need something that fires every time. (even better would be if the products had two-way communication for confirmation purposes - that would be a terrific enhancement)
An interesting aspect of the product is you can use it for shooting in bulb mode. Or, more accurately, in a simulated T mode. To use this mode put your camera into bulb mode. Then press and hold the transmitter button to open the camera shutter. After a second or two the transmitter’s light goes out and you can release the button. Then, when your long exposure is complete, you just press the transmitter button a second time to close the shutter. Nifty.
Build quality
Quality-wise the product is, well... inexpensive. It’s assembled cheaply and cheerfully, and the moulding and assembly is not up to the standards you’d see on a similar Canon product.
When I first got it the receiver didn’t work at all. Further examination revealed that the lithium battery was wrapped in plastic. Oops. But annoyingly it still wouldn’t respond even once the insulating plastic had been removed. I dismantled it (the two halves of the black plastic shell are held together with a single screw), fiddled with the battery connectors, and eventually got it to work. However, the pressure on the battery contacts is not consistent. This is not something I’d stake my reputation on in a professional shoot - it’s far too dodgy for that. The N3 connector is also a friction-fit rubber one, not a proper locking-ring one. If you wanted to use it in a more serious context you could open up the receiver, replace the cable with a proper spring-loaded retaining ring version of the N3 plug (assuming you’re not using the 2.5mm minijack E3 version) and perhaps even wire up two receivers in parallel for redundancy.
An important thing to note is that the devices, in addition to being utterly unmarked and anonymous, lack any certification stickers. One sales site I’ve seen says they operate on a frequency of 412 MHz, though I have no way of verifying that. And I’m sure the products haven’t been certified by the CE, FCC, Industry Canada, Standards Australia or anybody else. Which means technically you’re probably an RF outlaw by using these unlicensed devices. Of course in real life they’re probably no more problematic than toy radio-control cars.
(incidentally, this requirement to obtain proper localized transmitter licences is one reason why Canon and other makers tend to use light-based transmitters, such as the RC-1 infrared transmitter used with many Canon cameras, and wireless E-TTL flash control. Light-based transmitters do not require special radio licences and so can easily and quickly be developed for multiple markets around the globe)
Summary
This device is great fun for doing remote triggering of cameras and fills a void in the market. Canon build infrared receivers into most of their low-end cameras and some of their midrange film cameras, but none of their midrange digitals or pro cameras have such capabilities. Canon do sell a hyper-expensive receiver/transmitter pair for the N3-equipped pro and semi-pro cameras, but nothing affordable. Plus IR has a shorter range and requires line of sight, whereas this thing works at pretty good distances. It isn’t the most reliable trigger in the universe, though.
However, the build quality of this transmitter/receiver (it’s like a super cheap garage door opener) and the lack of certifications mean this is more of a hobbyist toy than anything for pros to rely on. A shame, as I think something like this - a useful tiny device that’s cheaper than a serious professional tool such as a PocketWizard - with a higher level of product quality and triggering reliability could sell quite well.
October 2007 update: Phottix brand remote
I’ve since bought another radio remote pair made by a different Chinese manufacturer. (China Micnova) This set is oddly similar in some ways and quite different in others. The primary difference is that the build quality is far superior even though it was cheaper than the generic/Cactus product. Not up to Japanese or German standards, but still not bad. The ones I bought were branded under the name "Phottix" and the enclosures are larger, squarer and sturdier. Quite a bit larger in the case of the transmitter, which at 10cm long is as big as one of the larger wired remotes. Shame about the unfortunate sounding name, though. I realize the companies aren’t run by English speakers, but maybe they should hire a consultant to come up with better names. And advertising - Phottix’s slogan is, rather ominously, "You better control Your camera!" Good point. I wouldn’t want my camera biting my neighbour or something.
The Phottix stuff seems to work well, though it transmits on a different frequency from the no-name stuff: 433 MHz. (some eBay sellers state wrongly that the Phottix product is infrared. It’s not. It’s radio) I haven’t done exhaustive tests, but the Phottix set does seem to trigger a bit more reliably than the generic/Cactus set. Both brands use the same battery types, though you have to use a screwdriver to replace the transmitter battery in the case of Phottix. Oddly, although both seem to support two-position button presses, and signal green and red when you press the button partway down, neither one correctly triggers the camera to focus. They only trigger the camera to shoot. The Phottix set supports bulb mode photography. Like the generic/Cactus triggers the Phottix products have neither FCC (USA) nor CE (Europe) radio certification stickers, though the internal circuit board on the transmitter claims to be RoHS (European hazardous chemicals) certified.
The N3 connector is friction fit and does not have a locking ring. The Phottix receiver also has a stupid slightly curved back, making it inconvenient to attach self-adhesive velcro. Again, I don’t know what these designers are thinking, since you’re not going to stand there with the receiver in your hand the whole time, so the curved handheld design makes no sense. The transmitter has a tiny little gap on one side through which you could thread a narrow ribbon, unlike the sturdier plastic ring on the generic transmitter. So the generic/Cactus one is easier to attach to a keychain or safety wriststrap or whatever.
Disclaimer and copyright:
This document is copyright © 2007 NK Guy, PhotoNotes.org. This information is provided with neither warranties nor claims of accuracy or completeness of any sort. Use this information at your own risk. All trademarks mentioned herein belong to their respective owners.
I wrote this document in the hope that others in the Internet community might find it useful or interesting. However, I don’t think it’s reasonable for anyone else to earn money from - or take credit for - my work.
Therefore you may copy and print this document for your own personal use. You may not, however, reprint or republish this work, in whole or in part, without prior permission from me, the author. Such republication includes inclusion of this work in other Web sites, Web pages, FTP archives, books, magazines or other periodicals, CD-ROM and DVD-ROM compilations or any other form of publication or distribution. Please do not frame this site within another.
Please send feedback if you find this article to be of interest or value or if you have any comments, corrections or suggestions.
Please also consider making a donation to help defray some of the costs of building and maintaining this site. Thanks!