High-speed photography is, I think we can all agree, completely awesome. We’ve all seen the images: incredible, tiny, dramatic moments captured at the very instant the action happens.
Frozen microseconds that let us see things that are normally imperceptible: The taut skin of a burst water balloon peels back, its innards suspended like a shattering, watery nebula. A bouncing tennis ball is caught hovering millimetres from the ground, kicking up sparkling, pin-sharp atoms of clay dust. A tiny pipistrelle bat unwittingly darts out of the night and floats amid an endless abyss of black. A man drops a strawberry on a spoon for some reason.
These stunning images have always been labours of love – demanding the sort of precision, patience and panache that few of us have. In short, they were the preserve of the professionals.
Armed with the brand spanking new Triggertrap Flash Adapter, a Triggertrap Mobile Dongle and a smartphone, your first leaps into high-speed photography is now within reach of everyone! (Of course, if you really want to kick your high-speed photography into a high gear, you should also take a look at the Triggertrap v1)
Why trigger the Flash?
Awesome photograph in 3… 2… 1…
So why are we triggering the flash? For high-speed photographers, triggering a DSLR camera from a smartphone is all about reaction time. The delay between your screen-tap or hand-clap and your camera going off – the dreaded shutter lag – isn’t very long by most people’s standards, but it can mean the difference between capturing that elusive breaking glass, popping balloon or stampeding wildebeest, and missing the moment completely.
Attach a Triggertrap Flash Adapter to any hotshoe-ready flash gun and an iPhone in a darkened room, set your camera on a long exposure and use any of Triggertrap Mobile’s many triggers (sound and vibration are your best bets here) and you’re ready to go. Just check out our handy demonstration video here and you’ll quickly see what we mean! Amazing images are now only a bounce, bang or even a bullet away (but safety first, kids).
Triggertrap Flash Adapter in all its glory
Up until now, the lag on Triggertrap Mobile for iOS has been a frankly sluggish 60 milliseconds – but our developers have made some exciting tweaks to the app and we’re now seeing reaction times of just 5 milliseconds.
As avid fans of mathematics will have noticed, that means the latest version of Triggertrap Mobile is up to TWELVE TIMES faster, depending on what iOS device you’re using. Not too shabby, we think – and it’s this speed boost that enables photographers to make use of our nifty new accessory.
The Triggertrap Flash Adapter is available right now from our shop, and the latest version of Triggertrap Mobile is waiting for you in the App Store. Get your orders in now, folks!
Gorgeous photos like this are only possible if you’re triggering the flash instead of your camera (photo by Triggertrap user Gabe Toth)
To use the Triggertrap Flash Adapter, you’ll need either a Triggertrap v1, a Triggertrap Shield for Arduino, or a Triggertrap Mobile Dongle coupled with the Triggertrap Mobile App for iOS or for Android*
Get yours today!
Loving the sound of that? Great! You can learn more about the Triggertrap Flash Adapter on our product page, or if you’re extra-eager, head over to the Triggertrap Shop to order your Triggertrap Flash Adapter today!
*) Unfortunately the Triggertrap Mobile App for Android is not yet optimised for high speed photography with the Triggertrap Flash Adapter – You will be able to trigger your flash, but the iOS version of the app is currently significantly faster. We’re working really hard to make the Android version of the app better, so keep an eye out for updates!
ahhhhh now that is something i want to test…..
Great Job… keep the products coming..
I’m confused.
I bought the flash adapter from you/Amazon last August. Is this the same adapter but you’re now demonstrating how to use it, or does is this adapter something different than what I already have?
Hey there! It’s the same adapter, except we’re now selling it with Triggertrap branding, a better connection cable, and we’ve completely re-vamped the app to make sure users can get full benefit from it! If you have one of our old flash adapters, then that should still work – and because the app is updated, it’ll be much better than before!
Hi
Wow when I inquired about this just the other week I really didn’t expect you to make the product so quickly ;-)
I will soon be ordering a Trigger Trap and Flash Adapter :-)
I think you were just really lucky – we’ve been working on this product for quite a while! I wish everyone would ask us about products we’re about to launch – makes us look like actual superheroes!! :)
What’s new in the app to benefit flash triggering and when does it come to the Android version?
Hey there Eric,
Have a look at the video, it explains the difference between flash and camera triggering.
The Android app is undergoing some major surgery, and will come back in full force later this summer.
The new trigger is nice, but triggers my flash with about a second delay.
I was hopping for some help with set up!
Hey there Alex! I think I know what the issue is – please contact us on so I can check some details with you and we’ll get you up and running!
Hi, can i use this to shoot water drops using my Nexus7.
If the reaction time of the App has improved that much, why is it still only possible top take long exposure HDR’s, limited to 1/16 of a sec?
Dear Andy, This is because the HDR interface isn’t a limitation in our app – we can happily send a 1-millisecond signal to a camera (which is 1/1000th of a second), but the cameras have weird ways of dealing with Bulb. For more info, see our Bulb Quirks blog post.
Very interseting product. When will it be in Europe available. I’m waiting for it….
It’s available no! See http://tri.gg/wtb to find out where to get yours!
I want the flash adapter but I own Android device. I read where Android devices don’t work with flash adapter. Discount offer ends in August.
Will Android version be updated to work with flash adapter before discount offer ends? It’s going to be the end of August before you know it.
Or, are us Android users just out of luck?
bob
Hi there Bob!
I wouldn’t say you’re out of luck .. in fact, the newest version of the Android app is much faster than the old one … and we’ll work to improve speed further.
~ Haje
Someone please help me! I’ve asked this question before and not got a response! Why the Fandam would the Trigger Trap not support normal exposure HDR?!! Unless you plan your shots for the golden hours, you wont correctly expose with a middle exposure of 1/15 unless you stop down to 22 which is ridiculous if you”re shooting for a sharp result. All we need is a stop or two in the app to make this HDR mech work wonders. Otherwise I’m stuck with in camera AEB with only 3 shots with up to 2EV’s spacing. Comprende?
We’d love to but it’s not technically possible. As we use the remote port we only have as much control as that offers us. We can only vary the shutter speed by putting the camera in bulb mode and sending different length trigger signals. This puts a bottom limit of around 1/15s on the shutter speed as that’s the fastest that most cameras support in bulb mode. Sorry.
Hi there
Is it possible to link say 3 or 4 flash adapters so I can have 6 or 8 flash guns firing at the exact same time? Also is there fine tuning to be done on the triggering – say I want the flashes to go off the moment a bottle hits the floor capturing it exploding?
Thanks
Thomas