#miops test

I have been evaluating the MIOPS Smart Trigger and have been experimenting with the sound trigger feature.

I set up a small water-filled balloon with a Cactus RF60 Flash behind to backlight. The RF60 was triggered via a Cactus V6 II plugged into the MIOPS Smart.

I burst the balloon with a shot from an air gin.

The MIOPS Smart has done a good job of triggering the flash at about the right time. The gun was fired about 4 feet from the balloon which would have introduced a short delay.

Trigger Trap Alternative

Trigger Trap recently announced the news that they are going out of business. I have been a long running user of the Trigger Trap system and participated in the early Beta Testing of the product.

One feature that I particularly liked was Trigger Traps ability to trigger a flash gun when a sound was made. This allowed for some creative captures for example when a water filled balloon is burst and captured at high speed (short flash duration)

I did some research for similar products and contacted the folks at MIOPS who where kind enough to supply me with a MIOPS Smart Trigger to review and compare.

I thought I would initially evaluate the MIOPS Smart Sound Trigger feature compared to my Trigger Trap Solution

Ping Pong Ball Bounce Test

I decided to set up a simple bounce test to compare the lag of the Trigger Trap Vs the MIOPS Smart.

Trigger Trap Setup

I connected the Trigger Trap Dongle to my iPhone SE via the Headphone Socket and to my Cactus RF60 Flash via the Trigger Trap Flash Adaptor 

I set the X-T2 to take a 5 second exposure and the Trigger Trap Mobile App to Trigger when a sound is detected. I turned the lights out in the room to avoid any ambient exposure and dropped the ping pong ball from two feet.

As the ball hits the matt it triggers the RF60 which freezes the ball in flight. The height of the rebound corresponds to the lag between the sound of the impact and the flash firing.

Trigger Trap Sound Trigger - Test Photo

MIOPS Smart Setup

The MIOPS Smart connects to flash via a PC Sync lead. I don't have this port on my Cactus RF60 so had to grab a hot shoe adapter from Amazon (I went for a JJC JSC-9 which works fine)

I set up the sound mode on the MIOPS to 'listen' for noise and set the sensitivity down to around 50%.

It is useful to set lock mode on to prevent the MIOPS from triggering every time the ball bounces rather than just the one time.

As with the Trigger Trap I set up in a dark room with the X-T2 taking a 5 second exposure. 

MIOPS Smart Sound Trigger Test Photo

Conclusion

I realize that this is a rather un-scientific test but from this initial test you can clearly see that the MIOPS Smart fires the Flash with significantly less lag. The Ping Pong Ball has not cleared the top of the base of the measure.