I always seem to have a bad habit of being an early adopter of technology, and once again, I just couldn’t help myself. When I heard the Quantum Trio was recently released (it was originally supposed to be released in December), I tried to kid myself. “I’ll wait until it’s out for a little while first ,” I thought. “It’s probably a little buggy still because the release was delayed.” But the coolness was too much to resist.
Here’s what got me here. I recently started using a Qflash 5d-R, which I love as a portable light for weddings and on-location portrait sessions. To trigger the 5d-R, I have used either Cyber Cyncs or Quantum’s Freewire transmitter. Both of these are reliable triggers, but using the Qflash off camera meant exclusively manual mode (which I could deal with) and it was a little difficult to use in combination with a flash on the camera. Yes, Quantum does have an option to send TTL information with their D-adapter, and I could velcro a Freewire to the top of my 580EX II to use them together, but these require a lot of extra wires and are much less elegant than the Trio. The trio brings together these capabilities in a nice on-camera flash.
For those not familiar with the Trio’s capabilities, it is a hot shoe flash–just a bit more powerful than a 580EX II–that offers wireless control of other Quantum Qflashes. It can also trigger non-Quantum strobes with a Freewire receiver. It’s a bit smaller than a 5d-R and requires Quantum external batteries; I tested it with a Turbo SC. Its modes include variations of QTTL, Auto, Manual and Advanced Multi. I haven’t used the auto mode yet (which uses the light sensor on the front of the Qflashes), but I did experiment with QTTL and Advanced Multi quite a bit. The QTTL modes will let you set up lighting patterns in a variety of different ways: QTTL on just the Trio on-camera, QTTL with ratios between the Trio and remote Qflashes, and QTTL on just the remote flashes. While it’s a little more complicated, I found Advanced Multi mode very useful. It will let you do any combination of QTTL, Auto, and Manual settings on the Trio and remote flashes. With all of these modes, you can adjust the settings of remote flashes right from the on-camera trio. There is also a very convenient Program mode that lets you store up to 8 different configurations. As a wedding photographer, I can see myself using these preprogrammed settings a lot. Manual settings for portraits, QTTL when either I or my subjects are moving quickly.
The images below were created with two different variations of Advanced Multi mode, both stored as settings in the Program Mode.
I created this image with the 5d-R and a shoot through umbrella. The manual settings for the 5d-R and triggering were controlled by the Trio, which itself did not fire.
My daughter was very patient posing for me as I played with my new toy this weekend.
For this image, the Trio was set to fire the 5d-R in TTL mode. The Trio also fired on camera in TTL mode at -2EV for fill.
Overall, my first impressions of the Trio are very positive.
Pros:
- Great light from the Trio.
- Excellent integration with remote Qflashes. It’s easy to adjust remote flashes from the camera.
- Option for TTL when I want it. If find Quantum’s TTL to be reliable.
- I haven’t tried this yet, but it will also fire strobes set up as room lights with a Firewire receiver on the strobe.
- Quick recycle time. I have two Turbo SC’s I’ll be using it with, and it’s quick and powerful. Some may consider an extternal battery a disadvantage, but I already use Turbo SC’s with my 580′s, so this isn’t an issue for me.
Cons:
- Expense. They are expensive even if they do have Quantum’s QTTL and Freewire system built in.
- Size. They are bigger than a 580EX II.
- Some firmware issues still need to be worked out. While the Trio can do high speed sync, it won’t be able to do HSS with remote Trios until a firmware update later in this spring. The Trio has also locked up on me occasionally in Advanced Multi Mode. Firing a shot from the camera clears it. My LCD also flickers a bit (don’t know if this is just with my Trio or just the way these things work). Quantum was closed today because of the storm, but I’ll be calling them tomorrow to get their take on this.
The Verdict: So far, so good. I love the light it produces by itself, and it makes using my Qflash off-camera a breeze. It will definitely make photographing weddings and events much easier for me. I will be using it for a wedding next weekend, and I will report back after giving it a full workout.
{ 42 comments… read them below or add one }
I have 3 Qflashes and I have used there system for controlling the power of their lights remotely, but it take about 10-15 seconds for the change in power to be sent out to the remote and then to get back the confirmation on the LCD. I am speaking of their pre-Trio/Pilot system.
When you adjust the lights manually, how long does is take ? In other words you look at your control LCD, scroll to the light you want to adjust and change the power. How longs does it take.
I like to make a quick change fire another test a dn then change again if I have to, but right now the system I have is so slow I could of walked to the light made the change and then walked back.
I don’t see the delay you describe when I use my Trio and 5d-R together. If I set the manual power of the 5d-R from the Trio, the power settings are set immediately on the remote 5d-R. I can set the power, take a test shot right away, adjust again, take another shot. I haven’t used the older system to adjust the power of a remote Qflash (I’ve always just walked over to the light) but I am quite happy with the way it works with the Trio and 5d-R. I hope that answers your question.
Hey steve, I am not normally an extreme early adapter either, I waited 3 months for my eos 5dmkii, but I was so impressed with my qflash t5d-r and so hyped about the hss in the trio specs that after a 2 month release delay I slipped into a 15 minute “In Stock” window at B&H and purchased one. First off, my display also flickers, but I have only noticed it in QTTLR mode, not QTTL.
Question; How well does your HSS work in QTTL? I have noticed at least a 3 stop drop-off in exposure between 1/200 (max sync on 5dmkii) and 1/250 in HSS. My other values were f/5.6 and iso= 100. I have no such drop-off with my Canon 580EX flash.
Hi Alan,
HSS is not working as well as I would have hoped. I am also seeing the same major difference with reduced output as compared to my 580 EX II in HSS mode. Another interesting difference between the Trio and the 580 is that you take a shot before the Trio has recycled in HSS, you get an image with the shutter in the frame. The 580 just doesn’t fire if it’s not ready.
My Trio is going back to Quantum next week for the lock-up issue, but I’ll be curious to see if others have problems with HSS. Maybe it’s something that can be adjusted with a firmware update.
How was the wedding? Did the trio’s make things easier? Were your results better than the 580EX II? Was the QTTL/TTL great or not? I appreciate your post!!! Also did anyone explain the blinking display? or HSS issue? Okay I will top with that…. THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
PS. I have been a long time Q flash user (15 yrs) love them but really excited about the trio system. Are they as powerful as the 580′s – or at least do they seem to have enough pop for most applications (weddings/events/location portraits). I have the Q X2′s 400 ws. Again many thanks!!!
Hi Shane,
The wedding was a very nice event. I should have a few photos of it on my blog in the next few days.
The Trio performed fairly well. QTTL was as reliable as my 580EX II. I bounced it a lot, and took a few shot straight on with the wide angle diffuser and a 24-70. As far as power, I’ve yet to see an object measure comparing the Trio to the 580EX II, but in my experience using it yesterday side by side with my 580EX II on a second camera, the Trio felt a little less powerful. With the diffuser off (which I did not do at all) I think it would have a slight edge on the 580.
So did it make things easier? In some ways yes. I love the quick recycle and the light that comes from the Trio. It also played well with my T5d-R when doing group shots (with one lockup as described in this post). It is a bit bulkier and harder to orient for bounces than the 580, so there were times I was liking the 580 more for those reasons. Of course I’m more comfortable with the 580.
No word on the HSS issue. My Trio will be going back to Quantum tomorrow. I’ll report back when I get it back from them.
My LCD flickers a bit too, but I guess that’s common. I am still learning this bugger, but I do like it! Know of any good tutorials online?
I just got my Trio back from Quantum, and they gave it a hardware fix to stop the flickering. All have more in a post later this week.
As for tutorials, Quantum has so good general Qflash videos available, but nothing Trio specific that I’ve seen.
Quantum has a firmware upgrade on their site to fix the flicker issue along with a few other things relating to some new Canon E-TTL communication protocols. I upgraded and it did the trick
Thanks for the comments. Curious about you saying that the trio flash is more powerful than a Canon 580 EXII? Looking at the guide number specs for both, it appears that the Canon is considerably more powerful than the Trio. The Trio is also less powerful than the regular Quantum flashes. I’m curious if you’ve given the ttl firing range a good distance test yet? It seems there’s a lot of new technologies out there now for ttl wireless flash, all spouting great distance capability. But the reality is turning out to be very short for some of them (Pocketwizard). The new Radiopopper PX’s seem to be getting good review all around. Just wondering if it’s really worth ditching my Canon flashes for the expense of a Qflash system if the poppers give me all the off-camera functionality I would need?
Jeff,
I don’t always believe published specs when I read them. I wouldn’t call the 580 considerably more powerful. In practice and my limited testing with a flash meter, the Trio (with the diffuser off) and the 580EXII are very similar in power. In my testing, the Trio has a slight edge over the 580 zoomed to 24mm, the 580 wins at 50mm and above. The diffusers on the Trio do eat a lot of light, (1-2) stops, so I’d still like to experiment more shooting with just the reflector on the Trio. I bounce my flash a lot, so I’m not worried about harsh light without the diffuser.
I haven’t done any distance testing, but the Trio has triggered my off camera Qflash reliably at the short distances I work both indoors and outside. The only advantages I see a Trio has are it’s good quality of light, ability to work well with other Qflashes, and bare bulb capabilities. If these aren’t important to you, then I think I would go with the Radiopoppers. You can do off camera TTL with a Qflash and Radiopoppers if you have a Qnexus on your Qflash.
any clue on how to get the auto focus assist lap to work? i am using a d700 and 300
thanks!
No tricks that I know of. My focus assist lamp works without any issues.
Hi Steve, thanks for the review. Could you please tell me if you have managed to trick the Q-flash T5/Qnexus into firing in High Speed sync mode/TTL while using the radiopopper? If not, what is the max sync speed you managed to get with the radiopopper/Qnexus combo? I have managed to fire a T1 with the FreeXwire at 1/400 sec. in manual, but have had issues with the stability of the triggering. I may have recieved a “lemon”, maybe either my receiver or ransmitter is dodgy. Until I have that verified I am a bit sceptical to buy int even more FreeXwire-based equipment. So what is your experience with the FreeXwire triggering repeatbility? Would yo say it is as good as pocketwizards? (which in my experience fires every time).
Haven’t had a chance to test this until now, but yes, the T5 with and Qnexus and a Radiopopper work together in High Speed sync mode. I can get up to 1/8000s with my 1DsIII with no sign of shutter curtains in the frame.
My experience with Freewire has been decent. I do get a misfire occasionally (so it’s not as reliable as the pocketwizards), but not so much that it interferes with my work. I’m usually working a little slower when I using my T5, so an occasional misfire doesn’t ruin things.
It will be interesting to see if PocketWizard add TTL support for the Qflashes.
Hi Steve,
Thanks so much for this very informative review. How was the high speed sync exposure with the T5DR with Qnexus and radiopoppers? Did you lose three stops like with the Trio in HSS? Thanks in advance.
Ed
I haven’t used this setup in a while (I no longer own the T5DR or the Trio) but in my brief tests with the Qnexus and Radio Ropper, it seemed to work reliably.
Thanks for the info, Steve. Much appreciated! I will return my Trio and Pilot and get the T5DR and Qnexus instead. I find that the HSS exposure with the Trio is almost nonexistent when the shutter speed is faster than 1/1000s, and even at 1/1000s, the fill flash is barely noticeable. Hopefully I’ll get more fill flash power with the T5DR and Qnexus with Radiopoppers.
Ed
Thanks again, Steve. How did you attach the PX receiver to the QNexus? I have the PX receiver with a Canon bracket for attaching to the Canon 580EX II flash, but not the QNexus on a Quantum T5DR.
I used velcro.
Bad news, Steve. The high speed sync doesn’t work at all. I could see the flash fire in high speed sync, but when I looked at the photo, it was pitch black. I tried going from 1/500s to 1/8000s. Despite seeing the flash fire, there was no flash in the photos. Perhaps the pre-flash fired for the flash metering, but the actual flash never showed up in the photo. When I tried again at the regular sync speed (1/200s or slower) for the Canon 5D mk II, the flash was there with perfect exposure in the photos.
Hey Ed,
Sorry to hear it’s not working for you. It’s been a while since I used the Quantum gear, but in my brief tests, it did seem to work for me. I don’t remember how much power I lost at higher shutter speeds, but I do remember being excited by what I saw. While the T5DR does not have the electronics to do a true high speed sync with a high frequency pulsing light like the 580, you should still be able to cheat the shutter speed with the radio poppers just like you can with studio strobes. Can you get a clean frame b/w shutters speeds of 200-400?
Hi Steve,
I get no flash at all above the sync speed of 1/200s for the Canon 5d mk II. Perhaps the 1DS mk III camera is different?
Ed
Different sync speed, but I would think it would still be similar. Sorry I can’t be more helpful without the Qnexus and Radio Popper to test it.
Hi Steve,
I forgot to mention that I use the Canon wireless transmitter ST-E2 instead of an on-camera speedlight to trigger the Quantum T5DR with the radiopoppers. Do you think that maybe the 580EX II speedlight will let me shoot in high-speed sync?
Ed
I would think the results would be the same the the ST-E2 vs. the 580.
Hi Steve,
Do you remember which Radiopopper version you used? The PX or the P1 system? I have just ordered the PX transmitter and receiver, along with a Quantum T5DR and QNexus. Thanks again.
Ed
Hey Ed,
I’m not positive, but I think it was the PX. Let me know how it goes.
-Steve
Great review – I was considering one for my weddings to integrate with my 2 exasting quantums with wireless TTL and it sounds great to me
Tim
Hi Steve, Great Review of the Trio. If you have time I have a question.
I currently use a T5. I use it on and off camera TTL, Manual, and Auto.
I shoot mostly weddings and events so I am always on the move.
I need to add a second portable light. I originally thought I would purchase another T5 so I could set both lights up on a stick and shoot wireless and have plenty of power when needed. But now after reading your review I am rethinking my purchase. I do have all the wireless accessories so adding a T5 would be easy. But I do like the idea of being able to quickly change light setting from the Trio.
In your opinion would it be better to purchase a second T5 or go with a Trio?
Thank you.
Jason
I guess it depends what you are looking for, more power or control from your camera. I usually just use one light, but the Trio and T5d-R combo works well when I need to double light groups or add a little extra fill with the Trio. Hope that helps.
Thanks Steve, if you really do get the High-Speed sync with the Poppers and T5/Qnexus combo then I’m sold!
Thank you for the review. I have been using Qflashes for a long time and this development sounds exciting. Being able to adjust the ouput of the remote flashes from the camera sounds great. I can see using it for weddings.
Steve,
How did you attach the Radio Popper to the Qnexus ? Is the Popper the newer
X sytem ? I am thinking of upgrading one of my Qflash 4′s so I can use the Qnexus and popper combo.
With velcro, just like a Canon 580EX II. I was using the new PX poppers. It does mount perpendicular to the Qnexus, but it still felt like a solid connection to me.
saturday eve shot a wedding, the one photographer used a canon with trio
and I a D700, we are both wondering how do you get the focus assist to work. I’ve tried single focus, multi focus, 1 shot at a time instead of multi, focusing reticle in center, all the things to get a sc29 cable to work.
Thank you
Kevin P.
okay, got it to work, focus reticle in center but conditions must be dark.
thank you kindly,
Kevin
Okay then, what is the verdict? On Canon we have the choice of the 580′s which I feel don’t have the same quality of light as my t5′s but, what is the concensus on the Trio?? worth the money for better light? Bare bulb etc.
Any comments would be highly appreciated.
Hi Steve;
I am a photographer and am about to embark with the qflash trio. I saw your review and would appreciate some comments on using the trio.
I am doing a family reunion — 10-11 people. shots will be inside (white walls) and outside by the water.I am in South Florida.
Have you used the trio on camera to shoot a group. Is a single flash enough to cover the group? Do you use a reflector?
Appreciate your help
Lucy
Hey Steve
Do you still own the trio? were you able to resolve the problems you were having?
No, I sold my Trio. It still locked up on me occasionally even after going back to Quantum for repair. I’m not sure if they have resolved the issue, but I found that my 580s and an Elinchrom Quadra work better for my style of shooing. Hope that helps.