iPhone strobe transmitter?

[chassis]

Is there a piece of hardware available for the iPhone that drives a radio trigger? For example, that plugs into the 3mm headphone jack, or Thunderbolt connector? I am a PocketWizard guy, so that's what I want, but if such a thing exists for another trigger manufacturer it could work.

I want to fire the Speedotron setup with the iPhone as the camera.

A PC sync cord implementation would work in principle, if it exists, but I would be concerned about frying the iPhone.

Googled and came up with lots of data but no information. Godox and Nova are not solutions. iSyncFlash app doesn't seem available anymore.

[Jason Greenberg Motamedi]

This is possible, as there used to be an app named Triggertrap which would do this when paired with a dongle and a PocketWizard, but I think it is gone now.

[chassis]

Thanks Jason. I emailed Pocketwizard and they said they don’t offer anything like this, and that they have been asked before.

[Peter De Smidt]

Would an iphone flash trigger an optical slave if it was near the flash?

[vinny]

Would an iphone flash trigger an optical slave if it was near the flash?
not in my experience.

[LabRat]

not in my experience.

You mean like a LED flash, rather than a tiny xenon flashtube???

Steve K

[Pere Casals]

Would an iphone flash trigger an optical slave if it was near the flash?

It is very difficult, as smartphones usually have a LED flash of more duration and lower intensity, and flash sensor in mode S1 and S2 are designed to trigger from very intense light that comes from very short pulses, to avoid unwanted triggering.

It is possible to make a simple DIY circuit, like this https://www.flickr.com/photos/mcveja/2279980403/in/faves-125592977@N05/

You should use a different value for the capacitor and the resistor to adjust the strength of the light pulse that is to trigger the slave flash. Also the battery voltage (9V in the circuit) may have to be increased to sense small pulses, and it depends on the phototransistor used...

I've been playing with those circuits time ago...

[Pere Casals]

Is there a piece of hardware available for the iPhone that drives a radio trigger?

This is cheaper $58 : https://www.tricflash.com/

[Tin Can]

Tric is released in 3 days...

[Jason Greenberg Motamedi]

Thanks Jason. I emailed Pocketwizard and they said they don’t offer anything like this, and that they have been asked before.

Sorry, Triggertrap had nothing to do with Pocketwizard, it just worked with it.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/triggertrap-mobile-the-ultimate-camera-remote/id517679831?mt=8
But it is no longer being distributed...

[chassis]

Pere, thanks, Tric seems like it might be the "trick". ;) If I understand correctly, the Tric unit fires a speedlight attached to its hot shoe. In principle it should also fire a PocketWizard, for example a Plus II unit. The unit also has a PC port, so it should work. It seems from the FCC notice in the manual, that connectivity between iPhone and Tric is via Bluetooth.

This is what I am looking for. Now to find time to dabble with it!

[Tin Can]

Tric does look interesting. It includes manual control of the iOS Phone. Which is obviously necessary. I sometimes use a couple older iOS camera apps with full manual.

I'm sure you can adapt as necessary. I used a cheap intervalometer to run an SB 800 strobe 3 years ago. I needed a gobo to flash from my roof. Worked great. Plug and Play.

Those Elwood domes come in handy.

[LabRat]

But finding a used/working radio slave on the auction site shouldn't be too much, and more straightforward to use...

Steve K

[robertraymer]

It has always been my understanding the the reason that strobes do not work with iPhone (or any mobile device), and also the reason that mobile device flashes are longer/lower intensity flashes that will not trigger strobes is that iPhones use a rolling shutter rather than a focal plane shutter (also why you get weird bendy propellers and other interesting images with mobile devices).

Even though you can use the headphone jack to trigger a strobe, as trigger trap did (just not for the iPhone camera) the flash itself would be useless as the flash duration is far too short for the rolling shutter. You would end up with just a single band of potentially properly exposed image where the shutter happened to be scanning while the flash was fired, but the image as a whole would not be properly exposed.

[Neal Chaves]

This is cheaper $58 : https://www.tricflash.com/

I have been using the Tricflash and app with my iphone since it came out about two years ago. Works very well, but zooming is not supported, full frame with the normal lens only.