After the collapse of Triggertrap Ada, a few of its competitors came forward with some very generous offers for us backers. I ordered a µ-Trigger at 50% discount. The order was quickly shipped and arrived the very day I left for easter vacation. The brown envelope was delivered by Norwegian postal service directly to my mailbox (not one of those parcels that FedEx or UPS insist on delivering hand-to-hand whenever I am not at home)
Here is the envelope, with a AA battery for size reference:
The envelope contained the µ-Trigger including USB cable for charging the built-in battery, invoice and the two camera cables I ordered (one for my Canon EOS 7D and one for my father-in-law' Pentax K10D). All of the cables were short, which in some cases is good and in some cases bad. I would preferred longer cables.
Content of envelope (still including the AA battery for size reference)
The µ-Trigger box is small, but it turns out more than half of it is empty space. The µ-Trigger is tiny! The included user manual has screenshots in full colour and contains short but complete and to the point instructions.
The µ-Trigger screen (which does not show very well in my photos) is very nice and also in colour. On the left side is a 2.5mm jack port for the camera cable and a 3.5mm jack port for the flash trigger. On the bottom is a mini-USB port for the charge cable. On the right side is a 3.5mm jack port for DIY triggers and an on/off-button (which is almost impossible to toggle without using a tool). On the top is the sound and light/laser-sensor, and on the back is a simple hot shoe bracket. The unit is operated by a single push-button joystick
I have not tested triggering my flashes with the µ-Trigger yet, and I have not tested the Laser mode (other that seeing that the sensor registers change in visible light). When I've cleaned my garage (which will be a perfect dark room) and got some power connected to my lasers, I will make some real high-speed photos and update this review!
My comments about the µ-Trigger device:
- The cables are short, and the camera cable is connected on the left side of µ-Trigger and the left side of my Canon EOS 7D. For this setup I would preferred the camera connector plug to be on the right side of µ-Trigger, but for a generic setup it should be possible to invert the screen and use µ-Trigger with the joystick above the screen.
- When adjusting the sensitivity, there is a red line and a number. When moving the joystick to the right, the number goes up but the red line goes to left(!). This simply feels wrong, and I will probably always turn it the wrong direction first.
- A small nitpick from someone whose english is neither first nor second language: at the bottom of each page is a button "exit". This is not an exit button, it is a back button
- I have not tested the timing of this device. As I am working on something like this myself I am very cautious about µs and ns. The Sound-, Laser- and DIY-mode has a setting for Delay in ms. A delay of 1ms is, at least for Laser-mode, an eternity. I would expect delay set in µs and hoped for delay in ns. However, as I said, I have not timed any of these
- In Timelapse mode, maxumim interval is one hour. I know lots of projects where a photo is taken once a day (but I guess storage is so cheap nowadays that you can keep one and ignore the other 23 photos taken a given day)
- In Setup, there are only two settings. One is Backlight, and then there is a mysterious "Init default". It turns out this restores everything to factory default settings. No confirmation, no explanation, no question asked. Poof, back to factory settings :-)
- There is also a Info page, which lists firmware and hardware version. I do not find any of this information on the µ-Trigger web page. Is my firmware v1.2 the most recent one? If not, where can I download a never version? The only thing I've found is a Downloads section at the bottom of the Features page, but only user manuals and tutorials are available for download.
- The battery is listed as a 1S 1500mAh Lipo. Fully charged, the manual says it should last 40 hours. What is this device doing with 37.5mA constant drain of the battery? I would expect 1500mAh to last a lot longer
Other than these comments, this device is great! It does what it says on the box, and it does it well. Very easy to use, small and stirdy (but at the looks of it, far from water proof!) and with a very nice screen. I have not tested time-critical modes (like Laser-mode in a dark room with camera in Bulb and µ-Trigger set to trigger a high-speed flash), but it looks like it will not be extremely fast (at least the delays will be too slow to be usable). This device actually delivers what Triggertrap failed to do with all their kickstarter money for the Triggertrap Ada. For Timelapse and triggering of camera this device is highly recommended. For extreme high-speed photography this device may or may not be good enough. There is a new version in the making, but even that one is still talking µs and not ns response times.
Look, no hands! Photo taken using the µ-Trigger in Sound mode connected to my camera, and a simple "Oy!" outburst