New PT-04 antenna mod

Recently, strobist.com blog grow in popularity, people liked the idea of using small off-shoe strobes to raise the quality of light in their pictures. They can trigger those strobes by cable, optic, or radio transmitters. The last option is the most comfortable, but a good set of quality radio triggers costs a lot - You pay more for reliability and range.


What is the biggest confusing thing about cheap radio remotes from ebay ('cactus', 'pt-04' and other similar ones)? I've heard that after some time they just stop working even if batteries are replaced for new ones... my cheap radio triggers are still working fine (got them for about 6 months) and the only feature which made me confused was low range. After googling the topic I've found a lot of information about increasing its range with external antennas on transmitters. It worked for some people, and others were complaining that the antena shortens its radio range, at the end there were some complaints about increased noise after installing the antenna. I've changed the direction of thinking. If You believe that new transmitter antena increases noise just leave it... and still get better range with Your remotes. How?

I've decided to create external antena for receiver , other than transmitter - if the antena will be far away from my dSLR's body, it will not bring any extra noise to my pictures. The length of radio wave which is emmited by remotes is 0.69m, I used wire 1/4th of that wavelenght (about 17cm) to create my experimental antennas (You can use the whole length or 1/2, haven't tried it yet - maybe the range will be even better when longer antenna is used).

Where to solder antenna? Well I've located built in antenna in my remote receiver - a short piece of wire above board and decided to connect my antenna to the existing one. But where? I tried on both sides of existing antenna and believe me - it really matters where You solder it. Fristly, when I tried to solder my antenna (click on the image to see larger one, then move Your mouse to see the notes) I was disappointed with the results - the range decreased to about 0.2m. Then, I soldered it to the second end of existing antenna (click on the image to see larger one, then move Your mouse to see the notes) - and it was it. The range increased a lot, and that was all I need - 17cm of wire, and total 30 minutes of my precious time :)

Field test results (I think that it may vary on the power of batteries & antenna length accuracy):
- normal (without antenna) PT-04 about 5m with no misfired shots,
- my mod'ed PT-04 almost 35m with no misfired shots,

After some time, accidentally I've found another cool way to increase even more range of my remotes. In the transmitter You can find socket for the jack cable (and there was short extra cable to connect the reviever to flash [other than hot-shoe flash]), if You will put the PC cord into the jack of transmitter, You will make the simpliest external antenna. I didn't found any extra noise on my pictures, so the theory of extra noise from transmitter antenna seems ridiculus to me - it may be promoted by people who are selling the more expensive radio remote systems. Connecting this cable should give You about 7m of extra range.

If You have any questions - ask in comments, I will try to answer as soon as possible. If You will make that mod, feel free to post the range You got without misfired shots.

DIY - macro lens for 10$

English is not my major language, so be prepared for some gramatical errors. If You find some, please mail me. Thanks!

10$ for macro lens, sounds impossible, isn't it? But it is possible. In my 'on the cheap' tutorial I'll show You how to create macro lens with magnification ~1:1.16, and the total price shouln't raise above 10$. For who is this project designed? I've made this lens for my canon DSLR (eos 400D, also known as Rebel XTi) it should work with other canon DSLR and SLR cameras. The macro lens does not have auto focus, so You have to move Your camera to find the sharp focusing point. You will get that point moving the camera lens about 10cm to the photographed object.

What will You get? Take a look at some of my macro photos made with this lens (click for more):

What You will need?

• Smena (smiena/cmeha) model 'symbol' - popular 80's soviet camera,



• Canon body cap,


• Some (precise) screwdrivers,


• Small drill (I got 2mm),


• Big drill - 25mm,


• If You do not have big drill - file,


• Circle,


• Glue - epidan/poxipol - two component epoxide glue, or sth similar,


• Time (~1h) still depending on skills You have,


• Accuracy, two hands,

It is quite easy to get the canon's body cap, but it can be harder to get smena (smiena/cmeha) 'symbol' camera... how I got it? I bought it through allegro - my national service similar to ebay. How much does it costs? I paid 15PLN with transport (all in all about 5$) - the price varies from 10 to 40 PLN for smena symbol (check actual prices).

Ok, so we have all the things we need. Lets rock!

Firstly we need to remove lens from the 'body' of that soviet camera. To do that You must open the camera, as You would like to put film there. You will see 4 small screws. Use Your precise screwdrivers to remove it. After unscrewing, the lens should fall out of the body. If it do not want to - use some power to do it.

If You have succesfuly removed the lens from the body take a closer look at the lens. There are some unimportant parts, and we are going to remove them. It is easier than You think - there is a nut in the center of the lens. You have to unscrew it and two useless things will fall out of that easily. Well we can use one of them in the future.

There is another point, we need to remove the shutter - I didn't have enough small screwdrivers to unscrew the other screws and remove shutter the better way. I removed it in more brutal way - pilers helped me - If you want to use my method remember that You should be careful about the glass - if You scratch it with pillers all precious work will be lost and the lens will be useless. After removing shutter, screw the lens with the nut from previous point and change the subject of work.

Now it is time to take the cap, find the center of it, and drill smal hole in the center of it. There are few ways of finding the center of the cap - the more accurate the better, it is important so do not hurry with that - unaccuracy can destroy overall quality of prepared macro lens. If You have big drill use it to enlarge the small hole in cap - remember that the cap is quite fraigle, do not destroy it. If You do not have the 25mm drill find another way of making 25mm hole centered on the cap - I've used circle to draw the edge of 25mm round on the cap, and then drill it with 2mm drill - file will be helpful in getting the proper one, final shape. The more accurate the better - do not waste it all!

Ok, now it is time to fit it all together. Take the lens with the nut, and the cap with the hole. If You made the hole enough precisely now You can take the nut and put it into the hole of the cap - it should fit perfectly. If it is, it is good idea to glue it with the cap. But remember - glue it with the lens removed, because even small glue leaks on the lens will make it junk.

Ok, is is done, if You made everything precisely You can screw Your lens into the nut glued with the cap - and test Your brand new macro :)

As You can see, it wasn't as hard as it could seem to be. You can change the scale by screwing or unscrewing the lens from cap, and by moving it's original built in regulation. You can also change the aperture size (move small round in the front of lens, it has two white marks on it. You should remove all the dust before mounting your brand new lens onto Your camera.

There are some images made with this lens 'on the fly', when I'll shoot some good macros I'll put them here too. I've resized them in photoshop, didn't correct anything. Camera: Canon EOS400D, lens: the one from this article. After few shots with this lens it will become easier to focus by 'moving' it.

To make it easier to understand I've recorded the entire process, here it goes: