Announcement of Triopo Speedlight TR-982 High Speed Sync Flash

Triopo is well known by now for their budget Carbon Fiber series tripods like the GT-3228X8C or the GX-1328 which I have reviewed.

However, in parallel with the tripod lines they have always had a full series of Studio and Field Flashes under the OUBAO brand name, which were and are mostly sold in their vast internal market. So the international markets are not so aware of those.

Based on their know how from the studio flashes, in the past couple of years Triopo has released a series of Speedlights in direct competition to the very successful YongNuo.

The Triopo Speedlights have got ambiguous reviews in the beginning, but Triopo engineers are continuously striving for the improvement of their products introducing newer versions with the appropriate mark II, III etc at the end.
Besides the TR-960 series of manual speedlights, the TR-980 series was released about a year ago, featuring E-TTL and i-TTL functions for direct mount on Canon and Nikon cameras respectively.
Model TR-980 was followed then by the TR-981 which in addition featured High Speed Sync function, but was mostly sold in China with very few distributed in the international markets.

By the end of last year, an even newer model was released, the TR-982 which besides High Speed Sync promises full compatibility with Canon, Nikon and S1, S2 wireless optical remote triggering with E-TTL/i-TTL enabled and has the following Specs and Features.

Manufacturer Specification:

• Circuit design: Insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) 
• Flash index: 56 meters (ISO 100, 180 mm)
• Flash Coverage: 18 - 180 mm, Manual / Automatic zoom, Swinging/Tilting Flash head (bounce flash)
• Flash Mode: TTL, M, FEB, Slave, S1, S2, Multi
• Up and down whirl angle degree: -7-90 degree 
• Left and right whirl angle degree: 0-180 degree 
• Flash control: 8 grade high-speed control (1/128-1/1) 
• Recycle time: About 3 seconds (using AA alkaline cell) 
• Peripheral interface: Hot shoe, PC mount, external charge mount 
• Recycle Time: Less than 2.9s ( AA alkaline cell used) 
• Color Temperature: 5600K 
• Flash time: 1/200 seconds-1/20000 seconds 
• Power: 4pcs AA alkaline cell or AA nickel-hydrogen (NI-MH)battery 
• Lighting time: 100-1500 times (using AA alkaline cell) 
• Wireless distance: Indoor 20-30 meters, outdoor 10-15 meters 
• Additional function: PC synchronous, sniff mode, over temperature protection 
• Volume: 200x75x57mm 
• Net weight: 340g 

Features:

1. TTL flash
2. Manual flash
3. Multi flash
4. Wireless slave unit function: Compatibility with the Canon and Nikon wireless flash system, realize TTL from camera, manual and frequency flash
5. S1, S2 Light sensor flashing mode.
6. Flash control by Camera (Only for the newest Canon Version)
7. High-Speed Sync 1/8000s
8. Rear-curtain Sync
9. Sound prompts
10. Custom functions
11. Power save mode
12. Overheating protection
13. Automatic save function
14. Large size LCD display
15. Manual, Auto zoom function
16. Quick response: Full output recycle time only 2.9 seconds, if you do not use a new battery, also can obtain rapid back speed.
17. Support high speed continuous shooting: In 1/16 brightness and below, It can support high speed continuous shooting.

The Speedlight has not been released in the market yet, but thanks to Triopo headquarters, an evaluation copy of the TR-982C High Speed Sync flash for Canon is already in my hands for tests and review.
So stay tuned, as I'll do my best for a full featured review soon.

I hope you found the information useful, thank you for viewing.
All Photos © 2014 S.C.Vlachos

Price & Availability:
Price and availability of the TR-982 in the international markets are not yet announced.
However, a rough estimate according to past Triopo practices, would be that it will be priced between US$ 150.00 and 170.00.

Update: June, 2014
Current price of the TR-982 is between US$ 70.00 and 120.00 (with Free shipping) depending on source, which proves much lower than my original rough estimate considering it to be higher than previous Triopo models.
The TR-982 is available from eBay and from Amazon but shipping from China so the buyer should take into account a longer delivery time and extra duties or taxes that may apply.


Relevant Articles:

Triopo GT-3228X8C Carbon Fiber Traveler Tripod Review

Triopo GX-1328 Carbon Fiber Classic Tripod Review