2026-10-29 The PatchMaster 3 in 1 Camera Trigger

This PatchMaster 3 in 1 camera trigger has three functions.
It can be a—

Lightning Trigger
Laser Trigger
Time Lapse Trigger

We will explain these functions later in the story.
The front controls are simple. There is a button marked “function” that cycles the three types of trigger. The bars light up individually with a bright LED.
The only other adjustment is a knob that sets the sensitivity of the trigger. The ten bar indicator to the right of the knob has different displays depending on the function. The display can indicate the lightning sensitivity, the laser delay (the delay before the camera will fire if the laser beam is broken by an object) and finally the time lapse interval. All this is very clearly laid out in the instructions we will include with this story.

At the back of the unit there is a plastic accessory shoe that allows you to mount the trigger on any camera with a normal flash shoe. Those with Minolta/Sony flash shoes will have to use a flash bracket. The near side has the on/off switch. The far unseen side has the phono sync cord socket
The PatchMaster uses a 9-VDC battery—the rectangular one with snap connections at one end.

   It also uses a short trigger wire that has your camera’s sync connection at one end and a small phono jack that goes into the Flash Trigger. It was unlikely the camera sync end that came with the trigger would fit a camera I have, so the trigger has been lying around waiting to be written about.
   Then one of our smoke detectors started to beep. This indicates the 9-VDC battery has worn down and it needs to be replaced. I replaced the worn battery with a new one. Then I thought I should try the worn battery in the flash trigger just to see what the display looks like.
   It is pretty impressive lighting this baby up!
   Note the instructions also have a page on setting your camera up to record lightning. Always remember lightning is dangerous, so the very act of trying to capture it can kill you!

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