I just bought a Norman series 500 power system to replace my old
series 450 equipment. I fired the series 450 with a photocell trigger
and a miniature on-shoe flash. The trigger has a two-blade plug, and
it won't work with the new power pack, which has a 1/4" jack.

I can buy a replacement for the trigger for about $35, but I wonder
whether I would be better off with an infrared or FM radio trigger.
I'm using the on-shoe flash only as a trigger (not as a light source),
and it's less than ideal because I sometimes have trouble pointing it
where it won't create nasty reflections.

A. "real" IR/FM trigger is out of my price range, but there are
inexpensive ones for sale on eBay. Here are a couple of examples:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Radio-Slave-Wire...QQcmdZViewItem
http://cgi.ebay.com/IR-Sender-Studio...QQcmdZViewItem

I don't expect these gadgets to have the quality of name brand
products that sell for hundreds of dollars, but I wonder whether they
are good enough to work reliably in a light-duty studio situation.
Has anyone had experience with them? Any advice?