What's so special about PocketWizard?

[unpopular]

I try to understand what's so great about pocket wizard, but I just can't figure it out. The way I see it, it's a proprietary wireless TTL protocol, which takes information between the camera and flash and sends it through a radio.

Is this seriously all it is? If so, anyone could set up an xbee radio to do that at a fraction of the cost.

 

[Derrel]

Awesome! When will your products be on the market??? Sign me up for two sets!

What's special about Pocket Wizards is that they actually work, every time, over long distances, without all the B.S., and without the excuses that Chinese trigger users have to make all the time. They can trigger your flashes, OR your cameras, reliably, and they use large, AA batteries, not whimpy little hearing aid batteries, so they can be used in cold temperatures, or left switched on for days if needed. They do not "go to sleep", and need to be awakened. PW's are simple to operate, reliable, and proven. They are simply reliable devices that work over great distances, indoors or out, every time. BUT, unlike Chinese triggers, they do NOT COME WITH a two-page list of B.S. excuses in Engrish to use when they fall asleep, or fail to fire, or will not work at 1,000 feet...

 

[2WheelPhoto]

I try to understand what's so great about pocket wizard, but I just can't figure it out. The way I see it, it's a proprietary wireless TTL protocol, which takes information between the camera and flash and sends it through a radio.

Is this seriously all it is? If so, anyone coulds set up an xbee radio to do that at a fraction of the cost.

Not and have the distance or high speed sync. I can shoot my elinchrom and profoto studio strobes at 1/2000th using the software calibration the "flash firing instant" to the shutter (non-TTL). Shoot, see curtain? Adjust flash instant, repeat until you have max shutter heh But you have to have the PW software on your computer to change the time instant on the PW.

And another thing, I have yet to see PW's competitors fire as reliably or as far ( I can fire a flash over 3 football fields away LoL)

Don't settle for a second best trigger

A plethora of cheap triggers already exist in the marketplace.

 

[2WheelPhoto]

I'm with Derrel, make a better trigger system/software, I'll be all over it!

 

[unpopular]

Hmm. I'll have to get a TTL flash and experiment with xbee. If all that a pocket wizard is is a reliable radio, then I can guarantee that it's overpriced. WAY overpriced, actually.

I'm not interested in manufacturing a radio anyone can build, and I know I can't power it off just two AA batteries, at least not the camera-side interface, but if I ever do get around to trying this, I'll be sure to post my exploits for anyone who is interested.

xbee actually has lots of advantages. They could be set up so that any radio can self discover any other radio, no more of this 20th century "channel" nonsense, include, exclude or adjust any strobe or group of strobes remotely, any radio could be used as a master unit or slave unit, a wireless control interface or even PC-based control interface could be easily implemented and because the whole thing is open source easily customizable and user modifiable.

Parts would be cheap. Like less than 100$ cheap.

 

[2WheelPhoto]

Channels are you're friend while shooting around others. otherwise its easy to switch to channel one.

TTL blows chunks. Truly calibrating a shutter to the precise millisecond a strobe fires rocks at high speed sync.

You'll discover in time why some of us spring more bux for PW

If it was "only a reliability advantage" I'd simply carry a few spares of the second best brand.

 

[12sndsgood]

There are ton's of things out there that you yourself can make for less if you have the time and skill.

 

[unpopular]

I try to understand what's so great about pocket wizard, but I just can't figure it out. The way I see it, it's a proprietary wireless TTL protocol, which takes information between the camera and flash and sends it through a radio.

Is this seriously all it is? If so, anyone coulds set up an xbee radio to do that at a fraction of the cost.

Not and have the distance or high speed sync. I can shoot my elinchrom and profoto studio strobes at 1/2000th using the software calibration the "flash firing instant" to the shutter (non-TTL). Shoot, see curtain? Adjust flash instant, repeat until you have max shutter heh But you have to have the PW software on your computer to change the time instant on the PW.

And another thing, I have yet to see PW's competitors fire as reliably or as far ( I can fire a flash over 3 football fields away LoL)

Don't settle for a second best trigger

A plethora of cheap triggers already exist in the marketplace.

sorry, I didn't see this.

i think 2ms should be well within the communication rate of the xbee interface... maybe not. 2ms sounds fast, but it really isn't at all.

 

[tirediron]

To summarize what Derrel said. They work. That's it. They just work. Each time, every time!

 

[2WheelPhoto]

OK, if the xbee will fire MANUAL studio strobes at shutter speeds of 1/2000th - 1/8000th without showing the dreaded curtain please let me know.

None of the aftermarket brands i tried will work with my strobes past what the camera will... 1/320 or a little better if I'm lucky.

And "TTL" speedlights = LoL

 

[unpopular]

Channels are you're friend while shooting around others. otherwise its easy to switch to channel one.

TTL blows chunks. Truly calibrating a shutter to the precise millisecond a strobe fires rocks at high speed sync.

You'll discover in time why some of us spring more bux for PW

If it was "only a reliability advantage" I'd simply carry a few spares of the second best brand.

i wouldn't recommend the off brands either, at least not if you are professional. I'm just thinking I could do this better.

but seriously, millisecond synchro isn't exactly groundbreaking. You could even compensate for strobe lag using a photo sensor. Because I have everything I need for this, I'll probably start with non-TTL high speed sync .. using any strobe and flash.

 

[2WheelPhoto]

Channels are you're friend while shooting around others. otherwise its easy to switch to channel one.

TTL blows chunks. Truly calibrating a shutter to the precise millisecond a strobe fires rocks at high speed sync.

You'll discover in time why some of us spring more bux for PW

If it was "only a reliability advantage" I'd simply carry a few spares of the second best brand.

i wouldn't recommend the off brands either, at least not if you are professional. I'm just thinking I could do this better.

but seriously, millisecond synchro isn't exactly groundbreaking. You could even compensate for strobe lag using a photo sensor. Because I have everything I need for this, I'll probably start with non-TTL.

Start a thread for it, I'd like to subscribe.

 

[unpopular]

And "TTL" speedlights = LoL

TOTALLY agree. This just seems like the feature most talked about with PW, and would be ridiculously easy to implement. As for channels, that wouldn't be a problem at all. You'd just name each of your flashes and exclude any flash that isn't yours, or even set it up ahead of time to only include flashes that you know are yours. You could be shooting wirelessly amongst hundreds of other photographers and thousands of strobes, and only yours would work. Channels are an analog communications leftover.

will this high sync speed work with any strobe, or only compatible ones, does it fire through the PC sync, or a special interface? 1/8K might be pushing it with a 16mhz arduino, but the 32mhz arduino should handle it. DK though. This is all within audio frequency, people have done FFT analysis on the arduino. There is an oscilloscope project which sends real time data back to the PC. I'll look into that and see what the maximum timing is.

also, is this feature available on all PW or only select models. I'd like to review the user manual so I know what I'm dealing with.

 

[kathyt]

Awesome! When will your products be on the market??? Sign me up for two sets!

What's special about Pocket Wizards is that they actually work, every time, over long distances, without all the B.S., and without the excuses that Chinese trigger users have to make all the time. They can trigger your flashes, OR your cameras, reliably, and they use large, AA batteries, not whimpy little hearing aid batteries, so they can be used in cold temperatures, or left switched on for days if needed. They do not "go to sleep", and need to be awakened. PW's are simple to operate, reliable, and proven. They are simply reliable devices that work over great distances, indoors or out, every time. BUT, unlike Chinese triggers, they do NOT COME WITH a two-page list of B.S. excuses in Engrish to use when they fall asleep, or fail to fire, or will not work at 1,000 feet...

This times ten! PW's are great. I have used cheap Calumet triggers before these and they were a pain in the butt. PW's are hands down a must buy. Another plus for me was that there wasn't a designated receiver or transmitter, they are universal so it doesn't matter which one goes on what. Which makes everything SOOOO much easier!

 

[unpopular]

I thought there was a receiver and transmitter module? But there isn't? If I bought any two PW modules, either can receive or transmit?

As for distance, line of sight communication is specified in kilometers on the xbee... so this won't be a problem, unless you're using a 15 gigawatt/second monolight powered by a portable nuclear reactor.