bah, I hate CLS

notelliot · Mar 3, 2009

optical triggers suck. shot a show the other night, and no matter where I went, I couldn't get a proper line of sight AND a decent perspective. I thought about trying SU-4 mode for all of about 1.5 seconds, but figured I'd just be wasting batteries overexposing peoples' p&s shots. eff. I'm much more happy in an environment where I control the light, but thankfully high-iso kind of saved me.
/rant
ever seen a band jam out on a fishing rod? ya have now:

jlykins · Mar 3, 2009

you need Radio poppers or the new pocket wizards that are slated for release soon

notelliot · Mar 3, 2009

agreed. but from what it looks like, the new PWs work via hotshoe only? I'd rather the plusIIs so they work with my alienbees - would have brought those, but live show + sync cord = havok. just can't win lol.

jlykins · Mar 3, 2009

No, I thought the same thing at first. They will also work with strobes. They have a pc out on them. I can't wait! The other owner of my studio has the radio poppers and I love them, but I can't wait for the PW's.

notelliot · Mar 3, 2009

hmm. interesting. they would be sick in that case - my business partner/co-owner uses canon 430's, which have no PC sync, which have prevented us from an investment so far. this way, they work with literally whatever? I'm down n around for that.

jlykins · Mar 3, 2009

Yup they work with anything. Well almost. You would have to get the Canon specific units for your partners stuff, and Nikon for yours... Luckily my business partner shoots Nikon as well. I have been holding out on buying the radio poppers because of the inabilitly to fire strobes, but with these pocket wizards, I'll be able to do both. I can't wait.

notelliot · Mar 3, 2009

really? I thought it was brand specific if you wanted TTL.. and I don't want TTL.

jlykins · Mar 3, 2009

Oh ok I was misunderstanding you. I thought you wanted TTL. If you don't want TTL just get some regular pocket wizards then. You don't need the new fandagled technology...

Sw1tchFX · Mar 3, 2009

I like CLS when i'm working within it's limitations.

Granted, it is frustrating when I want to put something out of my line of sight, but That rarely happens, and I use the pop up flash as my commander too.

I am eventually going to get the new PW's and a few more speedlights, but for something that just works out of the box, I really cant' complain.

Garbz · Mar 3, 2009

... You look like you're in a room. Inside you rarely require line of sight to your flash. A few things help a lot such as, is the flash (sensor) facing the right direction? is it clean? can you bounce the CLS light off something to get it to the flash?

The only time I have had issues is outdoors during the day where line of sight was more important. On and SU-4 relies on the same detectors so it wouldn't have saved you a thing.

notelliot · Mar 3, 2009

Garbz said:
... You look like you're in a room. Inside you rarely require line of sight to your flash*. A few things help a lot such as, is the flash (sensor) facing the right direction? is it clean?** can you bounce the CLS light off something to get it to the flash?

The only time I have had issues is outdoors during the day where line of sight was more important. On and SU-4 relies on the same detectors so it wouldn't have saved you a thing.***

*it was a really small pub, and I had it fire once. the light set-up I wanted didn't provide enough line of sight for them to work properly. they went Ebay on me. what I had were two SB800s behind the band for rim, and was trying to use a third SB800 as master on a TTL cord in whatever position my hand was in - which was usually extended above my head fired into the not-quite-white, not-quite-black ceiling.
**yes, and yes
***which is why they ended up back in my bag, and I shot available light