Lighting and Pocket Wizard Noob Quesitons

[cmcconkey]

I work for a newspaper and I am looking to get our photographers a couple of surprises after the first of the year.

We currently have a reject plug in lighting kit that it more trouble than it is worth and I would like to get a small 2-3 flash remote kit set up for them.

We currently shoot with the D300, D300S and D90 so I would like something that will work with all of them, which I am sure the Pocket Wizard systems would. The flash that I am looking to get is the SB-910 and am confused on how the Pocket Wizards would work with them. I know that I need the transmitter that is hot shoe mounted but do I need receivers for each of the the flashes?

Any help on this and any other information that anyone can give would be greatly appreciated.

 

[MLeeK]

I'm not a Nikon shooter, but those all have commander mode that will control the flash. In other words they don't need the PW. Why do you feel you'd need both?

 

[cmcconkey]

I believe that commander mode only works in line of sight and we are looking to, at times, hide the flash in the shot and also use the flash in soft boxes.

 

[MLeeK]

I'm going to bow out here because I don't know how well (or not) Nikon's commander works.
I can see perhaps if you are firing from the rafters (I shoot this for a sporting event) or similar, so you may be right there. One of the nikon guys who have put it to the test will help you better.

 

[jwbryson1]

Nikon's CLS system is terrific but it is limited by line of sight. The simplest solution is radio triggers. You'll need a transmitter connected to the hot shoe of the camera to send the signal and a receiver on each flash that you wish to fire. Some of the Pocket Wizard units are transceivers so they work both as a transmitter and also as a receiver for maximum flexibility.


See this one that is a transceiver:

PocketWizard Plus III Transceiver 801-130 B&H Photo Video

 

[fjrabon]

if you go the PW route, you will need a transmitter for the body and a receiver for each light you want to use. The pop-up flash can do commander mode, but it isn't terribly powerful, and thus would possibly run into trouble in certain situations. However, since PW is going to be a manually controlled system anyway (only reall expensive PW systems can control flash strength), you can use dumb slave mode (forget the technical term for it), which just fires slave flashes whenever it detects a flash. This would allow you to use one flash, attached the camera either directly or via a hot shoe cable as both a flash in its own right and a trigger for the other flashes. These things are really quite sensitive when in dumb slave mode. You can also mix and match, ie have one of your flashes in smart slave mode (ie controlled by the commander) and the more hidden one in dumb slave mode.

Which approach works best just depends on your needs. Also realize you can use a directly mounted SB910 (or directly attached to the camera via hotshoe cable) as a commander, which will dramatically increase the reach of the line of sight transmission. With my Metz AF 58 attached to my D7000 via a hotshoe cable, I can trigger just about anything if I position my commander wisely. I can even use it as both a commander and a flash on it's own right a lot.

Also, look into the Metz AF 58. It's quite an amazing flash. Build quality is superb, and I really like the additional fill flash it has built in, which is a feature no other flash on the market has, and is really quite useful when you're bouncing your flash. It allows you to bounce, thus giving you softer lighting, but still get just a little bit of light into the eyes to really bring them alive.

 

[Big Mike]

Welcome aboard.

Nikon (and Canon's) wireless flash system works by pulsing the 'Master' flash to communicate with the 'Slave' units. It does not technically need line of sight...if there are sufficient surfaces for the flash to bounce off of. Also, when used in bright (sunlit) situations, it's harder for the light pulse communication to work well.

That is why many photographers have been using radio triggers rather than the build-in systems. The Pocket Wizard Plus II has been an industry standard for several years, although it has been replaced by the Plus III. These are a 'simple' radio trigger that only tells the flash when to fire. It does not transmit TTL metering information so the flash is basically in manual control. This does mean that the photographer pretty much has to know what they are doing, but once they do, many actually prefer the manual control.

PW does have TTL capable triggers. Pocketwizard® - Wireless transmitters and receivers Pocketwizard® - Wireless transmitters and receivers
These allow the flash to basically work the same as if it were on-camera or using the built-in wireless system...but with the advantage of radio communication.

Yes, you would need one unit on the camera and another on the flash. If there are other flashes, you would probably want units for those as well. Simple optical triggers would work (possibly even built into the SB910) but in a public location, you would want the receiving units.

 

[fjrabon]

yeah, I'd get the PWs, just for safety. I don't use mine too terribly often, but when you have to use them, you have to use them. I always try to get CLS to work first, because when it does work, even if you use manual flash, it's extraordinarily convenient. If it's not triggering, simply slap some PWs on there, as it takes no longer than it would take to manually set your flash power strength to begin with. If you just have one flash that's not reading the commander but the others are doing fine, try putting it in SU4 mode (what I referred to as dumb slave mode above). The only situations where I really can't use CLS is when it's fairly long distances between me and the flash, which is actually a fairly rare situation.

 

[Tee]

Get the Pocket Wizard Plus III transceivers and you won't have to worry about which one goes where. Amazon runs specials on the Plus II's and III's often. Slap a little velcro on the speedlight and transceiver, connect with small cord and you'll be getting consistent results every time. You can gamble using the CLS (in controlled environments it'll work) but since you're at newspaper, do you really want to worry about the CLS performing in the bright sun (where you'll have more trouble than it's worth)? Spend the Benji's and get the PW's.

 

[cmcconkey]

Thanks everyone for your suggestions. From what I am reading on this I need to have PW units on each flash and the camera in order for the system to work. This is a great site and I can tell I will frequent it a lot for my work and personal photography questions.

 

[2WheelPhoto]

Get the Pocket Wizard Plus III transceivers and you won't have to worry about which one goes where. Amazon runs specials on the Plus II's and III's often. Slap a little velcro on the speedlight and transceiver, connect with small cord and you'll be getting consistent results every time. You can gamble using the CLS (in controlled environments it'll work) but since you're at newspaper, do you really want to worry about the CLS performing in the bright sun (where you'll have more trouble than it's worth)? Spend the Benji's and get the PW's.

^^^^^^^that. Plus you won't be settling for second best.

 

[Village Idiot]

All new PWs except the Mini TT are transceivers. The Flex series are the TTL capable ones and have to be purchased for either Canon or Nikon.

 

[kathyt]

Thanks everyone for your suggestions. From what I am reading on this I need to have PW units on each flash and the camera in order for the system to work. This is a great site and I can tell I will frequent it a lot for my work and personal photography questions.

Yep. Pw's are great and very reliable.

 

[jennbagwell11]

I'm new to this forum and can't seem to figure out how to post a new separate question or "thread" so this is the most similar to the question I have so I am responding in hopes that someone will see this and be able to help. I swear I'm a better photographer than I am online forum tech person =)
I have a canon 5dmarkiii and 3 580exii flashes. For this set up I am only using 2 of the flashes. I have a pocket wizard TTi on my camera along with a flash on my camera. I then have another flash set up with the TT5. When I take a shot the remote flash on the TT5 fires but the flash on my camera wont. I am mainly an available light photographer (I know you lighting guys are rolling your eyes but it's what I love so I don't often use flash but I do need it during receptions. I am about to leave for a destination wedding out of the country and I can't get this to work. I want to be able to have this all working before I leave. I will be on a dark beach with very little light so I really will need a flash on my camera and one set up on the other side of the beach to give me a little extra light. Can anyone help me??? I am certain it's a ridiculously simple fix and I just can't seem to figure it out!!!

 

[Designer]

I'm new to this forum and can't seem to figure out how to post a new separate question or "thread" so this is the most similar to the question I have so I am responding in hopes that someone will see this and be able to help. I swear I'm a better photographer than I am online forum tech person =)
I have a canon 5dmarkiii and 3 580exii flashes. For this set up I am only using 2 of the flashes. I have a pocket wizard TTi on my camera along with a flash on my camera. I then have another flash set up with the TT5. When I take a shot the remote flash on the TT5 fires but the flash on my camera wont. I am mainly an available light photographer (I know you lighting guys are rolling your eyes but it's what I love so I don't often use flash but I do need it during receptions. I am about to leave for a destination wedding out of the country and I can't get this to work. I want to be able to have this all working before I leave. I will be on a dark beach with very little light so I really will need a flash on my camera and one set up on the other side of the beach to give me a little extra light. Can anyone help me??? I am certain it's a ridiculously simple fix and I just can't seem to figure it out!!!

In my Nikon, I can set a menu item to make the built-in flash do "fill", which means it goes every time on that setting.