Looking to Pocketwizards

[Overread]

*he that buys cheap buys twice and pays more long term*

Yeah yeah getting that out early and out of the way first. Though honestly they performed well enough for my needs, but my wireless radio flash setup is giving out on me - its not battery based since its still working through the PC cord (on the receivers), its just not firing when I use the receivers hotshoe slot.

So I've decided its time to look at something a bit more heavy duty and reliable - thus to the market leaders. However I'm not sure which unit would best suit my specific requirements. Furthermore I read that some of their units have interference problems with the Canon specific flash units.

So considering that I'm currently only using one or two flash units for nothing more tricky than macro work (I'd happily expand my setup further in the future, but its just not on the cards at present) and that I'd rather smaller less obtrusive units over larger ones what in the pocket wizard range would suit my needs best?

Far as I can tell I've got:
Mini TT1 E-TTL Radio Transmitter £140.23
Gives easy control on camera and off with a small profile unit; which also sports its own hotshoe so one can easily have a flash on camera and another controlled offcamera.

Flex TT5 £151.00
works with the above unit for the off-camera flashes; slightly larger profile but still fairly small and with its own hot-shoe connection.

Both those units appear to need shields on flashes like the 580EXII because of interference that the flash generates; on the plus side they work with the auto-flash system; thus negating the demand for manual only operation of the flash units.

PocketWizard Plus III £129.99
Not yet on the market (UK side expected end of this month) but hitting at near the price point of the Plus II version (and that is before any market depreciation of the price). Bonus would appear to be a far greater range of controllable settings and options as well as groupings over the above two units. Downside is that the units have no hotshoe and require PC cable connections to the flashes; plus they also do not support the auto flash functions.

Bonus is that they don't (at least I see no mention of them needing) any shields on the flashes to work correctly.


At the moment I'm a little torn, I like the small profile and ease of use of the TT1 and TT5 system; on the flipside I do have to invest yet more in shields on the flashes I use (and there is no mention of the canon macro twinflash needing a shield but I would not be at all surprised to find it needs one - heck that one needs an audio shield have the time with its loud recharging beep sound).
The Plus III units would appear to be a bit more than I need now, esp in terms of more advanced controls, and they do add a bit of fiddlyness by being a unit connected by cable rather than hot-shoe. On the plus side they are cheaper in cost for a pair and keep options open a little more for future (possible) system expansion.


I also note that PW have a few other options for controllers on their site, though from what I can see they are much more geared to a 2+ flash setup with multiple heads and groupings.

 

[tirediron]

I've got a bag full of the Plus II's - which, with the release of the Plus III should be even cheaper on the used market. Simple, straight-forward and RELIABLE.

 

[Overread]

Just did a little more reading and found that if the MiniTT1-Canon is used as the trigger it can allow faster sync speed compatibility for the flashes as well as regular highspeed sync speeds for flashes. Could be used powerfully with the PW Plus series as the receivers (it appears that these only support speeds up to 1/250sec and I'm unsure if - as a transmitter - if they can do highspeed sync).

 

[o hey tyler]

Look at the Pixel King TTL Flash triggers for Canon. I have them, and they're extremely comparable to PW's. I use mine quite often when I have a shot where I need the proper flash exposure quickly without dicking around with power settings in manual mode.

They've got TTL, HSS, super long range. There's a lot to like about them.

Oh, and the price of course.

 

[Big Mike]

I'm pretty sure it's not a necessity to use the socks/shield when using the TL PW units. Sure, there are some issues with radio interference, but I've seen plenty of people using them without.

If you don't need the whole auto TTL stuff, then the new Plus III units look really great. But of course, the plus II units are still good if you can get a deal on them.

I've been curious about the new/cheap brands of TTL capable triggers like Tyler has. That might be a decent option...but I'd like to know more about them.

 

[Village Idiot]

Do you need TTL? If not, go with the PIII's. I'm guessing that TTL with possible exposure changes between frames would be a down side for macro work. You can use the mini on the camera with the base model and still achieve the sync push, IIRC.

 

[2WheelPhoto]

I don't use TTL (monolights and Vivitar 285's manual), but YES the TT1 pocketwizard will "HYPERSYNC" (not FP TTL high sync) your manual flash. Its an incredible feature.

I have the TT1 and TT5 for driving my PWII's for Hypersync and it works incredibly well. Many claim sync speeds of 1/8000th to a monolight but I'm not getting quite that high, but i can about black out ambient on a bright sunny Florida day.

I just don't have a use for TTL, and if you use that flavor high speed sync it will decrease your already low strobist GN output, plus because it is rapidly firing the flash it will decrease the battery life.

I can't say enough about pocketwizards. I'm going to pick up a couple of Plus IIIs when available.

 

[Village Idiot]

I don't use TTL (monolights and Vivitar 285's manual), but YES the TT1 pocketwizard will "HYPERSYNC" (not FP TTL high sync) your manual flash. Its an incredible feature.

I have the TT1 and TT5 for driving my PWII's for Hypersync and it works incredibly well. Many claim sync speeds of 1/8000th to a monolight but I'm not getting quite that high, but i can about black out ambient on a bright sunny Florida day.

I just don't have a use for TTL, and if you use that flavor high speed sync it will decrease your already low strobist GN output, plus because it is rapidly firing the flash it will decrease the battery life.

I can't say enough about pocketwizards. I'm going to pick up a couple of Plus IIIs when available.

I've read that you can use a Mini trigger and the PII's and still get the hyper sync feature. You don't need to have all TT series triggers to accomplish this.

 

[2WheelPhoto]

I don't use TTL (monolights and Vivitar 285's manual), but YES the TT1 pocketwizard will "HYPERSYNC" (not FP TTL high sync) your manual flash. Its an incredible feature.

I have the TT1 and TT5 for driving my PWII's for Hypersync and it works incredibly well. Many claim sync speeds of 1/8000th to a monolight but I'm not getting quite that high, but i can about black out ambient on a bright sunny Florida day.

I just don't have a use for TTL, and if you use that flavor high speed sync it will decrease your already low strobist GN output, plus because it is rapidly firing the flash it will decrease the battery life.

I can't say enough about pocketwizards. I'm going to pick up a couple of Plus IIIs when available.

I've read that you can use a Mini trigger and the PII's and still get the hyper sync feature. You don't need to have all TT series triggers to accomplish this.

Thats what I do TT1 is calibrated to drive my monolight outside on a PWII, my TT5 is calibrated to the Vivitars and drives them on PWIIs

Works incredibly well.

 

[Overread]

Do you need TTL? If not, go with the PIII's. I'm guessing that TTL with possible exposure changes between frames would be a down side for macro work. You can use the mini on the camera with the base model and still achieve the sync push, IIRC.

I find it varies. If the flashes are in a fixed position relative to the subject then manual is generally easier to work with; but if the flashes or subject have any distance changing going on then its a nightmare to work with manual because of the nature of light falloff (distance changes at macro distances don't have to be big to cause shifts in exposure with flash lighting).

Still considering that most of the time my lights are in fairly fixed positions if I'm setting anything complex up (ie involving more than one flash - for which I can use my flash cable anyway).