New Pocket Wizards

[kennykodak]

just got back from my third pro photo convention of this year. when i was out at las vegas for WPPI i saw the new pocket wizards which are still not shipping. there is a dedicated transmitter and a dedicated receiver. these things have shoes and transmit a ETTL or ITTL signal from the camera to multiple flashes by radio. no more line of sight ir. you can ratio lights and even use older pocket wizards to trigger non ttl flashes as well.
$200 transmitter
$220 receiver
i've seen them and talked the MAC Group guys. i'm pumped...

[Ian]

Re: New Pocket Wizards

just got back from my third pro photo convention of this year. when i was out at las vegas for WPPI i saw the new pocket wizards which are still not shipping. there is a dedicated transmitter and a dedicated receiver. these things have shoes and transmit a ETTL or ITTL signal from the camera to multiple flashes by radio. no more line of sight ir. you can ratio lights and even use older pocket wizards to trigger non ttl flashes as well.
$200 transmitter
$220 receiver
i've seen them and talked the MAC Group guys. i'm pumped...

These do look interesting. What advantages do you feel they have over the Canon equivalent? Is it just cost?

Ian

[kennykodak]

Re: New Pocket Wizards

these transmit ETTL via radio not IR. no line of sight limitations. they will fire older models as well (no ETTL). the Canon transmitter is not even in the same ballpark (pitch, as you would say) as these. ETTL at 100' sound good?

[Ian]

Re: New Pocket Wizards

these transmit ETTL via radio not IR. no line of sight limitations. they will fire older models as well (no ETTL). the Canon transmitter is not even in the same ballpark (pitch, as you would say) as these. ETTL at 100' sound good?

Ah - OK, I must admit I simply assumed that Canon had a radio trigger.

Defiitely sounds good

Ian

[kennykodak]

Re: New Pocket Wizards

What's Hot

[kennykodak]

Re: New Pocket Wizards

just received new pocket wizards. unbeleivable. however, at this time, one can not use a flash on camera through the transmitter with a Canon 5D MII.
i took a 580EX II and bounced it off a Lastolite reflector and shot. didn't worry about any of the exposure details. perfect photos. also, no need to set the flash to the slave mode, automatically done by receiver.

[kennykodak]

Re: New Pocket Wizards

you know, i'm new here but posting here seems more like blogging since it's a one sided conversation.

Rob Galbraith's Review

[Stephen]

Re: New Pocket Wizards

you know, i'm new here but posting here seems more like blogging since it's a one sided conversation.

Rob Galbraith's Review

John, I'm afraid it can be like that sometimes here. What you need to remember is that the vast majority of active members here are amateurs who have to a lesser or greater degree an interest in photography. They love to take photos, and look at those taken by others. They invest their hard earned cash in a camera, some lenses and then later consider other gear.

I would think it fair to say that the Pocket Wizards you are rightly enthusiastic about are not the sort of gear that the majority of active members would use or need. These are items which come into their own in a studio situation and are ideally suited to pros who are using several flash heads synced with each other. I can perhaps think of a couple of members who might make good use of such equipment, but frankly because they are amateurs, cannot justify the outlay

Its for these reasons then that in this instance you are unlikely to get much response and you may feel as though you are blogging

[kennykodak]

Re: New Pocket Wizards

well i have had these things for a week now. dead on ETTL. well that's the good news. one of my favorite flashes is the Metz 58 AF-1C. it communicates perfectly with Canon ETTL flashes. i used it on camera as the master. the Metz can not at this time communicate through the Pocket Wizards. both the flash and the radios have USB ports for upgrades but neither side has made any movement. you know, i've been doing this a long time. every so often a new product comes out with such an exciting potential that you just know it's going to change your world and make it better. almost every time there turns up some "little" problem with it and your system.
"all the shines is not gold."

[Ian]

Re: New Pocket Wizards

well i have had these things for a week now. dead on ETTL. well that's the good news. one of my favorite flashes is the Metz 58 AF-1C. it communicates perfectly with Canon ETTL flashes. i used it on camera as the master. the Metz can not at this time communicate through the Pocket Wizards. both the flash and the radios have USB ports for upgrades but neither side has made any movement. you know, i've been doing this a long time. every so often a new product comes out with such an exciting potential that you just know it's going to change your world and make it better. almost every time there turns up some "little" problem with it and your system.
"all the shines is not gold."

Unfortunately, this is such a frequent experience with technology. I bought a new FireWire 800 card for my laptop 2 years ago, only to find that Windows Vista did not yet support FireWire 800 I had to wait about a year for Vista SP1 to be released before this bit of hardware would work!

Ian

[Stephen]

Re: New Pocket Wizards

Presumably it would be down to Pocket Wizard to provide a firmware update so it works with the Metz. If I remember correctly they are only working with Canon and Nikon atm

[kennykodak]

Re: New Pocket Wizards

buying a piece of new complex gear is liken to becoming a pioneer.
you can always tell a pioneer by the arrows stuck in his butt.

[Ian]

Re: New Pocket Wizards

Presumably it would be down to Pocket Wizard to provide a firmware update so it works with the Metz. If I remember correctly they are only working with Canon and Nikon atm

Knowing Metz, they would reverse-engineer the fix themselves. Their latest models now have a USB port for PC connectivity, presumably for firmware upgrades.

Ian

[Stephen]

Re: New Pocket Wizards

buying a piece of new complex gear is liken to becoming a pioneer.
you can always tell a pioneer by the arrows stuck in his butt.

Haha Well at least you can laugh about it

[kennykodak]

Re: New Pocket Wizards

here's a quick ETTL shot. 2-580EX II's, 5D2, PW's and whatever the camera was set at. no adjustments in post production.