Pocket Wizard mini tt1 and flex tt5

dlplumer

I am strongly considering buying these for my 580 EX II. Any opinions, experience, insights before I pull the trigger.

Thanks,

Dan

Qarik

dlplumer wrote:

I am strongly considering buying these for my 580 EX II. Any opinions, experience, insights before I pull the trigger.

Thanks,

Dan

I will be getting those for the Nikon when they come out. Finally they got the design right. Hot shoe mountable for both transmitter and receiver with hot shoe adaptors.

I hated the idea of "hanging" the triggers from flashes. Plus this new config lets you do one thing no one was able to really address including radio pooper. Use a hotshoe flash with some kind of diffuser AND trigger slaves. Think about shooting reception in cave where you need the mobility of on camera flash but would like to slave some flashes to kind back fill the room.

Nikolai

I'm using mini primarily for it's much smaller form-factor compared to PW transmitter. Since all of my stobes are non-TTL type I don't see any advantages in getting flex, considering I already own 5 PW units.

In fact, I totally don't get xTTL shooting with multiple light sources. If you have time to position them, why not set them to the precise power level you want? DOn't get me wrong I like automatic things, but there is time and place for them, sophisticated lighting setup is NOT one of them...

Manfr3d

dlplumer wrote:

I am strongly considering buying these for my 580 EX II. Any opinions, experience, insights before I pull the trigger.

Thanks,

Dan

Its a super flash, I have it and am very happy with it. Just go for it!

P.S.: The Canon off camera coord OC-E3 is a very nice accessory for it too.

dlplumer

Manfr3d wrote:

Its a super flash, I have it and am very happy with it. Just go for it!

P.S.: The Canon off camera coord OC-E3 is a very nice accessory for it too.

Excuse my ignorance Manfred, but what do you do with this cord?

Qarik

dlplumer wrote:

Excuse my ignorance Manfred, but what do you do with this cord?

I believe he misread your original post and thinks you are getting the 580

rwells

Qarik wrote:

...Plus this new config lets you do one thing no one was able to really address including radio pooper. Use a hotshoe flash with some kind of diffuser AND trigger slaves.

You can do this with RadioPoppers.

Who knows if the Nikon version will suffer also, but the Pocket Wizards suffer significantly from RF interference with Canon flash units. Most testers only getting 30' max from the PW/Canon setup.

Personally, I think that stinks :nah

dlplumer

rwells wrote:

You can do this with RadioPoppers.

Who knows if the Nikon version will suffer also, but the Pocket Wizards suffer significantly from RF interference with Canon flash units. Most testers only getting 30' max from the PW/Canon setup.

Personally, I think that stinks :nah

I believe the new firmware corrected this problem

Qarik

rwells wrote:

You can do this with RadioPoppers.

Who knows if the Nikon version will suffer also, but the Pocket Wizards suffer significantly from RF interference with Canon flash units. Most testers only getting 30' max from the PW/Canon setup.

Personally, I think that stinks :nah

The nikon flashes do no have the RF noise as far as I know. I think that is strictly a canon issue.

as far as the radio poppers..how do you attach the poper onto your transmitter reliably with say Fong diffuser? Also I thought I saw a proto-popper receiver once with a hot shoe mount but not a hot shoe adaptor. I really prefer the clean hot shoe mount over velcro and such.

tenoverthenose

I'm loving the new PW's. Great form factor, no need for hotshoe adapters on the remotes. Of course, I also shoot 550ex's which work perfectly. The most recent firmware has some pretty cool trickery that has moved these past Canon's ETTL (and this RadioPoppers).

Nikolai

rwells wrote:

You can do this with RadioPoppers.

Who knows if the Nikon version will suffer also, but the Pocket Wizards suffer significantly from RF interference with Canon flash units. Most testers only getting 30' max from the PW/Canon setup.

Personally, I think that stinks :nah

I have no idea where this info comes from, but from my own experience - I was shooting in a huge night club in LA with a whole bunch of other photogs, most of which was toting Canons with speedlights. The stage was on the first floor, my PW controlled flash units were 2 stories up (the club is hollowed up) about 150ft away. I didn't have a single misfire. I don't know what kind of setup you have to run to experience the problem you're dscribing...

dlplumer

Nik, the interference issue was with the new PWs not the ones you use, but I believe (according to what I am reading) that they have corrected this problem with new firmware.


"The new firmware corrects a lot of problems and opens up other flashes that work perfectly (the 430exI, 580exI, and 580exII all have terrible RF interference due to Canon design). The units are backward compatible and I can achieved a 1/500th sync speed with my 1D mkII. I was about to return them when I got word of a firmware update. Now I have 800 feet working ETTL with a great design.The physical design is great, I love being able to mount an on-camera flash up top for fill quickly and easily."

firedancing4life

The new PWs are pretty awesome!

mmmatt

my two flex's come tomorrow and i will report back after testing... I have 2 580 II's and they are the ones that have the bad RF interference issues. I will report back in a couple days as to the performance.

Matt

rwells

Talking about the new ETTL units Nik.

Not my tried and true PWII units.

Nikolai wrote:

I have no idea where this info comes from, but from my own experience - I was shooting in a huge night club in LA with a whole bunch of other photogs, most of which was toting Canons with speedlights. The stage was on the first floor, my PW controlled flash units were 2 stories up (the club is hollowed up) about 150ft away. I didn't have a single misfire. I don't know what kind of setup you have to run to experience the problem you're dscribing...

Nikolai

rwells wrote:

Talking about the new ETTL units Nik.
Not my tried and true PWII units.

Ah...

dlplumer

mmmatt wrote:

my two flex's come tomorrow and i will report back after testing... I have 2 580 II's and they are the ones that have the bad RF interference issues. I will report back in a couple days as to the performance.

Matt

OK thanks Matt

Penquin

my experience
I recently purchased 4 profoto 600R Compact studio lights that have built in pocket wizards. (Thank you to those on this site who gave me advice before this purchase ) My Sekonic L358 light meter and my TT1 will fire the built in pocket wizards every time. I love the compactness of the TT1. I recently tried putting my canon 580exll on my TT5 off camera and what I have found is the TT1 will fire the canon flash every time but my Sekonic light meter will not fire the flash everytime. I have not had much time to figure it out but it seems the radio strength from the meter is not strong enough. I am not sure if the problem is the light meter or the TT5. Other than that I love the TT1 and the TT5. After reading the above posts it seems I need to go to the pocket wizards site and give my TT1 and TT5 the software upgrade which I have not done.

dlplumer

After reading the above posts it seems I need to go to the pocket wizards site and give my TT1 and TT5 the software upgrade which I have not done.[/quote]

Penquin

now upgraded
OK,
I tested my canon 580 ex ll flash on my tt5 with my light meter and could get about 6 feet away until the light meter would not trigger the tt5 any longer. I performed the upgrade and now I can get about 18 feet away with my 580ex ll and up to about 30 feet away (somtimes) with my older 580ex.
Does this seem right. I thought I should be able to get farther but am not experienced in this at all.

mmmatt

Penquin wrote:

OK,
I tested my canon 580 ex ll flash on my tt5 with my light meter and could get about 6 feet away until the light meter would not trigger the tt5 any longer. I performed the upgrade and now I can get about 18 feet away with my 580ex ll and up to about 30 feet away (somtimes) with my older 580ex.
Does this seem right. I thought I should be able to get farther but am not experienced in this at all.

I have only tested the length of my house but that has to be about 30 - 35 ft.... fires every time with my 580 ex2's. maybe the channel I'm using, may be the firmware upgrade, may be I'm using 2 flex's and not a mini... I don't know but the distance I'm getting with these right now is acceptable for what I do. I will do more formal testing outside when I have a chance.

Try other channels penguin and see what happens. I randomly chose 15 for chan 1 and 13 for 2.

matt

mmmatt

OK... I was curious so I did it just now. My unofficial 10 minute test is that using 2 flex units, a 580exII on a stand and no flash on camera. Line of site, diffuse late morning sunlight, using channel 15, I got 23 paces, so about 70ft from the unit with it firing every time. One more pace and it fired occasionally. Then I realized that I didn't have my antennae up on the receiving unit (send unit was up the whole time) so after putting that antennae up my distance was cut into about a third of what it was with the antennae down. KEEPING THE ANTENNAE DOWN ON THE RECEIVING UNIT WILL ADD TO YOUR DISTANCE WHEN USING A 580 EXII from my experience just now. I don't know that the ettl metering was on target because I was just shooting at the flash to see it pop but I assume if it is firing it is communicating fully.

70' is more than enough for what I will use these for so I am a happy camper!!! I would like for someone else to do similar testing with the antennae and see if they have similar results. FWIW, my 580exII's were purchased right after they came out so they are an early run of the 580exII... that may make a diference.

Matt

rwells

Matt,

Very interesting info, & thanks for posting it.

Some of the early testers were finding that past about 30', the remote flash would fire the pre-flash, but not the main flash. This would mean that the unit received the initial fire command, but not enough communications going back to the master/camera to actually send back the "main fire" command.

If you were looking through the viewfinder and saw the remote flash, that's the pre-flash. The mirror goes up for the main exposure, therefore blocking that from the viewfinder view.

Can you verify that the main flash went off, and that ETTL looks to be working fine from those further distances?

Thanks

mmmatt wrote:

OK... I was curious so I did it just now. My unofficial 10 minute test is that using 2 flex units, a 580exII on a stand and no flash on camera. Line of site, diffuse late morning sunlight, using channel 15, I got 23 paces, so about 70ft from the unit with it firing every time. One more pace and it fired occasionally. Then I realized that I didn't have my antennae up on the receiving unit (send unit was up the whole time) so after putting that antennae up my distance was cut into about a third of what it was with the antennae down. KEEPING THE ANTENNAE DOWN ON THE RECEIVING UNIT WILL ADD TO YOUR DISTANCE WHEN USING A 580 EXII from my experience just now. I don't know that the ettl metering was on target because I was just shooting at the flash to see it pop but I assume if it is firing it is communicating fully.

70' is more than enough for what I will use these for so I am a happy camper!!! I would like for someone else to do similar testing with the antennae and see if they have similar results. FWIW, my 580exII's were purchased right after they came out so they are an early run of the 580exII... that may make a difference.

Matt

mmmatt

rwells wrote:

Matt,

Very interesting info, & thanks for posting it.

Some of the early testers were finding that past about 30', the remote flash would fire the pre-flash, but not the main flash. This would mean that the unit received the initial fire command, but not enough communications going back to the master/camera to actually send back the "main fire" command.

If you were looking through the viewfinder and saw the remote flash, that's the pre-flash. The mirror goes up for the main exposure, therefore blocking that from the viewfinder view.

Can you verify that the main flash went off, and that ETTL looks to be working fine from those further distances?

Thanks

Ahhh... so THATS how a dslr works!!! I'll do a more formal test later this evening with a grey background and a long lens so we can check exposure too. I'm pretty sure it will be the same result. Flash was hitting in the first test... the pics were shot straght at the flash head. Unless I was just seeing sun reflection in the pics? I don't think so. I deleted them so I can't check again, and you make a good point.

matt

rwells

mmmatt wrote:

Ahhh... so THATS how a dslr works!!! I'll do a more formal test later this evening with a grey background and a long lens so we can check exposure too. I'm pretty sure it will be the same result. Flash was hitting in the first test... the pics were shot straght at the flash head. Unless I was just seeing sun reflection in the pics? I don't think so. I deleted them so I can't check again, and you make a good point.

matt

Matt,

Sorry if you took my post the wrong way.

I couldn't tell by your post if you were just looking for the flash through the viewfinder. No offense meant.

mmmatt

rwells wrote:

Matt,

Sorry if you took my post the wrong way.

I couldn't tell by your post if you were just looking for the flash through the viewfinder. No offense meant.

Not at all my friend! That is what the little winky thing means! I was just being a smartass! I agree it never hurts to explain the basics so we can follow your logic.

OK. Same result. Better with the receiver antennae down and the send antennae up... no question. Flash unit was about 3ft from the subject and I could move exactly 23 paces away with consistent firing. These were all shot as jpg with a custom white balance on the white card before shooting.
This is the last shot from 10 in a row at about 1-2 seconds apart. I did notice that it seemed to communicate best if I held the shutter down for a sec before firing and/or it gave my flash a chance to recharge. This shot is a little hot, about 3/4 stop to my eye, and the first few were even a little hotter but that is pretty typical of canon ettl when shooting direct flash right up close, and it was also metering the whole sceen. Easily within the dynamic range of raw regardless. I shot these with the 40d just so I could fill the frame with the lavender background a little better.



so again, this works for me no problem. I'm quite pleased.

Matt

Penquin

Sekonic 358L
Matt,
Thanks for all the testing. I am sorry I did not check back here a couple of days ago. I think you misunderstood me though. I am having trouble getting my sekonic 358L to fire my 580 ex ll. I must explain that I have been taking photos for a long time but just recently started getting more serious and attempting to learn more. I recently purchased a sekonic 358L and a tt5 and a tt1. I have never owned the older pocket wizards, so dont know if what I am experiencing is normal or not.

My problem is I put my 580 ex ll on my tt5 on a off camera stand and then attempt to fire the 580 with the sekonic and I could only get about 6-8 feet away. I then performed the on line upgrade and now can get about 18 feet away. My tt1 will fire the 580 just fine, I think my results are similar to yours, it hasnt been a problem so I havent tested much.

What I have resulted to is if I want to use my sekonic I will put it on flash mode and then use the tt1 to fire the lights and then the meter will pick up the flash.
Does this make sense. If I am doing it all wrong please tell me, I wont be offended.
Thanks
I am not sure if the distance I am getting out of my sekonic is normal or not.

mmmatt wrote:

Not at all my friend! That is what the little winky thing means! I was just being a smartass! I agree it never hurts to explain the basics so we can follow your logic.

OK. Same result. Better with the receiver antennae down and the send antennae up... no question. Flash unit was about 3ft from the subject and I could move exactly 23 paces away with consistent firing. These were all shot as jpg with a custom white balance on the white card before shooting.
This is the last shot from 10 in a row at about 1-2 seconds apart. I did notice that it seemed to communicate best if I held the shutter down for a sec before firing and/or it gave my flash a chance to recharge. This shot is a little hot, about 3/4 stop to my eye, and the first few were even a little hotter but that is pretty typical of canon ettl when shooting direct flash right up close, and it was also metering the whole sceen. Easily within the dynamic range of raw regardless. I shot these with the 40d just so I could fill the frame with the lavender background a little better.



so again, this works for me no problem. I'm quite pleased.

Matt

cj99si

Is this distance thing just for the 580EX's? 20 or 30 feet isnt that far, Am I missing something?

mmmatt

cj99si wrote:

Is this distance thing just for the 580EX's? 20 or 30 feet isnt that far, Am I missing something?

The known issue with the new pw's is with the 580ex and 580exII because they emit a radio frequency that causes interference. The 550's and 480's are supposedly immune to this as are our friends across the lake. the euro codes are different frequencies and there are no interferience problems for them. I personally am getting about 70' out of my setup using 580's and that is fine by me. Others using 550's and 480's are getting about 300 ft. I'm not sure of any scenario where one would want to be that far from their subject but it is a known issue. The recent firmware release has helped this some it seems, but at this point I am more than happy getting 70 ft.

Penguine, I'm sorry I did misunderstand. I have no idea how the seconic fits into all of this.

Matt

dlplumer

Thanks Matt for all you have done So the bottom line is that I can use the new PWs with my new 580 EX II, but it will be limited in effective range to about 70ft + or - yes?

Dan

mmmatt

dlplumer wrote:

Thanks Matt for all you have done So the bottom line is that I can use the new PWs with my new 580 EX II, but it will be limited in effective range to about 70ft + or - yes?

Dan

from my experience, yes