I think I'm cursed when it comes to Pocketwizards...

JimKarczewski

Basketball season has officially started for me. So, new lithium flash packs for my speedlights in hand, I set-up for tonight's game as usual, with one exception. Instead of 2 lights in each corner firing at the same time, each got it's own PW3 set to channel 17 with either Zone A or B selected. On the camera, a Multimax, set to speedcycler channel 17 between zones A/B. Work fine sitting right next to the lights, get down to the court (all of 30 feet) and I find that I have to favor more to the right side because they won't fire! So, half-time, just for grins, I change to channel 24, and sniff on my Multimax to check and make sure there is no noise. All the channels from 17-32 showing 045 as the max noise, which is pretty low, usually I see something in the 50's most places. BTW, PW are mounted vertically in the same orientation as the MultiMax. Set to 1/4 power, 50mm using a Godox960 to power both lights per side.

After the countless shots taken where the lights didn't fire, I tried something else, removing speedcycler. Enabled both flashes to fire at once, dropped my ISO down to compensate for the additional flash and all of a sudden, all was good in life. I could shoot 1 shot or 5 and every single one was lit. But yet turn speedcycler on and the mis-fires returned.

It's not only the speed-cycler, it's the fact that even using their cables connected DIRECTLY to 580II PC sockets, screwed in no less, that I still had to favor one side of the court and the lights were setup in the exact same way on both sides, well, except one had an orange battery pack and one had a black one. But the inconsistencies with my PW's are driving me bonkers.

And yes, everything is up to date with the absolute latest firmware. I plan on trying to get in touch with LPA tomorrow to figure out what the hell is going on. I also tried close range (which oddly the left side fired and the closer right side did not) but I did not try long range mode. I don't think it's meant for a 30ft distance..

Any input would be appreciated. I know a lot of people use PW on a daily basis to shoot sports and I'm just ready to pull my hair out because it's always something with these. I mean, if I have to go buy those stupid 8" plastic isolation bars for all of my receivers I will, but it would seem that the rubber feet on my super-clamp and the fact that the socket in the back of the PW is isolated by plastic around it would just make those redundant. But what do I know???

Dreadnote

Switch to Nikon they work flawlessly.

Or perhaps try these:

http://www.pocketwizard.com/products/transmitter_receiver/ac5%20rf%20soft%20shield/

JimKarczewski

Fixed the problem with the temp solution tonight. Longer cables. PW were approximately 8 ft from the speedlights. Speedcycler worked wonderfully even at 10fps. Still waiting for more cables and Ferrite Core thanks to calling Mac Group:


Talked with Gary @ Mac Group, very helpful guy.

He had some good suggestions. Even though my 580EXII's were about 2ft from the PW3's, I should move them even farther away if possible. Not only that, with the 580EXII or most any Canon flash. He said all Canon flashes are pretty bad about emitting RF interference. He said the 420EX is one of the worst, while the 550EX is one of the best.

Anyway, longer cords. Ferrite Choke on the sync cable as close the flash sync port as possible to eliminate RF noise through the sync cable.

As for the speedcycler, he said the problem may be the contact time + noise is too short to fire the lights. After trying the ferrite cores + longer cables I'll see what I can come up with.

Asked him about Nikon flashes and he said very little if any RF interference which is good because I plan on adding a few SB-26's to my kit because they are cheaper than the 550EX.

Instead of going to RadioShack and paying $5ea, I ordered TDK ones, in bulk for $1.81ea from DigiKey, a well known and respected electronics supplier.

Ended up with these:
TDK Ferrite Cores

ian408

There have been quite a few complaints of noisy 580EXII's. PW lists a few places that will modify the flash to "fix" the problem. A longer cable, ferrite choke or maybe changing the antenna orientation are all options to try. At least, I would do that before spending the money to modify the flash.

perroneford

I was going to ask why you were using speed cycler, then I realized you are trying to light a gym with speedlights and do high fps. I've never seen this in use at any place I've worked. And generally, doing multiple flashes in quick succession is frowned on.

I do have isolation bars (mostly for baseball and softball where I have to have my gear on the ground, or attached to a metal fence, but have never used them indoors. But I also shoot Nikon, and don't use remote speedlights.

Best of luck.

JimKarczewski

perroneford wrote: »

I've never seen this in use at any place I've worked. And generally, doing multiple flashes in quick succession is frowned on.

Not against any Indiana High School Athletic Association rules. Though, for basketball games I turn my speed down to 6fps, rarely more. No need.

perroneford

JimKarczewski wrote: »

Not against any Indiana High School Athletic Association rules. Though, for basketball games I turn my speed down to 6fps, rarely more. No need.

You're lucky with that. I rarely shoot HS any more and things are pretty hairy politics wise at the college level. Especially in the large D1 conferences.