any UNsatisfied PW owners?

[blam]

so, after much searching, it seems i am the only person alive that is unsatisfied with my pocket wizard performance.

I don't know if it's some kind of crazy user error or what....

in a small room (say my basement) I have no problems. rarely misfires.

but once I get outside, anything past 20' I get a large amount of misfires.

and I don't believe I've ever had them fire past 30' distance, WITH THEM IN SIGHT. (no walls in between)

(I've had them for about 6 months)

[Caspita]

Interesting...I would like to see the direction that this thread goes in. I am a fellow PW owner, and can't say i experience the same problems you do. Just yesterday I was out in the middle of the afternoon shooting from about 30-40 feet away and wasn't running into any problems with them not firing.

[blam]

i stumbled across a FM thread with many users with the same problem past 50'

http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/708180

it seems the speedlites interfere with the PWs?

[Caspita]

i stumbled across a FM thread with many users with the same problem past 50'

http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/708180

it seems the speedlites interfere with the PWs?



Seems like most of the problems and people complaining are using speedlites. Unfortunately I can't offer much because I use the triggers with my strobes. But from reading the posted link, I would make sure that you have fresh batteries in there, and make sure the sync cable is attached well. Also someone mentioned that in the manual it says to make sure your antenna is above the flash.

[TMR Design]

I've never even heard of this problem. Line of sight is not a factor since it's radio and not IR. Can't say I've ever experienced one misfire and never had PW's not fire.

I'd be curious to see what others say.

[SYS]

Weak batteries?

[blam]

I just went outside and took some test shots.

580ex II
430ex mounted on flashzebra shoe w/ PW cord.

my 580 maxed out at ~80 feet
my 430 did not fire past 40 feet

cords were secured with elastics as well.

earlier tests INDOORS, i had the PW 5' ABOVE the 430EX and did not have it fire past 30'

batteries were not fresh, but have a decent charge.

edit: according to my MAHA charger, the 430 was @ roughly 30% charge, the 580 was near full and on camera was over 50%

charging them now and will report back soon.

photos @ 24mm on a 40D

[Palladium]

see the manual to make sure your PW's antennas are properly positioned.

[blam]

see the manual to make sure your PW's antennas are properly positioned.
all antennae were pointing upward.

[Bumgardnern]

Generally speaking I love pocket wizards. From personal experience the Plus II units perform almost flawlessly. I have had a few problems with miss fires off of the Plus II units but not many. If the batteries are weak I have found them to have intermittent operation.

[TMR Design]

If the batteries are weak I have found them to have intermittent operation.

Well, of course.

[blam]

update....

significantly better results with fresh batteries.

BOTH units fired at ~120', however, not reliably.

I also noticed if i held the remote further from my body (at arms length), the reliability went up(as per the manual).

BUT how does one keep it away from their body if you're shooting with the camera in their face?

[tenoverthenose]

Just today I was shooting the AMGEN race and had some problems. I had a remote camera positioned with the antenna upright triggered by a PW in the hotshoe of the camera in my hands (antenna upright) From a distance of 500 ft (clear line of sight) the camera only fired about 1 out of every 3rd shot. I have no idea what went wrong and I have lots of testing to do. I also missed "the shot" that I wanted.

Meanwhile, another photographer got "the shot" with poverty wizards.

[blam]

wow, 500ft...i wish!!!

i was getting 2/3s at best at the rough estimate of 120'

[PacAce]

update....

significantly better results with fresh batteries.

BOTH units fired at ~120', however, not reliably.

I also noticed if i held the remote further from my body (at arms length), the reliability went up(as per the manual).

BUT how does one keep it away from their body if you're shooting with the camera in their face?

Have you tried moving the flash and remote out of the garage and into the open. The metallic body of the car might be interfering with the RF signals.

[blam]

although that is true, I started strobist stuff for car photography in particular, so the set up I have shown isn't far off from what I normally shoot.

are the RF signals really that sensetive??

[dsphoto@comcast.net]

separate the PW from the flash by about two feet and see what happens. the flash are emitting RF noise that stomp on the reception but if you separate them a bit you should get plenty of range. There was a sports shooter post on this a while back and one of the PW people responded.

[blam]

separate the PW from the flash by about two feet and see what happens. the flash are emitting RF noise that stomp on the reception but if you separate them a bit you should get plenty of range. There was a sports shooter post on this a while back and one of the PW people responded.

I actually had the PW about 5' from my 430 and there was no difference in range from when it was next to it.

[PacAce]

although that is true, I started strobist stuff for car photography in particular, so the set up I have shown isn't far off from what I normally shoot.

are the RF signals really that sensetive??

OK but then, would you be shooting the cars from so far away, then? I thought you were just testing to see what the maximum range of your flash/radio combo is. :)

[Collin85]

Rob Galbraith mentioned something like this in an article. Apparently out of all high-end Canon ETTL flashes, the 430EX emits the most RF noise in the frequency band used by PWs - which can often reduce working distance from hundreds of feet to just dozens. This might be your problem. In contrast, the 580EX and 580EX II flashes emit far less and the 430EX II emits almost no RF noise in the relevant PW bands.

[blam]

Collin85, i received an email from PocketWizard stating that as well late last night.

they suggest a ferrite ring on the PC cord and seperating the PW from the 430.

I willl give that a try and report back

PacAce: there were situations in the past where I was using telephoto in a shoot from about 50 feet ~100mm FL and could not get them to fire.