So I feel like I have been left in the dark... PocketWizards related

Yeah, so I had no clue as to how crazy the pocket wizards are and that they pretty much change the state of everything. The newer FlexTT5 system with the MiniTT1 and all that mess have some wicked abilities to them. Also the coming release of the PowerMC2, lol (if you catch the joke in the name you'll understand my lol) for the PCB Einstein units is great stuff as well. It would be really nice to just use the transmitter that is in my L-358 to trigger my lights when I want to shoot manually to get all my readings and so on.

I had no idea that they can get you up to 1/8000th shutter speed sync, along with the fact that they end up using less power allowing you to shoot longer on a single set of batteries. Here I have been burning through batteries all this time like it was the cool thing to do...

I just figured they were like any other regular sync system, I never really bothered to read about them all that much seeing as I figured it was just another setup like any other trigger/receiver that you just ended up with a simple flash and it does what it does and only up to 1/200th and that is it....

Talk about a game changer on my opinion of their price, lol. I'm about tempted to sell off all my other triggers and some other stuff just to buy a set of these things! I've been colored impressed, lol.

Hold it! Many photographers are returning their flex and tt1 units because they fail to work as advertised. In terms of distance, the "sock" that goes over the 580II, and a few other issues. Pixel Knights do many of the same duties, and less than half the price. A little research goes a long way $$$

kickmaster wrote in post #12062366
Hold it! Many photographers are returning their flex and tt1 units because they fail to work as advertised. In terms of distance, the "sock" that goes over the 580II, and a few other issues. Pixel Knights do many of the same duties, and less than half the price. A little research goes a long way $$$

I did read some stuff about that, I found several places where there have been a lot of complaints about the interference issues with them. hopefully they can figure out a an update to their system to fix this problem in the near future. I'm certainly not going to buy them anytime soon, the selling gear thing to get them was a bit of a joke.

I would love to have the improvements but I just can't be spending much more than I already have the last few days here. I've gotten my Einstein, 47" octa, Grid for it, 22 HOBD, CyberCommander system, a 50mm f/1.4 lens, so yeah, I'm going to have to hold off on switching gear up for a while..... lol. I've spent WWWWAAAAAAYYYY too much in the last few days with all this mess.

BoneJj wrote in post #12062204
Yeah, so I had no clue as to how crazy the pocket wizards are and that they pretty much change the state of everything. The newer FlexTT5 system with the MiniTT1 and all that mess have some wicked abilities to them. Also the coming release of the PowerMC2, lol (if you catch the joke in the name you'll understand my lol) for the PCB Einstein units is great stuff as well. It would be really nice to just use the transmitter that is in my L-358 to trigger my lights when I want to shoot manually to get all my readings and so on.

Don't hold your breath if you're expecting to be able to trigger the PowerMC2 with your Sekonic light meter while using the PowerMC2 to control the power output of the Einstein. Those two features are mutually exclusive. If you want to be able to trigger your strobe with the light meter to take measurements, you won't be able to control the output of the strobe with your camera or AC3.

BoneJj wrote in post #12062204
I had no idea that they can get you up to 1/8000th shutter speed sync, along with the fact that they end up using less power allowing you to shoot longer on a single set of batteries. Here I have been burning through batteries all this time like it was the cool thing to do...

What batteries are you referring to? The batteries of a hotshoe flash? Shooting at a shutter speed of 1/8000 does not mean that you'll be using less battery juice. AAMOF, you'd probably use up more because at 1/8000, the flash would need to be brighter than when using a slower shutter speed for the same exposure.

PacAce wrote in post #12062403
Don't hold your breath if you're expecting to be able to trigger the PowerMC2 with your Sekonic light meter while using the PowerMC2 to control the power output of the Einstein. Those two features are mutually exclusive. If you want to be able to trigger your strobe with the light meter to take measurements, you won't be able to control the output of the strobe with your camera or AC3.


What batteries are you referring to? The batteries of a hotshoe flash? Shooting at a shutter speed of 1/8000 does not mean that you'll be using less battery juice. AAMOF, you'd probably use up more because at 1/8000, the flash would need to be brighter than when using a slower shutter speed for the same exposure.

that's why I said when I want to shoot manually. I would just switch everything over to manual when using the light meter. And I honestly doubt I would ever have much of a need for 1/8000th, I don't ever go outside in mid day sun to photograph anything, lol. That's just too much light but I do like the idea of the expanded abilities.

What it boils down is that "I never knew that these SOBs were capable of doing such cool stuff". I guess I should have bothered to read about them versus just going elsewhere because of the PRICE, lol.

BoneJj wrote in post #12062562
that's why I said when I want to shoot manually. I would just switch everything over to manual when using the light meter. And I honestly doubt I would ever have much of a need for 1/8000th, I don't ever go outside in mid day sun to photograph anything, lol. That's just too much light but I do like the idea of the expanded abilities.

What it boils down is that "I never knew that these SOBs were capable of doing such cool stuff". I guess I should have bothered to read about them versus just going elsewhere because of the PRICE, lol.

I don't understand what you mean by "switch everyting over to manual". Unless you are using E-TTL compatible flashes, all flashes and strobes only work in manual mode when using the MiniTT1/FlexTT5 devices.

According to their site using them with any adjuble power flash with the proper adapters =s ettl work.

BoneJj wrote in post #12063423
According to their site using them with any adjuble power flash with the proper adapters =s ettl work.

I'm sure you must have misread or misinterpretted what was on "their" site. Can you point us to where it said that?

BoneJj wrote in post #12062204
.....I had no idea that they can get you up to 1/8000th shutter speed sync, along with the fact that they end up using less power allowing you to shoot longer on a single set of batteries. Here I have been burning through batteries all this time like it was the cool thing to do...

That is SO FAR from the truth.....
Using HSS sync burns thru batteries like nobody's business, because HSS uses multiple flashes in order to achieve a single exposure.
Look at this video for more detailed info..... Click Here

The Loft Studios wrote in post #12063688
That is SO FAR from the truth.....
Using HSS sync burns thru batteries like nobody's business, because HSS uses multiple flashes in order to achieve a single exposure.
Look at this video for more detailed info..... Click Here

then why is it that they say they have improved the flash system to extend battery life. I never said what part of the system causes a drain in power, I only wrote what they say from their site. maybe it's only for normal flashing but whatever, an improvement on battery life is still an improvement.

BoneJj wrote in post #12063786
they why is it that they say they have improved the flash system to extend battery life. I never said what part of the system causes a drain in power, I only wrote what they say from their site. maybe it's only for normal flashing but whatever, an improvement on battery life is still an improvement.

Again, this is not true...... you have to understand marketing and how companies strategically use terms to achieve "half" truths.
Under normal HSS conditions, one would need a Master Flash on top of his camera (w/4 AA's) to send the signal (which is a series of multiple flashes) to the Slave Flash (w/another set of 4 AA's) that exposes the subject, also in a series of multiple flashes. Well with Pocket Wizard, you no longer need your Master Flash to send the signal, thus you have one less flash that uses 4 AA's which equals to you have save 50% of battery power "ON FLASHES", LOL. But what they don't continue to tell you is that those same 4 batteries that was running you Master Flash is now used to run both Pocket Wizards. So while Pocket Wizard has been able to save you 50% on FLASH BATTERY POWER, they haven't really save you 50% on TOTAL Battery Power, you're still using the same amount of batteries and power, LOL. And you have to spend over $500.00 in order to do it!
Now, I am in no way putting down PW or their products, what they did is great and has improved flash photography. I have a friend who uses them (which I recommended) and she is greatfull. But, again we should be able to read between the lines when it comes to a company marketing a product.....
They are a GREAT product and if you were to buy them, I'd think you'd bee HIGHLY satisfied..... but you'll soon realize that you are not saving 50% on batteries!

The Loft Studios wrote in post #12063872
Again, this is not true...... you have to understand marketing and how companies strategically use terms to achieve "half" truths.
Under normal HSS conditions, one would need a Master Flash on top of his camera (w/4 AA's) to send the signal (which is a series of multiple flashes) to the Slave Flash (w/4 AA's) that exposes the subject, also in a series of multiple flashes. Well with Pocket Wizard, you no longer need your Master Flash to send the signal, thus you have one less flash that uses 4 AA's which equals to you have save 50% of battery power "ON FLASHES", LOL. But what they don't continue to tell you is that those same 4 batteries that was running you Master Flash is now used to run both Pocket Wizards. So while Pocket Wizard has been able to save you 50% on FLASH BATTERY POWER, they haven't really save you 50% on TOTAL Battery Power, you're still using the same amount of batteries and power, LOL. And you have to spend over $500.00 in order to do it!
Now, I am in no way putting down PW or their products, what they did is great and has improved flash photography. I have a friend who uses them (which I recommended) and she is greatfull. But, again we should be able to read between the lines when it comes to a company marketing a product.....
They are a GREAT product and if you were to buy them, I'd think you'd bee HIGHLY satisfied..... but you'll soon realize that you are not saving 50% on batteries!

I can't honestly think that they would be that crooked in their "improving battery life" statements. I think you are over thinking things on that respect. You kind of sound like a conspiracy nut with that one. You may be right but it sounds little over the top when you say it like you have.

I'm all too familiar with marketing SCAMs, as they should be called but I don't think they have gone that far with this. I would imagine that under routine conditions there would be an improvement of cycles that the batteries are able to produce in a single strobe.

BoneJj wrote in post #12063905
I'm all too familiar with marketing SCAMs.....

I never said that it was a SCAM.....
That's an entirely different term!
They are not being "crooked" in their terms, they are essentialy saving you 50% on battery "flash" power.
Call them like I did and be firm in your questioning and they will eventually tell you the truth..... and the meaning behind what they say!

PWs are pretty darned cool and can do a lot of stuff but you have some facts mixed up.

They can improve sync speed, which saves batteries. However there is always a limit (about 20% to 50% faster than stock depending on the camera body) beyond which you are going to be in HSS no matter what, which is inefficient with or without PWs. And with PWs you seamlessly go into HSS without any extra setting changes, so you are more likely to use it, which seems to be why people are burning out 580s.

So what Anton is saying here is that if you are going to be increasing the shutter speed higher than say.... 160 then you need to slow your repeated shots being taken as the extra rapid fires will result in some serious heat issues that you need to be aware of and take care that it doesn't cook the internals and fry the tube or other electronics.