I won a contest and I have a choice of two prize packages from PocketWizard. Help me decide?

Hi!

So I won PocketWizard's Dec 2014 Photo Contest and I have a choice between two prize packages.

Prize 1

• 1 MiniTT1 Transmitter
  
• 2 FlexTT5 Transceivers
  
• 1 AC3 ZoneController
  

• 3 Plus III Transceivers
  
• G-Wiz Squared Bag
  

I'd go with option #2. You'll need to buy adaptors and cables to trigger your current flashguns with them, but if you ever move onto studio strobes the Plus III's are better than the Flex's.

I have Flex's and PlusX's. They all work awesomely, but I hardly ever use TutTutL.

Congrats on winning.

I've never used the PlusIII, but I do have the Flexes and Yougnous. With the flex and the AC3 zonecontroller (use with the Einstein), you have so much control over various flashes in the 3 zones (A, B, C) right at the controller. For instances, you can adjust the flash output without ever having to touch or going over to any of the flashes directly from the zone controller on the camera. Plus you can trigger the flashes without having to purchase any cables or triggers or whatnot. This is good if you ever decided to use a light meter, which would save you some money because you don't to purchase a meter with an expensive module to trigger the flash to measure light output. If you have a few days to decided, I say check out the features of both. There's so much you can do with the Flexes.

Alveric, what are the differences or issue/nonissue you've experienced using the Flex vs the PlusIII? I think if you define that, it would give the OP a better understanding of why you like one over the other and possibly a better reason to choose one over the other. I am curious, too.

Al

Alveric wrote in post #17395514
I'd go with option #2. You'll need to buy adaptors and cables to trigger your current flashguns with them, but if you ever move onto studio strobes the Plus III's are better than the Flex's.

I have Flex's and PlusX's. They all work awesomely, but I hardly ever use TutTutL.

Thanks for the reply! What adaptors and cables would I need to fire the Yongnuo? I was under the impression that the Plus III's might work well with the Yongnuos being that the signal sent isn't carrying anything complicated like the e-TTL information.

Methodical wrote in post #17395815
Congrats on winning.

I've never used the PlusIII, but I do have the Flexes and Yougnous. With the flex and the AC3 zonecontroller (use with the Einstein), you have so much control over various flashes in the 3 zones (A, B, C) right at the controller. For instances, you can adjust the flash output without ever having to touch or going over to any of the flashes directly from the zone controller on the camera. Plus you can trigger the flashes without having to purchase any cables or triggers or whatnot. This is good if you ever decided to use a light meter, which would save you some money because you don't to purchase a meter with an expensive module to trigger the flash to measure light output. If you have a few days to decided, I say check out the features of both. There's so much you can do with the Flexes.

Alveric, what are the differences or issue/nonissue you've experienced using the Flex vs the PlusIII? I think if you define that, it would give the OP a better understanding of why you like one over the other and possibly a better reason to choose one over the other. I am curious, too.

Al

Thanks for all the info! So just to be clear, can the Flex fire your Yongnuo flash? If so, which Yongnuo do you have? It's pretty awesome the way that the AC3 allows you to adjust flash output from the camera. I'm enticed by that feature even though its something I don't have the gear to take advantage of at the moment. That's what makes this decision so hard...

chexjc wrote in post #17395901
Thanks for the reply! What adaptors and cables would I need to fire the Yongnuo? I was under the impression that the Plus III's might work well with the Yongnuos being that the signal sent isn't carrying anything complicated like the e-TTL information.

Thanks for all the info! So just to be clear, can the Flex fire your Yongnuo flash? If so, which Yongnuo do you have? It's pretty awesome the way that the AC3 allows you to adjust flash output from the camera. I'm enticed by that feature even though its something I don't have the gear to take advantage of at the moment. That's what makes this decision so hard...

Sorry for the confusion. I don't have Yongnou flash, I have the flash triggers. You have the gear to use the system now; your flashes. If don't need it, you can always sell it. I am not versed on the Yongnuo flashes, but from the little bit I've seen they are Canon clones, so operation should be the same or at least very similar. Don't rush the decision if you have time to choose. Think ahead.

Good luck, this is a good problems to have

The Plus's don't have hot shoes, that's why you'll need a hot shoe adapter to use it with a flashgun.

This is the adapter: http://www.pocketwizar​d.com …/flash_sync_cab​les/hsfm3/

Note that the Plus's already come with a flash synch cable (and probably the adapter from MM3 to MP3, at least my PlusX's did), but the HSFM cable must be purchased separately.

Flex's have a hot shoe, but don't come with any cables: if you want to use them with your studio strobes and/or want to trigger your camera remotely you'll have to order the pertinent cables: MM3 or MP3 and whichever of these fits your camera.

Regarding zones: Plus III's already come with zones (and buttons for them), so you wouldn't need the AC3 adapter. Flex's support zones but don't have buttons for them, that's why you need the AC3.

I don't have the Plus III's, but the PlusX's. These latter ones are simple triggers, they support channels but not zones.

You can take a look at all the features and differences among those units in this document.

Alveric wrote in post #17396634
The Plus's don't have hot shoes, that's why you'll need a hot shoe adapter to use it with a flashgun.

This is the adapter: http://www.pocketwizar​d.com …/flash_sync_cab​les/hsfm3/

Note that the Plus's already come with a flash synch cable (and probably the adapter from MM3 to MP3, at least my PlusX's did), but the HSFM cable must be purchased separately.

Flex's have a hot shoe, but don't come with any cables: if you want to use them with your studio strobes and/or want to trigger your camera remotely you'll have to order the pertinent cables: MM3 or MP3 and whichever of these fits your camera.

Regarding zones: Plus III's already come with zones (and buttons for them), so you wouldn't need the AC3 adapter. Flex's support zones but don't have buttons for them, that's why you need the AC3.

I don't have the Plus III's, but the PlusX's. These latter ones are simple triggers, they support channels but not zones.

You can take a look at all the features and differences among those units in this document.

It sounds like they both do the same thing, except the Flex allows you to use ETTL (i.e. automatic settings) and you can also get higher flash sync speeds with the Flex, up to 8000 with certain strobes, such as Alien Bees, which allows you to use flash with larger apertures (i.e. f2, 2.8 etc) without resorting to ND filters.

Methodical wrote in post #17395815
[..]

Alveric, what are the differences or issue/nonissue you've experienced using the Flex vs the PlusIII? I think if you define that, it would give the OP a better understanding of why you like one over the other and possibly a better reason to choose one over the other. I am curious, too.

Al

Methodical, the only issues I've experienced with the Flex's is a limited range in shutter speeds with the Metz 58 AF-2 when using HSS: once you get past 1/1600 sec you'll get half the frame underexposed: no, not half the frame black, but underexposed; weird problem I know. Surprisingly, this doesn't happen with the Flex and the Canon 430EX II, even all the way to 1/8000 sec, go figure. I did mention the problem to PW during one of their webinars, in the chat channel, but I never followed through. After my Metz flash buying the farm, it's a moot point now anyway, but I think this problem stems from PW being forced to reverse engineer other manufacturer's equipment. That's one problem I've had with the Flex's.

Another problem is inconsistencies with the remote camera triggering using the Flex/Mini combo. One extra item here: with the Flex's, when triggering both camera and flashes remotely, the sync speed will remain as normal (1/200 sec in the case of my 5D2), but when using the PlusX's, you'll have to lower the shutter speed to 1/160 sec or you'll get the second curtain black bar, very slightly, but still: I don't care for this, even though it's only 1/3 stop. However, when NOT using the remote camera triggering, the Plus's do synch at the camera's max sync speed without a hitch.