Pocket Wizards for home flash?

The college has these remote flash triggering devices called pocket Wizards, one plugged into the studio flash unit, and one sat on the hotshoe. Now the question is can they be used on ordinary electronic flash guns? They plug into the studio flash via a large jack plug (headphone type) but my small canon flashgun has no cord or socket, so how would I connect such a device?

^ Few questions:

- Do you know the model of the PW you are using?

- Which make/model speed lights do you have or are working with?

- Do you only need them to trigger the flashes? . . . or

- Work with HSS: High Speed Sync [Ie: Above 1/160,1/200,1/250]?

- Work with E-TTL?

_______________

fwiw:

A very popular transmitter/receiver set used are:

Yongnou RF-603C II x2units & RF-605C x2units [Trigger Off camera flash/strobe with appropriate link/cable, but no ETTL/HSS function]
approx. $30-40 for the pair
http://www.amazon.com …r=8-1&keywords=rf-603c+II

Yongnou YN-622C x2units -or- YN-622C TX transmitter with YN-622C receiver [Does Everything: ETTL & HSS with compatible speed lights & selective strobes]
approx. $80 for the pair
http://www.amazon.com …8&sr=8-1&keywords=yn-622c
http://www.amazon.com …8&sr=8-3&keywords=yn-622c

There cheaper, but just as effective solutions, for speedlite and home studio gear. We can get you a solution much quicker if you tell us the gear you have and how you would like to use it.

gonzogolf wrote in post #17756354
There cheaper, but just as effective solutions, for speedlite and home studio gear. We can get you a solution much quicker if you tell us the gear you have and how you would like to use it.

My camera is 30D and the flash I have is a 270 EX Speed lite. I would mainly use the setup for macro and still life as it's a low power unit.

Yes, you can use the college's PWs on your Canon flash. You'll need a PC to Hot Shoe adapter (like this) and a PW (mini-phone) to PC adapter. Or one of these.

Just bear in mind you'll be using the flash in manual mode - E-TTL won't work.

Tendy wrote in post #17756376
My camera is 30D and the flash I have is a 270 EX Speed lite. I would mainly use the setup for macro and still life as it's a low power unit.

If you are okay with manual flash look up a product called yn603. It's a manual trigger that's considerably cheaper and just as relaible as the pocket wizard for your purposes. If you want to retain auto features the yn622c triggers would also be a solid choice. Start looking at amazon, there are us vendors available.

Keep it cheap to start.

Use manual mode on your 270ex flash and trigger it optically from your built in flash on your 30d (also in manual mode) using one of these

http://www.amazon.com …ote-Trigger/dp/B00AUB5F6S

under your 270ex.

For macro work, you're working close and remote radio based control would be of little benefit.

If you get the bug, invest later in more sophisticated equipment. But that optical slave will always come in useful at some point, trust me.

Bear in mind that some simple optical add-on slave devices don't work with Canon Ex speedlites. Some combinations flash only once before the Ex speedlite 'locks up'. Check that such a simple optical slave device (M flash only, of course), is 'Canon Ex Speedlite' compatible.

Also if the 270 is original (ie not a 'II') then they are very limited - for instance, having no buttons/M controls on the Speedlite itself. An old 430Ex (?II) or a Yn clone, complete with its own M control buttons, would be more versatile.

If the optical slave is not designed to ignore the preflash from ETTL signals it will not work. The 30D does not allow its pop-up to be used manually. But optical slaves are a poor choice generally. Also I agree with the above that if you are going to do much of this you should consider another flash.

I agree with the last two posts. If your Speedlite does not have manual output controls, then you'll have to set it aside and get a flash unit that can be adjusted manually if you want to use the remote triggers that you're thinking of.

Ahh, I didn't know that the 30d pop up didn't have manual mode.

Skip my idea then.