PocketWizards - How many?

Afternoon peeps

I've been meaning to get around to getting some PocketWizards for my strobes, and after a rather difficult shoot on Monday, I think now is the time to get them.

I'm looking for something simple - at the moment I only have two Bowens 500W Esprit strobes, although I will probably be adding a third one to the collection soon.

Which brings me to the question, how many pocketwizards do I need, to keep all these lights going in sync? At it currently stands, they have some kind of built-in wireless strigger, which can be switched on and off, but I've found the performance to be "dodgy" at best - they can't be too far from each other, especially when outdoors (range seems to get smaller?).

Would I be right in thinking that if I went for something like the PocketWizard II Plus, I would need one for the camera, and then one for each strobe I have, so synchronizing it all?

Any suggestions welcome!

Alvaro

I bought 4. For self portraits, I can use one for the camera, two for strobes and one as a remote

For off-camera lighting, one on the camera, two for strobes to light the subject, and possibly one to light the background or to get a hair light if necessary.

But maybe I went overboard!

I use one on camera, one on main strobe and the one in my Sekonic light meter.

Alvy wrote in post #2869438
Afternoon peeps

I've been meaning to get around to getting some PocketWizards for my strobes, and after a rather difficult shoot on Monday, I think now is the time to get them.

I'm looking for something simple - at the moment I only have two Bowens 500W Esprit strobes, although I will probably be adding a third one to the collection soon.

Which brings me to the question, how many pocketwizards do I need, to keep all these lights going in sync? At it currently stands, they have some kind of built-in wireless strigger, which can be switched on and off, but I've found the performance to be "dodgy" at best - they can't be too far from each other, especially when outdoors (range seems to get smaller?).

Would I be right in thinking that if I went for something like the PocketWizard II Plus, I would need one for the camera, and then one for each strobe I have, so synchronizing it all?

Any suggestions welcome!

Alvaro

Yes, you are right if you do not want to be relying on the optical slaves to fire the rest of the strobes outdoors.

Many thanks guys

Alvy wrote in post #2869438
Would I be right in thinking that if I went for something like the PocketWizard II Plus, I would need one for the camera, and then one for each strobe I have, so synchronizing it all?

That's the most versatile solution.

I want to get equipped like that for doing large group photos at events like large class reunions, etc. My reason is fairly simple - I don't want everybody's point-n-shoot camera flashes triggering my lights. However, another advantage is that I don't need to position all the lights so that they can "see" each other.

You really shouldn't need one for each strobe. I can't imagine you not being able to use the slave trigger for the majority of them in a simple studio environment. Maybe not for architectural or something, but in a studio... should be simple.