How tight are PW shoe?

I just got some used PW Plus (not the Plus II) and the hotshoe is not tight. I mount it on the camera and the unit wobbling around the shoe quite a bit.

If someone has PW Plus, can you check yours? Does the unit and the shoe fit tightly together?

I opened it up and didnt see anything to screw the show down, it just held by 2 screws going on the side.

Also, one of the shoe and the antenna broke on the other unit so I ordered the spare parts from PW.

It should tighten down on mount see below

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Daniel, it's not the shoe to the camera mount that is loose, it's the shoe and the unit's body.

The shoe itself is pretty tight connecting to the camera but I can wiggling the unit.

That's completely normal. They all do that and to the best of my knowledge there is nothing to tighten or adjust.

I have PW MultiMaxes and they do not fit tight in my 40d at all. There is quite a bit of play witout screw tightened.

So I have to always tighten the screw to not to let PW fall out itself.

My Skyport fits just perfectly. I have no idea why PW "rails" are so narrow.

Arseni,

I don't think you read the post carefully.
This is not about how tight the Pocket Wizard fits in the hot shoe. I've also never heard of anyone that was not able to place a PW in a hot shoe of any camera. But for now we are talking about the way the body of the PW is mounted to the foot. There is some play between those 2 components and I have never seen one that did not have that small amount of play.
Nothing is loosening and there is no danger of the PW coming out of the hot shoe, but if you've never used a PW it might seem that something is wrong, when in fact it must be in the design, good or bad.

OK i just put my pw on and there is no play what so ever in it

Interesting. Every PW I ever saw had that play between the body and foot of the Pocket Wizard. Now I'm tempted to open it up and take a look.

DSMITH131 wrote in post #4459544
OK i just put my pw on and there is no play what so ever in it

Interesting... My replacement shoe comes next week and I wonder if the new one is different than the old design.

TMR Design wrote in post #4459731
Interesting. Every PW I ever saw had that play between the body and foot of the Pocket Wizard. Now I'm tempted to open it up and take a look.

I opened it up a few times and will do it again to solder up the antenna a bit, it's kinda loose too.

I just opened up a PW Plus II and there is nothing to tighten. I suppose if you have one that is tight that's great but by design you can see that the foot is mounted to the PC board and no other hardware is used to hold or sure it to the body. I don't see it as a problem and both of mine are identical. I think more owners will say there is a small amount of play than those that will say it is rock solid. As long as the construction is good and the foot is secures to the hot shoe with the screw down ring I'm happy.

4x4rock wrote in post #4459948
Interesting... My replacement shoe comes next week and I wonder if the new one is different than the old design.

I don't believe there is any difference. The plastic foot solders to the PC board and has 2 wedges on the sides for the screws.

TMR Design wrote in post #4459447
Arseni,

I don't think you read the post carefully.
This is not about how tight the Pocket Wizard fits in the hot shoe.

Sorry. You're right.

Well, my PWs are quite solid. Just took and checked them. Very solid in that joint.

I got my replacement shoe and antenna today and replaced them. The new shoe looks the same as the old one but it fits much tighter.

I replace it with the one on the transmitter and now the base and the unit's body fit much better, tighter with very little wobbling.

The new antenna fits great too and increased the range quite a bit compare to without 1 antenna.

So if your PW has a lot of play, you may want to get a replacement shoe from PW, it's $5.50 + $5 flat shipping.

Thanks for the tip 4 x 4.

TMR Design wrote in post #4459731
Interesting. Every PW I ever saw had that play between the body and foot of the Pocket Wizard. Now I'm tempted to open it up and take a look.

I have a couple of PW units. They do play.