pocket wizard plus2 quick Q

hi folks.. hoping all you pocketwiz owners can help ... from product description of this pw plus 2

http://www.pocketwizar​d.com/HTML/plus2.asp#
A choice of four 16-bit, digitally coded channels enable you to simultaneously trigger all of you lights at once, or isolate one group of lights from another for more complex lighting arrangements.



are you telling me that i can buy 5 of these, place one on the camera hotshoe, and four other ones on remote slave strobes, then set it up so i can fire:
-user selected combination of 4 channels (ex: A+B channels fires, but C, D does not)
-or ALL four channels fire simultaneously
-or NONE of the four fire at all
-or just one channel fires
all controlled from the master PW unit sitting on your camera?

i have been using cheap cactus triggers but now i am getting tired of running back and forth each strobe turning all but one off in order to test that single bank... so it would be a dream to have all my lights controllable at one controller...

my second shameful question is, if all the above is true, is there any product that does the above but is geared toward the budget conscious amateur?? heheh. thx

datadump wrote in post #5946488
hi folks.. hoping all you pocketwiz owners can help ... from product description of this pw plus 2

http://www.pocketwizar​d.com/HTML/plus2.asp#
A choice of four 16-bit, digitally coded channels enable you to simultaneously trigger all of you lights at once, or isolate one group of lights from another for more complex lighting arrangements.



are you telling me that i can buy 5 of these, place one on the camera hotshoe, and four other ones on remote slave strobes, then set it up so i can fire:
-user selected combination of 4 channels (ex: A+B channels fires, but C, D does not)
-or ALL four channels fire simultaneously
-or NONE of the four fire at all
-or just one channel fires
all controlled from the master PW unit sitting on your camera?

i have been using cheap cactus triggers but now i am getting tired of running back and forth each strobe turning all but one off in order to test that single bank... so it would be a dream to have all my lights controllable at one controller...

my second shameful question is, if all the above is true, is there any product that does the above but is geared toward the budget conscious amateur?? heheh. thx

Unfortunately, with the Plus II, you can only fire one channel at a time, determined by what channel the unit on top of the camera is set. If you want the ability to fire any of the channels in combinations, you'll need to ugrade to a MultiMax if you want to stay within the PW family or switch to an Elinchrom Skyport which, btw, might be priced more to your liking.

[Edit: It just occurred to me that the Quantum FireXwire units also give you the option of selecting channel combinations, if I'm not mistaken.]

PacAce wrote in post #5947437
It just occurred to me that the Quantum FireXwire units also give you the option of selecting channel combinations, if I'm not mistaken.]

You're not mistaken Leo.

thanks for the help. i'll have to check out the skyports

is there any way to buy a cheap 4channel cactus transmitter and a buncha receivers... modify the transmitter ...somehow... so as to have the ability to have "group" function like the more expensive solutions listed above? ie: mod that transmitter so it can transmit the trigger on one channel or all... i assume you'd prob cant

another question, i know my canon 580 has the IR, with group feature. so i wonder is there an IR way to do what i want?

datadump wrote in post #5988569
is there any way to buy a cheap 4channel cactus transmitter and a buncha receivers... modify the transmitter ...somehow... so as to have the ability to have "group" function like the more expensive solutions listed above? ie: mod that transmitter so it can transmit the trigger on one channel or all... i assume you'd prob cant

another question, i know my canon 580 has the IR, with group feature. so i wonder is there an IR way to do what i want?

No to both questions.

damn. ya just cant skimp in photography lol. what about a "wired" version where you put long pc sync cables to a "patch bay" where u can solo out a group.. .. ok i' m joking

in my previous post, i guess i found my answer.. partially..
http://www.alienbees.c​om/wired.html

i wish there existed this thing, except rather than phone cords, it is sync cables!!

datadump wrote in post #6030621
in my previous post, i guess i found my answer.. partially..
http://www.alienbees.c​om/wired.html

i wish there existed this thing, except rather than phone cords, it is sync cables!!

Does that mean that you have the AB strobes because that's what the wired remote you linked to is for? The telephone cords are to connect the remote to the AB strobes. A remote to camera PC sync cord is also provided so that you can trigger the strobes via the remote with the camera.

Skyports have been mentioned and they work well for me.

As an example, you could have four flashes set up in a gym, 2 on each end of the court. Set two of them to group A and the other two to Group B. You can then determine which will fire by changing the setting on the transmitter. Or, you could select "all" and fire all four when you trip the shutter.
One transmitter and one receiver comes in the Universal set. You can buy additional receivers as you see fit.

Hope this helps.
Mike

The skyports are great but I guess I was looking for a cheaper solution.

The link to AB wired remote control was to show you the idea of what I had in mind. I don't have any AB's just hotshoe flashes and an ebay "cheap" studio strobe.

I think I gathered the answer is no by now but I was essentially wondering if there existed a controller much like the AB remote, where you wire a bunch of strobes/hotshoeflashes from light src to a controller box (via std sync cables like 1/4" cable, male pc sync ..etc). Then from the controller you could select which flashes will fire when the master camera triggered the controller... So the box can connect to camera's pc sync wired or via a wireless cactus or something.

Just imagine an audio recording studio where all the instruments are wired to a mixer and the sound technician can solo out an instrument or mute it..

Basically, everything the pocketwiz or skyport does in terms of group lighting, but wired.

Why would you want this? Because in my basement makeshift studio, I can live with wiring stuff up to lights... Just a poor man's Skyport I guess.

Anyway nevermind

Hey guys, I have a very very newbie question for you. I couldn't find a thread to cover it so I'll ask here... I have 3 pocket wizard plus II units so far. How many lights can I sync? Is it 3? or 4? I don't know if the 4 channels max is also pertaining to how many lights I can sync in one shot... and if they're counting the transmitter part of it as one. I just don't want to buy too many pocket wizards on my next purchase and not be able to use them. I'd like to sync as many lights as I can with the pocket wizard plus II system. So, how many lights can I sync?

With only 3 PW units, you would only be able to trigger 2 lights with them; one PW unit attached to each of the two lights and one PW unit attached to the camera as the transmitter.

PacAce wrote in post #6038532
With only 3 PW units, you would only be able to trigger 2 lights with them; one PW unit attached to each of the two lights and one PW unit attached to the camera as the transmitter.

I know that, I've already been doing that. The question was, how many potential lights (not existing yet) I could trigger with the plus II system with one camera. The maximum amount of lights. For example, could I add 2 more flashes to my setup with pocket wizards and trigger them too, resulting in 4 flashes firing with one camera as the trigger? More, or less?

Chosenbydestiny wrote in post #6038889
I know that, I've already been doing that. The question was, how many potential lights (not existing yet) I could trigger with the plus II system with one camera. The maximum amount of lights. For example, could I add 2 more flashes to my setup with pocket wizards and trigger them too, resulting in 4 flashes firing with one camera as the trigger? More, or less?

If you get a million PW units, you'll be able to trigger a million lights with them! Each light you trigger will require its own PW unit.