pocket wizards or Radio Poppers?

Anyone have experience with the PW FlexTT5-Canon. I'm really considering purchasing but I'm noticing some mixed reviews, especially using them with my 580ex II's. I've always had the impression that PW"S are the best going for ocf. I really want to take advantage of the ettl II compatibility. I'm also considering Radio Poppers, not sure which rout is best for my canon equipment.

thanks.
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The older Canon 430EX (not II) is supposedly the worst from a radio interference standpoint. Lucky you and me have the next worst model for radio interference (the flagship 580EX II). The 430EX II has the least amount of interference (practically none) and has a triggering range of like 650 feet. Other than the RF issue... the Mini TT1 and Flex TT5 are great. They will give you ETTL functionality and will give you gains in other areas as well (HSS vs HyperSync). The most useful way to put them into operation it seems, is to use a 580EX II mounted on a FLEX TT5 or Mini TT1 on camera. You can then control up to 3 groups of other flashes (a/b/c) directly from your camera position. I don't know that anyone else offers this level of control. It really is impressive. PW is coming out with a new AC3 zonecontroller shortly that will make controlling the "satellite groups" even easier. I don't have any experience with radio poppers so I'll let somebody else chime in on that one. The RF interference from the 580EX II does have some work arounds. See the pocketwizard.com site for tutorials, and much more.

reliability of my pw (flex) has improved over months and firmware-updates. it is still not where I want it. Therefore I still recommend: for reliability get radiopoppers, for functionality pw

I've not had any problems at all with my Mini TT1 and Flex TT5s. However, I also haven't tried or needed to shoot at great distances away from my flashes (580EX and 420EX). Nonetheless, PocketWizard sent me 2 of their AC5 Soft Shields at no cost that are supposed mitigate the radio interference problems. But, I've not needed to use them yet. They also have an AC7 Shield available.

http://www.pocketwizar​d.com/products/other_g​ear/

I'd suggest the pocket wizards. I have one mini and 3 flex units and have been happy with them. Their upcoming release of the AC-3 zone controller is great news too. You will be bale to do full ratio control and adjust each flash directly from the AC-3 mounted on top of a mini or flex unit on the camera. That's going to be very nice.

Hi Roddy,

Mini-TT1 / Flex TT5

I am very much pro Pocket Wizards.
The biggest issue currently affecting the performance of the Pocket Wizards is that the Radio Frequency (RF) emitted by the Canon 580exII/430ex flashguns causes the effective working distances to be reduced down to maybe 15metres - (For some users even 15m is not achieved).
At the moment, this particular issue affects the US market. Pocket Wizard are dealing with this by issuing for FREE an AC7 RF shield.
The debate between whether this is a Canon issue Vs whether this is beacuse of PW will rage on relentlessly. The strange this is - this problem only affects the USA, North America & South America.
The EMEA products to date work exceptionally well.
I bought my PW TT5's here in the UK. I took them to Miami-Florida and was able to successfully shoot from a 17th-Floor apartment balcony to the Ground-Floor Pool area at a distance of 70-80metres.
So why Pocket Wizards:
High-Synch Speeds all the way to your camera's max Shutter Speed - so yes - synch @ 1/8000sec
Full ETTL/ETTLii
Published working distances around the 300metre range - now that's pretty far - just choose a lens!
Total wireless solution
Dual Channels
AC3 soon to be released - this will allow full OCF Flash Ratio Control of 3 groups!
Total compatibility with most current Canon DSLR's - so just swap the kit across bodies - I use 40D & 5D

I too experienced teething issues with the PW's originally. What can happen is this. The Battery-Drain indicator is not totally reliable. This means when you first experience a series of 'mis-fires' it is very likely due to needing fresh batteries. Now that I know this - on an ongoing basis its nolonger a problem!

Performance:
Faultless, seamless, totally reliable and an incredibly simple to use solution!
Also Pocket Wizard are committed to expanding the range to encompass most Flash systems - currently Bowens, Sekonic and Alien Bees.... not sure about the Elinchromes and ProFotos.

Here is the definitive comparison.

http://tricoastphoto.c​om/blog/?p=386

For the record, that's a very old review and those issues have been mentiuoned here and addressed by PW. I can tell you I do not see the issues that guy shows in his review.

Furthermore, the RP solution is simply ugly. I don't like the idea of taping items to my flash. IT's a pain to store them at that point and they look terribly bulky.

thanks for the input. CxThree I tend to agree with you. The radio poppers seem like a royal pain to attach compared to the really simple set up of the pocket wizards. I've taken my chances and ordered the pw's, flex 5 and mini tt1. I should have them by friday. I'll post my results next week.

Rod, I'm still learning, but the Pocket /wizards are super.

CxThree wrote in post #10575971
For the record, that's a very old review and those issues have been mentiuoned here and addressed by PW. I can tell you I do not see the issues that guy shows in his review.

Furthermore, the RP solution is simply ugly. I don't like the idea of taping items to my flash. IT's a pain to store them at that point and they look terribly bulky.

the radio popper receiver bracket actually looks okay and fast to install. the pocket wizard AC5 sock looks rather ridiculous to me. the PW AC7 wouldn't be that much different from the RP receiver bracket as far as adding a hunk of plastic to the flash.

comparing the looks of the two systems, i thing the radio poppers would look better (not that that means anything at all). the RP bracket is optional, of course; whereas, the PW AC7 may be required depending on your flash.

sempaidavid wrote in post #10575326
Here is the definitive comparison.

http://tricoastphoto.c​om/blog/?p=386

That's not a definitive comparison. Tri-coast is affiliated with RP.

Anyway, I agree with what's been said above. RPs for reliability or long distance, PWs for some more exotic functionality. I use the PWs with 430exIIs and have no issues at all (430exIIs are not affected by the interference issue).

I just got them Friday! Here are some shots from this morning, just messing around with the kids. So far my impression is, these things are awsome! Just set you flash however, where ever you want and as long as your subject is within range, perfect exposure almost everytime. Notice the sky on the images of my daughter, virtually no pp on the sky, great exposure on her and the bright sky!

1

bacchanal wrote in post #10594648
That's not a definitive comparison. Tri-coast is affiliated with RP.

Anyway, I agree with what's been said above. RPs for reliability or long distance, PWs for some more exotic functionality. I use the PWs with 430exIIs and have no issues at all (430exIIs are not affected by the interference issue).

+1 for:

-RP for reliability, PW for some functionality. the flex are far away from what they should be regarding reliability, even with socks - at least for me.

Roddy,

Congratulations on getting these PW's
In addition, gorgeous photographs of your children.