PocketWizard Review - My Two Cents - Part 2
As I was telling a week ago, I got me some PocketWizards. Last week I shared why I thought that PWs were a good choice. There was quite an interesting debate on the comments whether this "industry standard" set is worth its high mark price - $169 apiece and you need two - and I recommend reading those comments and opinions before making any decisions.
In this post, I will share my thoughts on the PWs. My likes and dislikes. Now, this goes without saying (yet, I'll say it anyway) those are my opinions, there are not absolute truths (and my wife will testify to that). I am also aware of the fact that a lot has been written about this set, however, they are still considered the standard and for that alone deserve the attention.
What's In The Box
The PocketWizard kit is very slim in accessories. The box has the PW itself, a string tie thingy (very useful), 2 AA batteries and a short 3.5mm to PC-sync cable. Oh, and a manual.
The kit actually includes the bare minimum to start working with the PocketWizards if you are using a strobe/lightstand/swivel setup (as I). The sync cord fits into the sync port on any Nikon Flash (or modified Canon flash). If you are using a studio flash, though you would have to buy or hack an extra cord.
The string thing is great for impromptu mounting the PocketWizard on a lightstand. It is shorter than the sync cord so if you don't care about dangling PWs, it is good enough. [picture]
Build and Main Functions
Obviously the main function of a PocketWizard is to remotely sync between camera and flash. The dry spec says they sync up to 1/250 and that was the case with my testing on the D300. I did hear some canon user complain that the actual sync speed is only 1/160, yet did not happen here. Got full 1/250.
Aside the power switch, each unit of the PW has two additional switches and a test button. The test button obviously test that you can pop the flash. Click once on the attached unit to verify that flash and PW are well attached. Click a second time on the remote unit to verify radio connectivity. Really helpful.
The first switch is the channel selection switch - there are four channels. That should be enough for four photographers sharing a radio spectrum. Each would use a different channel for their flashes.
The second switch is the position selection switch - for lack of a better term. The PocketWizard will automatically identify if it is acting in slave or master modes. If detection fails, which has happen to me once or twice, you can manually set the mode. In general I find it useful to pop the camera once or twice after attaching the PWs, just so each one know who he is.
Lastly, there is a status LED that blinks as the flash pops.
As for build, I am kinda split. On one hand the set feels pretty well build. On the other it is big and light. If I had to guess I would say that the box consists mostly of air and batteries. I wish it was smaller. Speaking of batteries, they are removed with s "gentle tap" on the back. I cringe every time I do this. A small ribbon inside the battery compartment would have made a huge change.
Mounting
The camera side is well handled and the kit mounts on the hotshoe. The remote side has three mounting options (none is optimal).
-The fastest and most impromptu way to mount the remote side is to use the included wire to dangle the PocketWizard from a swivel. Kinda shaky, yet works fine. This is how I have used it so far.
- Next is the Hotshoe leg that the PW has. Some light modifiers dedicated to small flashes (like Photoflex LiteDome) has an extra shoe mount for PWs on their brackets.
- Lastly, you can use a caddy or a screw on the back side of the PW for some cool cable mount hack.
Testing
I've been using the PocketWizards for a month and a half and did not have a misfire yet. (That is like quadrizillion times better than my poverty wizard good/fail ratio). I did do a couple of stress tests on the units.
The Rapid Fire Test
In this test I went out to see if the PW will match the D300 8 frames per second. The PW performed well.
The Distance Test
In this test, I took a picture (the one at the top of the post), than asked the model to jump again and again as I got further and further from the strobe. Perfect every time. I got about 70 meter away before the PW gave up on me. (not that my street is paved now, this was done last week and is a huge improvement on our quality of life).
Conclusion and price
Am I happy? I sure am. I got to a pint where I could no longer trust my strobes and pocketwizards got that trust back. Was it worth $169 a piece? well considering that Those units will probably take about 10,000 photographs in the years to come, the price seems right.
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Comments
nice review
I looked hard at PocketWizards when upgrading from Cybersyncs but went with a set of four Phottix Atlas PW clones. It was simple math of 100 USD vs 170 USD each plus the very high quality of the Atlas units. So far they have worked perfectly for me but I still need to rent a PW or two and see if they really can be triggered by a PW or trigger the PW. Supposedly they can be triggered by PWs which would be a boon for me.
I also agree with the poverty wizard comment :) I went that route first then Cybersyncs. They did the job for a season which was all I could ask of them for the price.
re: similar route
Hi Mike,
Nice to know I was not alone taking that route. Seems like there is an entrance tuition fee for photographers with getting the poverty wizards first then converting. Luckily is is only 19 USD or so (assuming no assignment got wasted for this).
It would be interesting to see if the atlas holds up to its promise, it would be rough on PW sales if so. your math, shared by many togs will have some impact for sure.
Can't buy into them
I just can't bring myself to buy into PWs. I've spent plenty of time working around them, and they are certainly as dependable as everyone says, but I just can't get around the $169 price tag for what is essentially a "dumb" radio slave. I've got an extensive (and extensively modified) set of Cactus radio slaves that truly works flawlessly in every situation I've ever encountered, and the whole thing cost me what a single PW would have.
I do have to admit that the new PW Flex/Mini sets seem more in line with what PWs should do for the price tag - the ability to use E-TTL & High-Speed Sync (and to customize the software for those features) is impressive. On the other hand, there have been so many issues with the Canon versions that once again I can't actually bring myself to want one - I mean really, having to put a tinfoil sock on your flash to make it work with the PW is a bit ridiculous!
Maybe I'm just overly cynical, but for the "industry standard" I'm not impressed with PWs, and I'm glad to see that a number of other companies are finally challenging them for dominance. If nothing else, perhaps it will drive them to produce a really stunning, less expensive unit.
Love at a cost
As a photojournalist I worked with PW for over a decade in newspaper work. When I decided to buy my own set of wireless remotes I had a hard time stomaching the cost. I bought the cheapy ebay remotes and had to dance around all sorts of odd situations to get them to work. They worked well until they didn't and they just sort of were a pain.
I almost bought PW at that point but David Hobbe, aka Strobist, started talking up radio poppers and I waited for the jrx to arrive. Bought them and they have worked almost flawlessly. Only had one or two times where I couldn't explain why they wouldn't fire but the situation resolved itself by turning them off and on.
I've never done a detail distance test, but I've fired them reliably at basketball games with the receivers a good 75 to 100 feet away which pretty much works for me. The only negative I have is the battery that is used. I wish they would have chosen to use 2 AA or AAA batteries instead of the cr-2 batteries. But otherwise I love them.
Popularity test won me over
I belong to several photography clubs in my area and many of the pros run workshops where everyone gets to try different lighting techniques. In these sessions a group of shooters use one or two lighting setups, taking turns shooting models. Since all the coordinatiors use PWs it made sense for me to buy my own to be compatible with the rest of the group.
Like many, I also had to swallow hard at the price (more so since I bout the Canon TT1 and TT5 PWs). I don't regret the purchase as they have proven themselves on many occasions. My only gripe is the quality of the flimsy plastic shoe mount of the receiver. It broke on me the second time out with them. For the price they could have made metal ones like on the better speedlights.
Of course, now that I have a set for my strobe lighting I had to keep with the PW technology when I purchased the PW II+ for my studio (non TTL) lighting. That PW stays in the studio rather than swapping my TT5 back and forth. Yes, it can get pricy as you expand your setup but the versatility and peace of mind that comes with the product is more than worth it for me.
Can't seem to justify the expensive stuff...
Industry standard and crowd buying in this case has a huge impact on buying these. I short story, I ended up going with Cybersyncs because at the time I was still toying with the effects of shooting with off camera strobes. The Cybersyncs do the job really well and haven't had issues.
Last week we did a photoshoot with Pocket Wizards and it took me over 20 minutes to get these guys going for some reason. Maybe I need a manual cause they werent mine and even the owner couldn't figure it out?! Anyways, I felt really bad because we kept the model waiting. Anyways, I haven't had any use for the extra functionality for pocket wizards so for now cyberstinks are what i'm stuck using :D
http://www.josephromana.com/portfolio/people/
The last few photos here...
http://www.josephromana.com/2011/11/kathleen/
were taken with pocket wizards and 580EXII's with shoot through umbrellas.
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