The Strobist Corner: Attention Pocketwizard Flex TT5 Users

The fact that Pocketwizard have a new TTL enabled unit is old news. The Flex TT5 and Flex TT1 have been shipping for almost a year now.

In the beginning, the Flex units had a hard time dealing with radio interference from some of the Canon flashes. This interference impacted both the distance and reliability of the TTX units.

The good news: Pocketwizard made a 580 radio-frequency-blocking-beer-holder for the delinquent Canon flashes. They go by the code name AC5 (I can only guess that it stands for Allocation Control, or Algorithmic Collision. Go figure).

The even better news: Pocketwizard decided to provide them AC5s shields free of charge to US photographers who bought the Flex units.

The not so good news: If you are living outside of the US, this offer is not for you. Other thing is that the AC5s will be free only till the end of the month.

Good news again: photographer Daniel Aqua posted a DIY tutorial on the Flickr pool that shows how to build a Canon shield at home.

Here is a quote from the tutorial:

… I headed to the local Art Shop … and got a copper/aluminum sheet for $30 dollars. cut a few pieces and taped it to the flash and BINGO! problem solved. Without this DIY soft shield, I was lucky to get 15 meters distance from the flash, with the soft shield, I stopped testing at around 150mts away.

– Link to full tutorial by Daniel Aqua
– Link to TT5 story @strobist

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