question on pocketwizards

[Jonathan Wienke]

A transmitter can trigger any number of receivers. You need one receiver per flash. A Pocket Wizard transmitter will not directly trigger a speedlight; you will need a hot shoe to PC adapter and a PC sync cable to connect to a receiver to trigger a shoe-mount flash. You will need to put the flash in manual mode and set the power manually.

[wjy]

O.k. thanks, I see that it isn't as simple as I would like.  I also thought of using canon's st-e2 transmitter which will trigger the flash wirelessly, but it only is effective to a 33 foot range outside.  Is there any other simple product that mounts on the cameras hotshoe and will trigger flashes at say 100 feet, that also allows you to use the optoins on your flash, like second curtian sync, highspeed and so on.  I want to keep it simple and light as it will be going into the back country with me.
Thanks agian for the above info Jonathan and Jack.

[wjy]

O.K., Are the pocket wizards better than Quantum's offering?  They are about the same price.

[wjy]

Jonathan,
I didn't want a flash that would offer light at 100 feet away, I want a trigger for an off camera flash set up to 100 feet away from me and my camera.  I know the pocket wizards will do this, but I then need the transmitter, two recievers, hot shoe adapters, etc.  I was just wondering if there was a simpler lighter product.
Thanks

[wjy]

Hello all,
I have been looking at getting the pocketwizard plus or max to set up some remote flash shots, but I am having trouble finding info about how they actually work as far as set up goes.  Would the transmitter mounted on the camera trigger a 550ex speedlight or two?  Do you need the receiver for the flashes, or is the receiver for triggering your camera remotely?  If anyone knows or knows of an article on pocketwizard setup, it would be greatly appreciated info.  Thanks,
Billy Y.

[Jack Flesher]

You can also use the PW's to trigger the camera, but then need a reciever on the camera.  The Max can be set to transmit to the camera and flashes independantly -- the plus cannot.  

However with the above set-up you will also need a special receiver to camera cable and then spend significant testing time calculating the necessary delay between the triggering of the camera and the strobes, so this is a non-trivial exercise, but it can be done.

Finally, you can have both a reciever on the camera for remote firing and a separate transmitter attached for flash -- which is easier to set up -- but this obviously requires an additional Max unit.

[boku]

O.k. thanks, I see that it isn't as simple as I would like.  I also thought of using canon's st-e2 transmitter which will trigger the flash wirelessly, but it only is effective to a 33 foot range outside.  Is there any other simple product that mounts on the cameras hotshoe and will trigger flashes at say 100 feet, that also allows you to use the optoins on your flash, like second curtian sync, highspeed and so on.  I want to keep it simple and light as it will be going into the back country with me.
Thanks agian for the above info Jonathan and Jack.

Just work with the Pocket Wizards - Canon's slave tripping stuff doesn't have anywhere near the range in the field. Pocket Wizards work very well for all your intended applications (tripping camera and strobes). I've used them for both concurrently.

[Jonathan Wienke]

Is there any other simple product that mounts on the cameras hotshoe and will trigger flashes at say 100 feet, that also allows you to use the optoins on your flash, like second curtian sync, highspeed and so on.

No such product exists. If you want fill flash for daytime shots, the effective range of a 550EX at full power is only 30 feet or so even with FEC set at -1 stop. If you want daytime flash fill that actually accomplishes something at 100 feet, you're going to need the equivalent of several Alien Bee AB1600 units, each of which is way more powerful than any shoe-mount flash. I have 2 each of the AB800 and AB400 strobes, and using them all direct (standard reflector only, no umbrellas or softboxes) at full power they will only fill out to 50-60 feet during the day. If you want flash fill out to 100 feet during daylight, you're going to need more than 2 550EX units.

[Jonathan Wienke]

The Pocket Wizards only weigh a few ounces each with batteries installed. You're not going to notice the difference if you're carrying a body, more than one lens, and multiple speedlights.

[sergio]

I bought the Quantum for the sole reason that it does not protrude so much when installed on camera. The pocketwizards are more vulnerable to damage because of this.