PocketWizard Flex TT5 Mini TT1 vs. RadioPopper PX Video Review - Part 2 of 8

[Yarista08]

Ok wow you dont like PocketWizards! and yeah when in real world shooting would you have to be back that far?! Just like the old infomercials for knives that can cut a boot in half. Cool but not practical or necessary.

[siliconsurf]

why do you need to shoot so far away? bokeh at 70mm is pretty good already....

[juanpaulr]

I did 300ft with the sock no problem on the pocket wizard where is the sock dude. PW has a resolution for this lol.

[kestrel1973]

Great video sir. If you don't mind me asking, why would you want to shoot more than 20 feet? let alone 40 feet ,or the crazy distances you were testing at? I amnew to photography and i am curious

[juanpaulr]

I meant make adjustments in the video.

[juanpaulr]

I was getting up to 30 ft at first then after adjusting and showing patience by pressing the test button on the TT1 to see if it helps lock in the signal which it did is what i noticed. The bottom line is I got up to 140 ft which is more than enough for me I was impressed.

I am wondering why you didn't make adjustments to the antennae as Pocket wizard suggests???

[juanpaulr]

I agree the AC5 help. I tested my pocket wizard and had the same results as you did in this video.

[juanpaulr]

@juanpaulr I guess I was patient enough to wait until the devices lock in on the frequency which can take a couple seconds I also made adjustments to the antennae which improved the distance.

[PANOTONE]

Nice if it worked.

We have tt1 and flex 5 on a 580 and get less than 10ft range with ETTL. Phoned PW who just said they were aware of the fact the new PW's don't work well with some Canon flash units. They did say we "might" get more range if we put a sock over our flash units.

[kbb6w4]

I still think its the power lines interfering with the radio signal. Him holding it is grounding static created by them and so the radio signal from the mini doesn't have to compete. what do you think?

[TALKCalgary]

We are commercial photographers based in Calgary, Alberta. In the studio we use Pocket Wizard all the time. Outside however or even in a large enclosed area such as an airport the MiniTT and Fkex5 simply don't work. The max ETTL range with our 780's is no more than than 10 - 20ft In fact, we get better line of sight coverage using IR. Also. The TT1 uses a battery that is very hard to replace. Even our camera store don't stock them!

[naignik]

can i still use the tt1 w/o the flex?

[Myers6790]

Is Cody Included?

[Photosteco]

I have to agree with Hyltonphotography. In my initial test i put them on the ground witch gave me a distance of about 3o Feet. Putting them on a light stand higher than shown in the video here gave me a 100 feet of distance.

[HyltonPhotography]

Pocket wizard discussed this issue and resolved it with mounting the radio trigger higher than the flash. The issue all radio equipment is the closer to ground you are the more ground interference you will get.

[tm2183]

the 430 ex ii has much greater length than the 580ex ii which i have both using tt5. i can experiment with the channels and swivel the 580 ex ii head and you can get an additional 5-10+ feet or so.

[MiloradIvovic]

Exactly, it's just gear geeks who fancy themselves as beta testers. You can't actually make good use of this in any way that actually requires TTL. It's idiotic. If you meter a scene from that distance, there's no way a flash can accurately light it to match the metering.

If you need that distance for some odd reason, use the Plus II.

[duliskov]

Gentlemen, the problem is in the lens and the geometry of the shot, not the PocketWizard. You kind of almost figured it out. The transmitter mounts very low on the body and the long lens creates a radio shadow which extends to the flash. Think of it as when you use on camera pop-up flash and a lens hood on your lens - you see a shadow of the hood on your pictures. Identical thing happens here: the lens being metal and very massive and being caught in length by radio signal attenuates

[duliskov]

the signal as if you were standing 500 feet from the flash. That is all. You noticed worth results when you moved receiver away from flash directly down (because the radio shadow was even more intense) and you observed better results when you moved receiver side wise because the lens was blocking less of a signal. Moving transmitter off camera would completely resolve the issue regardless where receiver is positioned.

Realistically - how many time do you shoot directly pointing to your flash?

[goldenguy111]

Actually, the problem arises due to radio interference from the canon flash itself. PW has since released a radio shield to rectify the problem.

[dre4mer2]

Curious why he didn't use (2) TT5 which has an antenna rather than the TT1 (a mini). Would be interested what the result would be.

[slak18]

Never did a maximum range test. I did get good results with the older Plus II"s(100 feet). Was about to sell my PW Plus II's for these.........mmmmm not so sure now.

[FloatingOnAZephyr]

@slak18 Don't be put off by this video. The Flex and Mini both have a simple trigger mode similar to the Plus IIs as well. The interference that is causing this problem in this video is well-documented as being from the 580. PW has since released a sheath to prevent it and increase range. This isn't an issue in the EU as we use different frequencies that a less affected.

[Firenze316]

Pretty dissapointed about the range of new PWs :/

[Amoktrauma]

Have you tested the 430ex (non II)??

[DadyGonda]

The 430EX II is reported to produce less radio interferances.. .