5D Mark III & Possible 1D X Issue With PocketWizards

[publiux]

You know I had a similar experience with it yesterday.

Hand hurt, IQ is better than my 1Ds3 but this is still a prosumer camera.

The 1Dx is the pro one. Sure the 5D3 will do for a lot of applications but it isn't a pro camera. It still feels like a toy.

Feels like a toy? You should probably return it. Mine feels like a pro camera, and I think it works like one too.

 

[Bosman]

You know I had a similar experience with it yesterday.

Hand hurt, IQ is better than my 1Ds3 but this is still a prosumer camera.

The 1Dx is the pro one. Sure the 5D3 will do for a lot of applications but it isn't a pro camera. It still feels like a toy.

Feels like a toy? You should probably return it. Mine feels like a pro camera, and I think it works like one too.

+100!

 

[Bosman]

This proves that all the reviews out there about the 5D III are really crap or done by amateurs or people that only shoot birds and weddings but it was not tested in a studio...

Come on, this is a pro-sumer camera but definitely NOT professional or for real studio work.
I've been using it for 2 days and although I am REALLY impressed with the quality of the images, the high ISO smoothness and the amazingly huge viewfinder and LCD screen, it is just a limited camera.

First of all, it is useless without a grip. Try attaching a heavy 70-200 or a 100-400 to it and your index finger will be sore for hours.
Even with a 24-70, the lens is too heavy for such a small body. Forget it if you want to shoot vertical, you will get carpal tunnel in 5 minutes.

Syncing at only 1/200 is just not enough to freeze motion... The single top display is too crowded with too much information and the weak amber light is not even or strong enough, not to mention the viewing angle is limited to a 45-degree angle... Try looking at it from the very top and everything fades out.

A camera with a full AUTO mode is consumer, however you want to see it. There are more AUTO settings in the camera than in a Rebel... AUTO ISO, AUTO shutter speed, AUTO WB... Is this for photographers or kids?

at $3800 plus $380 for a BG-E11 grip, the 5D III sets u back approx $4200... If you can afford it, for another $2600 u can have the best camera in the world... Why go Half-Ass with a limited camera?

I can't wait for the 1DX to replace my 1D4. Quoting that funny movie, Telladega Nights, you can only count to Number 1. Anything else is just not good enough and Canon 1-Series is what I've been using since 2003...

Cheers

Pat

Wow, seriously, you are complaining about how uncomfortable and heavy it is with a 70-200 without a grip? Have you heard of a monopod? Yea shooting for hours with a handgrip will help for about an hour then your shoulders and arms start tucking in and you wonder why is it so hard??? lol.

Well said! I was dying of laughter when I read that post, but I couldn't come up with a good response while at work.

+1!

Haha, yea write ups like this reveal alot.

 

[briansquibb]

I'm sorry, I thought this camera was supposed to have High Speed Sync?

It's not the camera, neither the canon or other flashes, it's the Pocket Wizard triggering system for wireless flash. Use anything else and the problem is gone.

I played with a 5DIII this afternoon.

- sync maxed at 160
- sync with pw maxed at 160
- sync with Pixel Kings maxed at 160

All with flash on hotshoe.

It is just to easy to point at pw as the source of all problems and not look elsewhere

 

[Bosman]

I'm sorry, I thought this camera was supposed to have High Speed Sync?

It's not the camera, neither the canon or other flashes, it's the Pocket Wizard triggering system for wireless flash. Use anything else and the problem is gone.

I played with a 5DIII this afternoon.

- sync maxed at 160
- sync with pw maxed at 160
- sync with Pixel Kings maxed at 160

All with flash on hotshoe.

It is just to easy to point at pw as the source of all problems and not look elsewhere

I havent tried my regular Pw's but the flex work at 1/8000 sec. I guess i didn't feel like testing those since i don't do much studio type work and dont have all my lights set up to try the Plus II's. I hope something changes for that or maybe you need to step up to plus III's for compatibility, Idk. The plus II's never failed me before, sorry you have this prob. Does it affect your shoots you think?

 

[Viggo]

I'm sorry, I thought this camera was supposed to have High Speed Sync?

It's not the camera, neither the canon or other flashes, it's the Pocket Wizard triggering system for wireless flash. Use anything else and the problem is gone.

I played with a 5DIII this afternoon.

- sync maxed at 160
- sync with pw maxed at 160
- sync with Pixel Kings maxed at 160

All with flash on hotshoe.

It is just to easy to point at pw as the source of all problems and not look elsewhere

What did the Odin get you for speed?

I'm getting a 5d3 to kill my waiting time for the 1d X also... I'll get to check it out myself, just curious.

 

[briansquibb]

I'm sorry, I thought this camera was supposed to have High Speed Sync?

It's not the camera, neither the canon or other flashes, it's the Pocket Wizard triggering system for wireless flash. Use anything else and the problem is gone.

This was normal flash on the hotshot. Any faster than 1/160 and the shutter was seen.

I played with a 5DIII this afternoon.

- sync maxed at 160
- sync with pw maxed at 160
- sync with Pixel Kings maxed at 160

All with flash on hotshoe.

It is just to easy to point at pw as the source of all problems and not look elsewhere

I havent tried my regular Pw's but the flex work at 1/8000 sec. I guess i didn't feel like testing those since i don't do much studio type work and dont have all my lights set up to try the Plus II's. I hope something changes for that or maybe you need to step up to plus III's for compatibility, Idk. The plus II's never failed me before, sorry you have this prob. Does it affect your shoots you think?

This was normal flash on the hotshot. Any faster than 1/160 and the drcpnd shutter was seen.

The 5DIII belonged to another person and he was having problems with the flash (580EXII) so we looked at it together. I have my PW mini with me so we tried that as well - no difference.

On my bodies the mini and flex work fine - I use the auto hss without problem. I have to confess though I only use the flash up to about 30m because after that I find the subject doesn't fill the frame. I cant for the life of me see why any one would want to fire flash at 100m.

 

[roofyroo]

5D Mark III

To confirm another case - sync maxed at 1/160 with MiniTT1 and Flex5, flashes 580 II and 580 on and of the hotshoe.

5D Mark II - fires any speed with the above flashes and PW units.

I also have issues with my 5D Mark II maxing at 1/160 with a PW Multimax and PW Plus II connected to my Profoto B2 pack. I see there is a new firmware for the PW Multimax but the PW update utility does not recognize the Multimax when connected via USB. Anyone had this issue?

 

[clicstudio]

You know I had a similar experience with it yesterday.

Hand hurt, IQ is better than my 1Ds3 but this is still a prosumer camera.

The 1Dx is the pro one. Sure the 5D3 will do for a lot of applications but it isn't a pro camera. It still feels like a toy.

Feels like a toy? You should probably return it. Mine feels like a pro camera, and I think it works like one too.

Does feel like a toy. At least it sounds better than the previous 5D II which sounded horrible...

 

[clicstudio]

This proves that all the reviews out there about the 5D III are really crap or done by amateurs or people that only shoot birds and weddings but it was not tested in a studio...

Come on, this is a pro-sumer camera but definitely NOT professional or for real studio work.
I've been using it for 2 days and although I am REALLY impressed with the quality of the images, the high ISO smoothness and the amazingly huge viewfinder and LCD screen, it is just a limited camera.

First of all, it is useless without a grip. Try attaching a heavy 70-200 or a 100-400 to it and your index finger will be sore for hours.
Even with a 24-70, the lens is too heavy for such a small body. Forget it if you want to shoot vertical, you will get carpal tunnel in 5 minutes.

Syncing at only 1/200 is just not enough to freeze motion... The single top display is too crowded with too much information and the weak amber light is not even or strong enough, not to mention the viewing angle is limited to a 45-degree angle... Try looking at it from the very top and everything fades out.

A camera with a full AUTO mode is consumer, however you want to see it. There are more AUTO settings in the camera than in a Rebel... AUTO ISO, AUTO shutter speed, AUTO WB... Is this for photographers or kids?

at $3800 plus $380 for a BG-E11 grip, the 5D III sets u back approx $4200... If you can afford it, for another $2600 u can have the best camera in the world... Why go Half-Ass with a limited camera?

I can't wait for the 1DX to replace my 1D4. Quoting that funny movie, Telladega Nights, you can only count to Number 1. Anything else is just not good enough and Canon 1-Series is what I've been using since 2003...

Cheers

Pat

Wow, seriously, you are complaining about how uncomfortable and heavy it is with a 70-200 without a grip? Have you heard of a monopod? Yea shooting for hours with a handgrip will help for about an hour then your shoulders and arms start tucking in and you wonder why is it so hard??? lol.

Yeah, I am complaining. I don't use monopods... I don't shoot sports or birds. I only shoot hand held, cause i work with girls, who are moving all the time, just like I do so I get variety on my photos... I am not one of those old studio photographers who take 5 minutes to set up a shot. I am used to a 1D body. Heavy and with a great grip. I am sure the 5D III will be much better with the grip but those add-on grips are not quite the same either... They move and the screw-in system gets loose after a while...
I only rented the 5D for a week to test it and possibly buy it as a second camera. The quality is amazing but the ergonomics and customizing limitations are just not good enough for me, even as a second camera... I pre-ordered the 1DX but I'll keep my 1D4 as a backup...

 

[clicstudio]

You know I had a similar experience with it yesterday.

Hand hurt, IQ is better than my 1Ds3 but this is still a prosumer camera.

The 1Dx is the pro one. Sure the 5D3 will do for a lot of applications but it isn't a pro camera. It still feels like a toy.

Feels like a toy? You should probably return it. Mine feels like a pro camera, and I think it works like one too.

+100!

There is a reason it's worth $3800 and a 1DX costs $3000 more, even with 4MP less... Same with the Nikon D800 costing $3000 less than the D4. THe lower the model number, the better the camera. It is NOT a pro camera. Just a camera for the ones that can't afford the 1DX...

 

[clicstudio]

5D Mark III

To confirm another case - sync maxed at 1/160 with MiniTT1 and Flex5, flashes 580 II and 580 on and of the hotshoe.

5D Mark II - fires any speed with the above flashes and PW units.

I also have issues with my 5D Mark II maxing at 1/160 with a PW Multimax and PW Plus II connected to my Profoto B2 pack. I see there is a new firmware for the PW Multimax but the PW update utility does not recognize the Multimax when connected via USB. Anyone had this issue?

PW tech support confirmed the same issue goes for the 5D II. The shutter is slower than displayed. 1/160 is the real max.

 

[Bosman]

This proves that all the reviews out there about the 5D III are really crap or done by amateurs or people that only shoot birds and weddings but it was not tested in a studio...

Come on, this is a pro-sumer camera but definitely NOT professional or for real studio work.
I've been using it for 2 days and although I am REALLY impressed with the quality of the images, the high ISO smoothness and the amazingly huge viewfinder and LCD screen, it is just a limited camera.

First of all, it is useless without a grip. Try attaching a heavy 70-200 or a 100-400 to it and your index finger will be sore for hours.
Even with a 24-70, the lens is too heavy for such a small body. Forget it if you want to shoot vertical, you will get carpal tunnel in 5 minutes.

Syncing at only 1/200 is just not enough to freeze motion... The single top display is too crowded with too much information and the weak amber light is not even or strong enough, not to mention the viewing angle is limited to a 45-degree angle... Try looking at it from the very top and everything fades out.

A camera with a full AUTO mode is consumer, however you want to see it. There are more AUTO settings in the camera than in a Rebel... AUTO ISO, AUTO shutter speed, AUTO WB... Is this for photographers or kids?

at $3800 plus $380 for a BG-E11 grip, the 5D III sets u back approx $4200... If you can afford it, for another $2600 u can have the best camera in the world... Why go Half-Ass with a limited camera?

I can't wait for the 1DX to replace my 1D4. Quoting that funny movie, Telladega Nights, you can only count to Number 1. Anything else is just not good enough and Canon 1-Series is what I've been using since 2003...

Cheers

Pat

Wow, seriously, you are complaining about how uncomfortable and heavy it is with a 70-200 without a grip? Have you heard of a monopod? Yea shooting for hours with a handgrip will help for about an hour then your shoulders and arms start tucking in and you wonder why is it so hard??? lol.

Yeah, I am complaining. I don't use monopods... I don't shoot sports or birds. I only shoot hand held, cause i work with girls, who are moving all the time, just like I do so I get variety on my photos... I am not one of those old studio photographers who take 5 minutes to set up a shot. I am used to a 1D body. Heavy and with a great grip. I am sure the 5D III will be much better with the grip but those add-on grips are not quite the same either... They move and the screw-in system gets loose after a while...
I only rented the 5D for a week to test it and possibly buy it as a second camera. The quality is amazing but the ergonomics and customizing limitations are just not good enough for me, even as a second camera... I pre-ordered the 1DX but I'll keep my 1D4 as a backup...

I hear ya man, I never think about it with my 1dm3 but then my monopod takes the brunt of things for me but then i dont have to move around a ton. but when i do i just carry to another prime spot and start shooting again. What do the girls do that you work with them, outta curiosity? I for one am happy for you on the 1dx, thats gonna be sweet, but primarily, why would you need a 1dx unless you shoot a ton of low light? Your 1dm4 should do well with that. I am just wanting to learn about you and what you do thats all. If i had disposable income id get a 1dx too. Kinda comes off that way that you can do that. Which if thats true i am jealous.

 

[dpinparis]

I have used this with the flex tt5s in simple trigger mode only. Worked fine for me at 1/200.

 

[smirkypants]

On my bodies the mini and flex work fine - I use the auto hss without problem. I have to confess though I only use the flash up to about 30m because after that I find the subject doesn't fill the frame. I cant for the life of me see why any one would want to fire flash at 100m.

I once shot a client mounted on horseback hitting some shots while his two grooms followed him around pointing 430 EXIIs & PW Flexes throwing light on him at dusk. I was shooting with another flex and a 400mm 2.8 and HSS (just to be safe). I also set up a couple of 430s throwing light up at the goal posts. I think most of my shots were from between 40 and 100 yards.

I could have shot from a little closer with a shorter lens, but the angle and the quick movement makes riders harder to track. There were about 4 cool shots out of about 150 and I'd share but he was a very important client who values his privacy greatly.

 

[roofyroo]

We are talking about the 5D MKIII right?

HSS not working and no firmware upgrades yet for the PW devices. Kicks back to 1/200 in this mode. MKII performs fine with high speeds.
Tried calling PW and was on hold for 45 mins before being kicked to voicemail. Loads of weddings next month so it's a pain to have to switch back to the MKII in situations where we need the HSS...

 

[briansquibb]

We are talking about the 5D MKIII right?

HSS not working and no firmware upgrades yet for the PW devices. Kicks back to 1/200 in this mode. MKII performs fine with high speeds.
Tried calling PW and was on hold for 45 mins before being kicked to voicemail. Loads of weddings next month so it's a pain to have to switch back to the MKII in situations where we need the HSS...

I think we are talking about hss in general - not only pw - but Pixel Kings as well and also just a straight 580EX.

It is my understanding from my friend that Canon are going to make a firmware change

 

[Viggo]

From what I've heard and read since the 5d was released it has to be one MASSIVE firmware to fix all the issues!!

*Soft images
*Pink bottom right corner
*Which button to use for zoom in in playback mode
*Tracking (reports of 30% hitrate)
*Flash use/sync
*How the AF points can be shown in the VF
*Banding noise at higher iso's
*Curtain showing in picture
*Strobe won't fire when camera horizontal
*Not supporting higher read/write speeds than 30 mb/s with the us of SD cards
*Not able to link spot-metering to the selected AF point

Wow...

And probably a few others I haven't listed.

 

[wickidwombat]

Just an update on the odins
I discovered a couple o quirks on the weekend

1) shooting with mixed flashes (ie elinchrom strobes and 580s) with the shutter speed near x-sync (ie 1/250)
all flashes fire but the shot is only lit by the 580s the timing goes a little out
at high shutter speeds its all good still. not really an issue just drop the shutter back down to 1/200 and everything is all happy again

2) sometimes it would not let me go over 1/200th sec which is strange. i need to play a bit more but maybe you have to have HSS enabled on the odin for it to

I did most of the shoots with 1/200th sec using mixed light setups everything worked perfectly even with 580s hidden well out of view. I just played around with shutter speeds to see how it was going. very impressive little wireless beasts these odins

 

[Mike Ca]

I tried my 5D III with PW+II triggers. I saw a hint of banding at the bottom of the screen. I had tried them earlier and didn't think there was any banding at 1/200 but when I looked closely, there was just a hint. At 1/160 there is no hint of banding.

I was shooting with a white background. The key and fill light were 580EX II triggered by PW+IIs in modifiers. The background lights were two inexpensive flashes working as optical slaves. I'm wondering if the optical slaves on the background is the issue. I'm going to experiment more when I get some time. I have enough PW+IIs to trigger the background lights that way and see if it helps.

I also tried a 580EX II on camera and there was no hint of banding at 1/200s.