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

[roofyroo]

580 II on camera and no banding at 1/200

PW Multimax on camera to a PW Plus II on a Profoto B2 battery shows banding at 1/200 just like Mike Ca, just a tiny hint. 1/160 all okay.

 

[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.

I did a few more tests. I put my background flashes on PW+IIs also, so no optical slaves were used. I still got the hint of banding at 1/200 and it was fine at 1/160.

I also tried the Canon wireless system. I put a 580ex II on a long OCF cable as the master and used 3 other Canon flashes as slaves. There was no hint of banding with the Canon wireless system at 1/200.

What I'm seeing is subtle. The easiest way to see it is to take a shot of a white or light colored wall or backdrop at 1/200 and 1/160s and compare them. With on camera flash and the Canon wireless system, the pictures looked identical. Using the PW+II to trigger the off camera flashes, I could see a darkening along the bottom edge of the frame. If I go to 1/250s, then I got a real band across the bottom, which is what you would expect since that is over the maximum flash sync speed.

I looked through the manual but didn't see any option that might affect this.

I don't think this is a big deal, just annoying.

 

[smirkypants]

On the plus side, you can now get a $25 rebate on flexes and minis while you struggle to get it to work with your 5D3.

http://www.pocketwizard.com/25rebate

The rebates are mail-in, though. I hate mail-in rebates. I never bother with them.

 

[Loswr]

On the plus side, you can now get a $25 rebate on flexes and minis while you struggle to get it to work with your 5D3.
http://www.pocketwizard.com/25rebate
The rebates are mail-in, though. I hate mail-in rebates. I never bother with them.

Thanks for the heads-up on the rebate. FWIW, it seems that Amazon.com is taking work out of the system, and just selling directly it at $204 for the FlexTT5 and $174 for the MiniTT1 (the post-rebate prices) with no mail-in hassle required.

Now the question for me is, do I get another FlexTT5 to go with the 600EX-RT that I just ordered, in the hopes that PW will be able to update the firmware to support the 600EX-RT? Not yet, I think... Fortunately, the rebate runs through the end of May, hopefully PW will have something by then, and we'll also know if the range limitation issue of the 580EX II is seen in the 600EX-RT or not.

 

[Viggo]

I'm very happy to report that the 5d3 works at ALL speeds down to 1/8000s with the Phottix Odin straight out the box!

btw, AF does not suck it's VERYVERY good!!!! I'm a happy camper, just bought one today!

 

[wickidwombat]

I'm very happy to report that the 5d3 works at ALL speeds down to 1/8000s with the Phottix Odin straight out the box!

btw, AF does not suck it's VERYVERY good!!!! I'm a happy camper, just bought one today!

have you tried mixing speed ligths with studio strobes and the odins?
see if you can recreate the wired thing i got at 1/250 where the speedlight and studio strobe went out of sync with the studio light not showing up i the pic even though it fired

 

[Bosman]

Just briefly played around with the Flex system again, I didn't get consistency. When i have more time i'll look into it but then its pocket wizard the TT system never was real reliable for Canon. Has anyone contacted them?

 

[Viggo]

Just briefly played around with the Flex system again, I didn't get consistency. When i have more time i'll look into it but then its pocket wizard the TT system never was real reliable for Canon. Has anyone contacted them?

I had regular contact with them regarding the 20 million issues I had with the 5d2 and the mk4. I'm not sure what they CAN do, they never fixed any of the issues I had, and to honest, I think for each new firmware I tried, the worse it got.

 

[Viggo]

I'm very happy to report that the 5d3 works at ALL speeds down to 1/8000s with the Phottix Odin straight out the box!

btw, AF does not suck it's VERYVERY good!!!! I'm a happy camper, just bought one today!

have you tried mixing speed ligths with studio strobes and the odins?
see if you can recreate the wired thing i got at 1/250 where the speedlight and studio strobe went out of sync with the studio light not showing up i the pic even though it fired

Unfortunatly I have sold my Elinchroms, only using speedlites now.

 

[Bosman]

Just briefly played around with the Flex system again, I didn't get consistency. When i have more time i'll look into it but then its pocket wizard the TT system never was real reliable for Canon. Has anyone contacted them?

I had regular contact with them regarding the 20 million issues I had with the 5d2 and the mk4. I'm not sure what they CAN do, they never fixed any of the issues I had, and to honest, I think for each new firmware I tried, the worse it got.

Yea, i even did a factory reset last week and didn't see improvements. I just dont get why it worked briefly and now it doesn't again. Ticks me off!! Now i feel bad for telling people it was working for me but it really was doing 1/8000 sec. Like when putting a flash on it wants to force the settings, even in manual to shoot 1/200 sec. This may be a Canon Flaw. I tried changing speedlight functions and that didn't help either. Seriously i called them today and waited 10 min with no Tech answering and then I call again and tell the lady and she paged them and after 5 min nothin. Called again and told her and a guy got on in about 2min. He sounded real laid back but at this point i am even more irritated by my pocketwizards but basically he ran me through the factory reset BS again and so i tested it and my 1d was working but underexposed most the time. I got my reg 5d and got it working but same inconsistant results. Some shots with the reg 5d were at 1/1000 sec F5.6 iso 100. I even bought 430 ex II's just to use with the wizards since they are supposed to work well. Wasted time, wasted money.
Here is a bit of info if you have trouble. They say connect things top down. This means connect the wizards to the flash, turn the flashes on then the wizards. with the camera attach the wizard then turn on unless using a flash then turn that on then the wizard. Do the first shots at 125 sec shutter than you may increase it from there.

 

[Bosman]

I'm very happy to report that the 5d3 works at ALL speeds down to 1/8000s with the Phottix Odin straight out the box!

btw, AF does not suck it's VERYVERY good!!!! I'm a happy camper, just bought one today!

have you tried mixing speed ligths with studio strobes and the odins?
see if you can recreate the wired thing i got at 1/250 where the speedlight and studio strobe went out of sync with the studio light not showing up i the pic even though it fired

Unfortunatly I have sold my Elinchroms, only using speedlites now.

Does this mean you got the Canon wireless flash system?

 

[davidbellissima]

5D MK iii with Pocket Wizards

Just thought I would share a quick test done this morning to confirm that the 5D MK iii works just fine with the Mini-TT1 and Flex-TT5 Pocket Wizards. High speed sync works perfectly fine as well. Not sure what FW version my PW's have loaded but it hasnlt been updated in probably 18 months.

One annoying feature is that when you change shutter speed in the HSS range, the shutter speed diaplay momentarily shows 1/200th before flipping back and showing the correct (higher) shutter speed. Not a big deal, as it all works just as before on the 5D Mk ii.

 

[Bosman]

Re: 5D MK iii with Pocket Wizards

Just thought I would share a quick test done this morning to confirm that the 5D MK iii works just fine with the Mini-TT1 and Flex-TT5 Pocket Wizards. High speed sync works perfectly fine as well. Not sure what FW version my PW's have loaded but it hasnlt been updated in probably 18 months.

One annoying feature is that when you change shutter speed in the HSS range, the shutter speed diaplay momentarily shows 1/200th before flipping back and showing the correct (higher) shutter speed. Not a big deal, as it all works just as before on the 5D Mk ii.

While i did have those results in testing a week later it always forced it to 1/200 sec no matter what i set in manual mode in iso 100 not auto iso. I just sent them in. I tested on my other cameras and got mixed results. When they work they are great. Wish i had gotten or known about the Odins else i would have ordered those.

 

[Bosman]

Re: 5D MK iii with Pocket Wizards

Pocket wizard live training with mark wallace right now
http://www.pocketwizard.com/webinar?utm_source=Lyris&utm_medium=eBlast&utm_campaign=PocketWizard%2BWebinar%2BReminder%2B4%2F5%2F12

 

[Bosman]

Pocket wizard live training with mark wallace right now
http://www.pocketwizard.com/webinar?utm_source=Lyris&utm_medium=eBlast&utm_campaign=PocketWizard%2BWebinar%2BReminder%2B4%2F5%2F12

 

[davidbellissima]

Re: 5D MK iii with Pocket Wizards

An update to my original post: they DO NOT work properly. I was mislead by the quick test I did inside my home. It was only later that I realised that the flash is pumping out the same low power regardless (manual flash). Range was no more than about 6 meters. I tried them on my Mk ii today and achieved a range of around 25 meters.

Let's hope PW come up with the goods, and soon!

 

[Viggo]

Re: 5D MK iii with Pocket Wizards

An update to my original post: they DO NOT work properly. I was mislead by the quick test I did inside my home. It was only later that I realised that the flash is pumping out the same low power regardless (manual flash). Range was no more than about 6 meters. I tried them on my Mk ii today and achieved a range of around 25 meters.

Let's hope PW come up with the goods, and soon!

Why keep them when there's a cheaper and better alternative? I had 50 firmwares and they never worked properly, and the range was nothing.

 

[Bosman]

Re: 5D MK iii with Pocket Wizards

An update to my original post: they DO NOT work properly. I was mislead by the quick test I did inside my home. It was only later that I realised that the flash is pumping out the same low power regardless (manual flash). Range was no more than about 6 meters. I tried them on my Mk ii today and achieved a range of around 25 meters.

Let's hope PW come up with the goods, and soon!

Why keep them when there's a cheaper and better alternative? I had 50 firmwares and they never worked properly, and the range was nothing.

I just dont want to fork another $600 out if PW fixes things for me then i am good. In my letter I said i would give them one more chance than if they still aren't consistent then i would ask for money back. Its crazy to think about the hoops you jump thru to make their system work when others like Odin are doing it without socks and all this crazy stuff...

 

[smirkypants]

Re: 5D MK iii with Pocket Wizards

I just dont want to fork another $600 out if PW fixes things for me then i am good. In my letter I said i would give them one more chance than if they still aren't consistent then i would ask for money back. Its crazy to think about the hoops you jump thru to make their system work when others like Odin are doing it without socks and all this crazy stuff...

You don't just fork over another $600. They have value. I just sold my PWs and they will 90% finance the Odins that work with my 580 EX IIs and will work with my 5D3 when I pick it up next Tuesday. I've had enough.

 

[Mt Spokane Photography]

I'm thinking of selling my 580 EX II's and going to the new Canon flash.

I had the old version of the PW's and sold them, and have sold two of my 580 EX II's. I held off buying the new Pocket wizard Mini's when my 5D MK II came out, and then the range issue came up, and the lame excuses that frequencies were not available, its been like a soap opera.

Odin sounds good, but, I may just splurge on the new flashes.