Originally Posted by jcmeza_21
The problem is that certain Canon Speedlites emit radio waves in the same frequency range as that used by the PocketWizard FlexTT5 and MiniTT1 units to communicate. This causes the PW triggering system to become unreliable, have reduced range, or fail under certain situations. The older Plus II model of PWs do not have this issue. I believe the problem partially has to do with the complexity of implementing ETTL and HHS via radio triggering over the selected band.
As far as I am aware, the FlexTT5 and MiniTT1 are the only radio slave devices currently on the market that (1) support Canon ETTL-II, (2) support HHS, (3) have a hotshoe interface, and (4) are firmware upgradeable via USB.
If you don't need any of these features and simply require manual triggering, then there are many other good solutions that are not subject to the RF interference emitted by certain Canon Speedlites.
According to PW, the 580EX II is one of the models that emit RF interference. There are some workarounds; for example, selecting the highest frequency channel may help. An RF-shielding soft fabric sleeve should be available from PocketWizard fairly soon, which is pulled over the flash unit, thereby blocking the interference; however, this is not a very satisfactory solution for an on-camera master flash. The 480EX II does not appear to cause problems.
Future Canon Speedlites should address this issue. PocketWizard should have tested their devices more rigorously, and/or selected a more appropriate RF band (but this may not have been feasible given FCC restrictions, power/range requirements, and the need for backward compatibility).
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