POCKET WIZARD PLUS II OR MiniTT1 and FlexTT5

[peety3]

Quick question peety3, will the FlexTT5 wake up a sleeping Speedlite?
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I'm going to experiment a little further today, but my basic understanding is that the FlexTT5 will keep the flash awake continuously, unless a Mini/Flex sitting on a camera receives an indication that the camera has gone to sleep. Only at that point will the PW let the flash go to sleep. I set up a scenario yesterday where I put a Flex under a 580, test-popped it a few times from my Mini, then turned off the Mini. Three hours later, the Flex and 580 were still on. I do need to re-check my settings though, as I may have disabled or delayed the sleep function.

[Mark Elberson]

Quick question peety3, will the FlexTT5 wake up a sleeping Speedlite?
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I'm going to experiment a little further today, but my basic understanding is that the FlexTT5 will keep the flash awake continuously, unless a Mini/Flex sitting on a camera receives an indication that the camera has gone to sleep...

Thanks so much! I was (still am) seriously considering the RadioPopper JrX system because being able to control the output of my Canon Speedlites at the camera is very appealing to me. I know for a fact that they will not "wake" a sleeping Speedlite because I emailed their customer support. This is not a deal breaker but I'd really like to have it. What I don't get is that the RF-602s on eBay say that they will wake a sleeping flash gun. It surprises me that not all of the big players have this built in to their systems. Anyway, the Flex system from PW is about three timesthe cost of the RadioPopper system but it's about 10 times as robust! Having both the option for wireless E-TTL and manual controls all on the camera (via the yet to be released ZoneController as I have no interest in mounting a 580 to my camera to execute these functions) is truly amazing...on top of the countless other features that set this system apart from the others.

[Graydon]

Mark,


The component to control flashes from your camera with the JrX has yet to be released (I believe as I stopped checking a while ago). It's apparently a "cube" that goes below the flash unit that plugs into the JrX. Great, another item to take up space in my already full bag.I have a couple of the JrX receivers and one of the transmitters. They are plenty handy in manual mode, have plenty of reach but I find myself wanting to get the MiniTT1 and Flex TT1. Simplicity and more control.

[Mark Elberson]

Mark,


The component to control flashes from your camera with the JrX has yet to be released (I believe as I stopped checking a while ago). It's apparently a "cube" that goes below the flash unit that plugs into the JrX.
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Ha! So did I...ok so maybe I look once a month or so :-) Amazingly the 1st time I emailed them to try to get a better answer than what the website posted (6-8 weeks) I was told 6-8 weeks! About 9 weeks later I sent a follow up email and was told again 6-8 weeks. I'm done with email. Aparently this is par for the course for RadioPoppers. They really should consider holding back on making esitmates if the never seem to follow through. Luckily I'm in no hurry. I'm currently doing just fine with my CTR-301Ps. I'm just lazy and hate walking over to my flashes when I want to change my settings [:P]

[Mark Elberson]

<span style="color: #0000ff;"]peety3


One more question:


Do you know (or have you heard) if the range and/or reliability of the Flex system increases when using manual mode as opposed to E-TTL?

[peety3]

Do you know (or have you heard) if the range and/or reliability of the Flex system increases when using manual mode as opposed to E-TTL?
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Yes, it's theoretically a 50% increase. From http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/multi_page.asp?cid=7-9884-9903:


"<span class="data"]The official range of the MiniTT1 transmitter, when
sending to Plus II and MultiMAX receivers and therefore using Standard
channels only, is about 1200ft (about 365m). When transmitting to a
FlexTT5 in a wireless TTL configuration, which means ControlTL channels
and Standard channels are being used (in this mode, the MiniTT1 sends
both ControlTL and Standard signals), the range is about 800ft (about
240m)."


That said, I had a few trigger misses the other night on a family portrait shoot, in a room that's about 11'x24'. Four flashes in use, all manually set: a key light (580II, with CP-E4 battery and PW AC5 soft shield), a fill light (580II, with CP-E4 battery and PW AC5 soft shield), a low background light (580II), and a high background light (580II, with PW AC5 soft shield). Interestingly, now that I think about it, it was the high background light that seemed to miss the most often. For the sake of mention, neither background flash had a CP-E4 to speed the recharge, and two cameras were in action for much of the night, so a variety of factors could have led the flashes to be not ready to fire.

[Mark Elberson]

That said, I had a few trigger misses the other night on a family portrait shoot, in a room that's about 11'x24'. Four flashes in use, all manually set: a key light (580II, with CP-E4 battery and PW AC5 soft shield), a fill light (580II, with CP-E4 battery and PW AC5 soft shield), a low background light (580II), and a high background light (580II, with PW AC5 soft shield). Interestingly, now that I think about it, it was the high background light that seemed to miss the most often. For the sake of mention, neither background flash had a CP-E4 to speed the recharge, and two cameras were in action for much of the night, so a variety of factors could have led the flashes to be not ready to fire.

In this scenario I would certainly hope that it was the flash's inability to fire due to recharging time rather than the Flex system failing.Under the circumstancesyou described I would expect an ST-E2 to perform fairly well.

[Mark Elberson]

<span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"]<span style="font-size: small;"]Below is an exchange between PocketWizard and myself:

Will the FlexTT5-Canon allow a Canon flash to go to sleep (Power Save Mode) and then wake it up when the shutter button is pressed half-way?

<span style="font-size: small;"]customer.support@pocketwizard.com[/email]<span style="font-size: small;"]]
Thanks for your inquiry. Yes, our radios will allow a remote Speedlite to sleep. The flash can be woken up by half-pressing the shutter button on the camera. You'll need to enable Flash Idle Timeout Mode on the FlexTT5 attached to the Speedlite. It's under the Flash tab in the PocketWizard Utility.