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Smashing Pocketwizards against a wall!

gazwas

Active member
:angry::angry:

I'm about to blow a gasket over my PW PlusII's.

This must be the most unreliable radio system ever.

Not sure if my body is lead lined but they are so hit and miss I'm ready to stick them all on ebay and replace with Air Sync's. 95% when shooting horizontally they work fine but as soon as I go to vertical is 50/50 if they fire and its always when you need them most that they fail. :banghead:

So, Phase are doing a deal on the V-Grip where you get two Air Sync's free (including the grip that's 3 units) and was wondering what people thought of the Air Sync system when not shooting Profoto (Bowens) and how the V-Grip works as a trigger?
 

Mammy645

New member
Sounds like there's something wrong with either your PW or your camera, they are anything but unreliable.
 

JCVG

New member
I've never had a misfire with a PW. Not even once in many years (and I use the PW + II). So maybe this unit is defective or there is a connection problem if it happens mostly when you shoot vertical. Maybe the weight can cause a bad connection in this position?

So just breath, relax and check it when you feel better. :thumbup:

I also use the AIR remotes (with my Hasselblad) since i switched to Profoto and I really love it as it allows me to setup my groups, turn on and off the flashes, the modeling lamps, adjust the power for every single strobes etc. As reliable as PW (well in my case :p) but much more possibilities. If you use them with other brands it will be likely just to fire your strobes and as you have already the PW...

(BTW if you want to give away your PW instead of smashing them I will pay the shipping).
 

kdphotography

Well-known member
Certainly an atypical experience as PWII are extremely reliable.

Check the batteries. Replace the triggering cord.

No love for the current V-grip, but the current promotional offer is attractive to move towards Profoto Air, particularly for wireless higher flash sync capabilities.
 

Guy Mancuso

Administrator, Instructor
Love the air system. Shoot two straight days in studio in vertical mode over 1k in shots with remote in hot shoe not one misfire.
 

gazwas

Active member
Only had a Phase 645 camera for a short while as I was totally tech camera so not much experience with that but on my Canon 1DSIII it's a total nightmare when used in the hotshoe.

When vertical, the camera can be set up on a triopd ready to go and I press the shutter and nothing. Walk over to the Mac and trigger from there and all fires fine.

Very frustrating and I sometime go back to using a cable, thats how annoying it can be.
 

SergeiR

New member
Very odd. Only time i had PW go wonky on me was when synch cable from back to shoe or from lens to back (on RZ) was going nutters.

However there was one time at my workshop back in Russia, when i had my american PW and one of students brought in new TTLed PW for Canon and they were clashing like crazy (TTLed ones were dropping dead or misfiring).

That said - i like Skyports better (so much that PW became my backup system)
 

Steve Hendrix

Well-known member
I'm not disputing that as they are great with very good range when they work.

When they don't...... all I see is that red mist filling the room! :cussing:

The most frequent complaints I've had with PW's have been from clients who are using them with PW embedded packs, like the ProFoto R units, though this has been relatively infrequent. Otherwise, if the PW is not embedded, then there is also the factor of the reliability of the cable itself going from the PW to the pack. But typically this would more often cause it not to fire at all, rather than fire sporadically.

We've had excellent results so far with the ProFoto Air enabled units and also with adding the Air Sync units to 3rd party monolights and packs.


Steve Hendrix
 
J

jeffacme

Guest
It is almost always the batteries 1st or the cable 2nd. I have been using the Vgrip/Profoto Air Sync for a year or so with Air enabled Profoto lights and many other non Profoto configurations. It has performed flawlessly for me in studio and a myriad location scenarios. Don't really like the build of the Vgrip but the firmware update port and Air sync built in make it a screaming deal even without the free stuff you get with the current promotion.
 

fotografz

Well-known member
Over a decade of PW use, had one unit go bad (an assistant probably dropped it and never told me : -( ... used them to fire Profoto R pacs and Compact Rs ... horizontally and vertically, many different cameras, including use with a Multi-Shot back where a misfire aborts the sequence ... zero issues. Used on an RZ with digital back with the PW mounted horizontally in the RZs side hot shoe ... never missed. Hard wired using a digital back on a tech camera ... never misfired.

One thought regarding your Canon you could look into, that happened to me, was that the hot-shoe itself can come loose ... I popped the silver spring thingy out and there are screws under it that you can tighten, and mine were a bit loose ... at least they were on my Canon 1Ds MkII ... or maybe the 5D, can't remember.

I use Profoto AIR for most stuff now because both my Hensel and newer Profoto gear use the same radio system. I like them, but I think they are more fragile than PWs ... and to fire a non-AIR pack with the Air Sync transceiver requires Gerry-Rigging the AIR receiver to the pack.

The new PW-IIIs are really nice, and I'll pick up a few of them in future.

-Marc
 

gazwas

Active member
Thanks for the replies.

I am using a hots hoe mounted PW to fire Bowens mono lights with built in radio cards so maybe its the Bownes unit that is the problem and not the PlusII's. Also great tip about the hot shoe on the Canon.

I did notice last night shooting a small table top setup (6ft x 6ft area) with my DF that if I stood between the camera and flash head the PW wouldn't trigger. Move behind the camera and all fired fine. Its like using Wein infrared triggers again rather than radio. :confused:

I'll have to try dangling some PlusII's of my lights and see if that helps matters and rule out the internal radio cards.
 

gss

New member
Rather than dangle them, maybe mount them at a 45 degree angle. The problems you have when switching from horizontal to vertical makes me think that something in your studio is exacerbating the antenna directional issues that PWs have. If the one at your light is at a slant, then you won't ever have the PWs at right angles to each other.
 

kdphotography

Well-known member
....I did notice last night shooting a small table top setup (6ft x 6ft area) with my DF that if I stood between the camera and flash head the PW wouldn't trigger. Move behind the camera and all fired fine. Its like using Wein infrared triggers again rather than radio. :confused:

....QUOTE]

For the past ten years, I've never had to worry about positioning my PWs in a horizontal or vertical fashion (though I know it can be a suggested workaround or increase range). What you describe sounds more like radio frequency interference, whether from your surroundings or from the equipment. Unfortunately, that may not be as easy to remedy as replacing your batteries or the PW sync cord.

It could also be alien communication interference. Try placing aluminum foil on your head to block those signals. Make sure to post photos here... :ROTFL:

ken

(sorry, I'm even sillier without that first cup of morning coffee...)
 

Bob

Administrator
Staff member
I have had occasional bouts of mis-fires both with pocket wizards as well as skyports.
What I found was that there is a whole lot of interference in my house.
two wifi access points, about 9 wifi clients, two cell phones, six wireless phones, 18 wireless switches, three wireless thermometers, and two cell phones.
Many of these are operating in the same unlicensed band as the wireless strobe triggers.
I bet if I were to rent a spectrum analyzer I could get a reading on this but just from their behavior the poor triggers are mostly blameless. If I move a wireless skyport receiver to be adjacent to a wireless imac and move several feet away with the skyport transmitter it just will not fire.
-bob
 

gazwas

Active member
The Air Syncs seem to use a much higher frequency of 2.4ghz vs 433mhz on the PW.

Will this help my trigger wow's or is the Air Sync's 2.4ghz equally congested/blockable by my head?
 

Bob

Administrator
Staff member
the 2.4 Ghz band is particularly sensitive to wifi interference.
-bob
 

kdphotography

Well-known member
Maybe this is too simplistic (I don't have nearly as much wireless stuff around as Bob!) but maybe try playing around with using different PW channels?
 
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