Black Shadow Photography

As a relative newcomer to the world of radio triggered remote flash I’ve recently been intrigued by the products on offer from RadioPopper and Pocketwizard. At present I’m using the Cactus V4 triggers and they do what they say they will do and they do it reliably and cheaply – they trigger my flashes from a distance. But I’m searching for a solution that means I won’t need to constantly be adjusting levels from my flash units. I really like the idea of the RadioPopper JrX system but it’s not available in Australia (and the shipment dates for the Px system keeps being shifted back). That leaves the Pocketwizard Flex TT5 transceivers and the Mini TT1 transmitter – they are now shipping in Australia with the appropriate frequency (CE models).

Taken with a Canon 1D Mark III, ISO 200, 1/2500sec, f16 at 16mm. 580EX bottom left, 580EXII bottom right triggered with Pocketwizard Flex TT5s. I think the shadow at the bottom of the frame are from the lens hood.

I’ve been rather skeptical about the latest Pocketwizard products following the reports of issues they were having with Canon flash units. Yesterday I had the opportunity to give three TT5 units a good workout with my two Canon DSLRs (1D Mark III and 5D) and two of my Canon flash units – the 580EX and 580EXII. I must admit I got a very pleasant surprise with the results of this impromptu test in real world conditions. A big thank you to Mic Cullen http://juicephotography.com.au for supplying the Pocketwizards and for overall assistance in this venture.

Taken from about 30 metres with a Canon 5D, 580EXII left of Mic, 580EX on the right - both ETTL. ISO 200, 1/2500 shutter speed, f8.0, 200mm. Pocketwizard Flex TT5 triggers. Where's the background?

We headed off to an abandoned brickworks which proved to be an ideal location to give the PWs a good workout.

Testing

While hardly scientific, these limited tests were carried out in real world conditions and give a pretty good overview of the performance of the TT5s.

We set up two flash units with Pocketwizard Flex TT5s attached – a Canon 580EX and a Canon 580EXII and then tried them with a couple of different cameras a Canon 1D Mark III and a Canon 5D using a TT5 on camera.

Both cameras fired both flashes reliably at ranges up to 40 metres. For a while one of the flash units wasn’t putting out the full power it should have but switching the TT5 off and then on again and there were no further problems.

Occasionally the High Speed Sync would stop working (the little lightning bolt in the viewfinder would be gone) and then would come back of its own accord. That happened with both the 1D Mark III and 5D at various times.

We also tried at one stage using one flash on manual power and the other on TTL and it worked flawlessly.

Shot with a Canon 5D, 580EX low and slightly left 1/4 power, 580EXII high left ETTL, 16mm, ISO 400, 1/400 shutter, f8.0. Pocketwizard Flex TT5 triggers.

On some high speed synch shots the shutter is visible in the frame. I’m not sure why or if using the HyperSync timing feature may eliminate this. Further investigation into this is needed.

Taken with a Canon 5D, ISO 200, 1/8000sec, f5.6, 200mm. Canon 580EX left, Canon 580EXII right, ETTL triggered with Pocketwizard Flex TT5s. Note the shutter up top of the frame.

Features I didn’t get to test but would like to are using a Canon flash or ST-E2 to control the power of different zones (will this mean the upcoming Pocketwizard Zone Controller isn’t needed?) and using the Canon 580EXII to remotely control manual flash power levels.

Conclusions

The Pocketwizard Flex TT5s open up a whole new world of possibilities and flexibility triggering and controlling off camera flash units. Their ability to utilise TTL functionality makes it easy and fast to set up a wide variety of shots.

I was stunned by how easy and effective it was to use the camera exposure settings to make the background disappear and only have flash lighting the subject. This opens up a whole new world of creativity.

Exposed for the ambient background. Just shows how the Canon flash units overpower the daylight. Taken with a Canon 5D, ISO 1600, 1/200 sec, f2.8 at 200mm. Canon 580EX left, Canon 580EXII right ETTL (fill light) triggered with Pocketwizard Flex TT5s.

I was very impressed with the TT5s and will definitely be looking to get some of my own in the near future.

Pros

• Reliably triggered various Canon flash units at ranges of up to 40 metres from both the 1D Mark III and 5D using TTL
• Having TTL available remotely is amazing
• High Speed Synch with remote flash units is sensational
• Reliably triggered Canon flashes set to manual mode
• The way that remote flashes can be used to over power daylight

Cons

• Some inconsistency with the output level of flashes
• Occasionally HSS seems not to work for no apparent reason
• Occasionally need to reset (turn off/on) to get the triggers properly working
• Some visibility of shutter in frame when using HSS

Further testing needed

• Using the Canon 580EXII/580EX/ST-E2 to control zone settings.
• Using a 580EXII to manually control remote levels of two different flash zones.
• HyperSync timing

NOTE – the Flex TT5 units used in this evaluation use the EC frequency not the FCC frequency. Very little creative thought into the photos shown here, these were taken to illustrate the capabilities of the Pocketwizard TT5s.