Comments about Pocket Wizard Pocket Wizard FlexTT5 Transceiver for Canon DSLR Cameras & Flash Units, with a Range of up to 1200 ft:

Since I purchased it my life as photographer have become more easy. This product is all that you need if you work with off camera flash. It support ETTL and HyperSync capabilities. Check:
Sample photos

Comments about Pocket Wizard Pocket Wizard FlexTT5 Transceiver for Canon DSLR Cameras & Flash Units, with a Range of up to 1200 ft:

Used these piesces for a couple hours, under ETTL, off camera! Yippie, and all was fine, I used my 580 ex II and Canon 50D.Then called P/W to get help on using it as high speed synch. Well, while I was ON THE PHONE WITH THEM, the flash fried.. The camera will take a image, flash will fire, (on ETTL) and the picture comes out very dark. Darker than it would if I wouldn't have used the flash. Reset everything on the camera and on the flash and on the units themselves. Updated the firmware on the units AGAIN still didn't work.Tested with a different lens, still same result.Reset camera to factory defaults AGAIN - same results.Used built in nasty flash, same ISO/F stop and the nasty flash fills in just fine and is nice and ugggly but works.Keep in mind folk, because this happened while I was on the phone with them, I was given an option to get the 580 replaced, *I don't know if I am a special case or if it was because of "WHOM" I was speaking to at PW. Yes, the 580 was out of warranty, by about 4 months, so no repair unless paid for it. that in itself would have only been a flat fee of 120$, (at any Canon Authoirzed Repair Center, California, or New Jersey).I don't understand why they didn't just mail me out a loaner flash, and then have me send off my flash for repair then pay for the repair.. But, instead, I was given these as options. Get another 580 (and of course risking this exact thing all over again) then, he offfered instead I getting 2 430 ex II's. I asked what were the differences were between the two flashes and he said I'd be losing 1/2 stop, can't use external battery packs *no biggie, never used them before in my life*, and he said you can't change the set settings on the camera for the flash. He said those are the ONLY differences. Well, those are NOT the only differences.They are SLAVE ONLY FUNCTIONING LENSES... I can not put the mini tt1 on hot shoe, put one of the 430's on a flex 5 and have them both fire - there is no optical slave - and then I was told that the 430's aren't able to be used as master slave, but only slave.Now, if I want to use any flash off camera I have to buy another 230$ flex 5 unit.... I also read there are issues with the 5D Mk II. And these units. I have yet to delve into that subject just yet.And that will be my next camera and I am afraid. Now, P.W., customer service is excellent, but - I need a product that wont fry the flash I choose to use. Then had to make a split second decision on flash replacement, and was mis-informed, it was an unintentional mis-information I am sure..Don't get me wrong, WHO DOES THIS, WHO GOES OUT OF THEIR WAY to help a loley no-named photographer such as myself?? Don't get it twisted, I am still VERY grateful but - if I wasn't on the phone, THEN what would have happened to me?? Would they have believed me? I'm grateful the flash got replaced, and got replaced overnight - but, I am just saddened that it hasn't been the fun learning experience I had hoped for. That 580 cost me 500$, and was only used a couple times as I didn't know HOW to use it - and then when trying to use it as it is supposed to be used, even with the embarassing and lame fabric sheild on it and all - it still broke. Also, fyi, they SELL another sheild so that you can see through it and adjust your settings on your flash without having to putll it down...... just go to their website and look for it. It is the 7 series, as the regular sleeve is the 5 series. Well, see what happens, I begged them to sell me a cosmetically challenged yet functionally working flex 5 so I can use both flashes off the camera instead of one on, and one off - Im waiting to hear back from him. I think they should be able to do that for me. I offered to give him the very last bit of cash I 'own' on this planet, lets see if they take me up on it, otherwise, I need some other nice person to donate their flex 5 to me since im sure one of you wants to toss it out the window and its past the return date... I will update the situation when they respnd to me about the 2nd flex 5 unit. I just wanna play like all the other grown ups do!!!

Comments about Pocket Wizard Pocket Wizard FlexTT5 Transceiver for Canon DSLR Cameras & Flash Units, with a Range of up to 1200 ft:

I bought this to use the HHS capabilities. I like my PW II's a lot. I've used the TT5 a few times. It worked but not to my liking the first few times I used it. Now it seems to have gone hay wire and doesn't sync with my 430EXii at all no matter what the shutter speed. Even with the same shutter speed I get part of a photo usually less than half.
I don't like the fact that it doesn't use AA batteries either. My unit seems to always have a dead battery when I go to use it.
I'm sure it will be fine for other shooters. I'm just going to not use it anymore. To much work for to little success and the price is a bit much.
Since I've discovered Syl Arena I've gone a different route with my lighting.

Comments about Pocket Wizard Pocket Wizard FlexTT5 Transceiver for Canon DSLR Cameras & Flash Units, with a Range of up to 1200 ft:

It took an hour or so to get them updated and firing, and figure out the AC5 soft shield works best with the on camera unit. I am a little overwhelmed by the online manual. Wish they had a "Magic Lantern" guide for these. So far they have been great and if I balance 3 other studio lights with the ETTL output, the set up works more consistently than optical slaving alone, and getting rid of wires is always a plus.

Comments about Pocket Wizard Pocket Wizard FlexTT5 Transceiver for Canon DSLR Cameras & Flash Units, with a Range of up to 1200 ft:

Do not let the cost of these units scare you away. They are the best investment I have made in the flash side of my hobby.

I use the Pocket Wizard Flex TT5 transceiver with my other Canon 580 EX II Flashes, TT5's and Pocket Wizard Mini TT1 transmitter. The TT5 unit is indispensable for flash photography with remote 580 EX II flashes (and no cables or IR problems).

The big CON is that the TT5 is susceptible to RF interference from the Canon 580 EX II flash. The TT5 unit could have been shielded better (or Canon could have made better circuits in the 580 EX II flash to reduce RF). Pocket Wizard does have a simple work around with a shielding bag you place over the flash. The bag covers the flash controls and display and it is a stretch to get the battery pack cable in there. But once everything is set up and adjusted, the rest is easy.

There is nothing nicer than being able to put a flash out of sight or out of the room and still be able to trigger it when the shot is taken. Many adjustments to the flash can be made from the camera. A very versatile system.

If you are ready to move up to remote flashes, this setup is the only way to go because it will do it all.

Comments about Pocket Wizard Pocket Wizard FlexTT5 Transceiver for Canon DSLR Cameras & Flash Units, with a Range of up to 1200 ft:

I was happy with it.

Comments about Pocket Wizard Pocket Wizard FlexTT5 Transceiver for Canon DSLR Cameras & Flash Units, with a Range of up to 1200 ft:

So far I've only used both the Mini TT1 and Flex TT5 for a couple portrait sessions and they have all worked perfectly. The remotes for some reason don't always seem to fire on the very first shot but I think that is either due to the camera flashes waking up from a power saving mode or some other setting that I'm still learning with them. Otherwise, nearly every shot has been consistent output both with standalone fires and bursts. Everything's worked great and I'm excited to see what else I can create with these products.

Comments about Pocket Wizard Pocket Wizard FlexTT5 Transceiver for Canon DSLR Cameras & Flash Units, with a Range of up to 1200 ft:

This is the fourth FlexTT5 I own. I use them mostly for event photography with some portrait work. What really makes these units shine is when you add the AC3 Controller to the mix. Changing zone lighting is always immediately above the camera.

Comments about Pocket Wizard Pocket Wizard FlexTT5 Transceiver for Canon DSLR Cameras & Flash Units, with a Range of up to 1200 ft:

I have two of these, one on a 580 EX II and one on a 420 EX. The Flex works great, but I definitely need to practice with the ratios and overall setup of the PocketWizards. But in general they worked well for my first shoot with them. I would just like to improve my knowledge so I can be more creative and drive the flashes the way I want instead of full automatic mode.

Comments about Pocket Wizard Pocket Wizard FlexTT5 Transceiver for Canon DSLR Cameras & Flash Units, with a Range of up to 1200 ft:

If you are going to use it with your sekonic L-358 light meter to measure your flash output on manual mode, you have to adjust it using utility program on your computer. The problem is once you have adjusted it as per PW's instruction you wont be able to use High speed sync with shutter speeds higher than 1/350 in manual mode. This is very important if you want to darken your ambient background lighting by using high shutter speeds over your cameras sync speed. I tried looking into the manual and at the PW'S website and I can't find any answer to this problem. Iam giving it a one star because of the difficulty of using this product and absence of technical support to contact the manufacturer directly on the phone. When you buy this product be prepared to read pages of instructions and spend time watching videos that you might even not be able to find a clear answer. Good Luck!

Comments about Pocket Wizard Pocket Wizard FlexTT5 Transceiver for Canon DSLR Cameras & Flash Units, with a Range of up to 1200 ft:

If you don't have Canon flashes, you may not need to purchase Pocket Wizard FlexTT5 transceivers. I have Canon 580EXII flashes that produce lots of radio interference. The Canon infrared system is OK for straight forward flash placement, but when it comes to creative placement of flashes, your options are limited by line of sight. Radio is the only way to go, but most of the inexpensive systems I tested didn't work reliably for me. Radio noise from the flashes would confuse the receivers and I would get random flashes, or no flash at all. Absolutely no reliability. Pocket Wizard FlexTT5 offers a pricey but reliable solution to the radio noise problem. The units include an RF shielding fabric bag that goes over the flash. The bag stops the RF interference but it covers the rear display. I have had good success without the bag over the flash so it is nice to have options there. Learning to use the FlexTT5 was very easy and I have only begun to scratch the surface of all the possibilities the system offers. Yes, the price of admission is high, but you can't go wrong with the FlexTT5 when overcoming the problems with Canon flashes known to produce huge amounts of radio noise.

Comments about Pocket Wizard Pocket Wizard FlexTT5 Transceiver for Canon DSLR Cameras & Flash Units, with a Range of up to 1200 ft:

I received these as a gift and was really excited. Being a long-time user of the PW Plus II (which are rock solid) I was pumped about off camera ETTL. But it didn't take long to realize that these units are unreliable and crippled in distance with my Canon 580EX II flashes. Apparently this flash gives off lots of RF noise at the same frequencies that are used on the FlexTT5s. I did some testing and couldn't get a reliable trigger at more than 25-30 feet with direct line-of-sight. Worse with any object in-between. Many serious photographers who are dropping this kind of $$ for remote triggering are often using one of these Canon flashes.

I really wanted to keep these but I'm sending them back. I didn't try the device with any light modifiers (softbox or umbrella) but if I could get 80 feet with modifiers and people in-between I would keep these. That's a long way from the 800 ft max but acceptable to me (everyone uses them differently). I believe that it's misleading to state compatibility with the Canon flashes that cripple the device. It's a sentence in the manual which is no good unless you buy the thing first.

I also couldn't get the flash to fire at all if I used the SW to change the channels from the default. Changed one unit, plugged in the next unit and hit replicate. The settings were the same but would never fire. I had to hold down the Test/Learn button while turning on to reset to factory settings to get things working again. Perhaps a defective unit???

If you can get by with the distance limitations these are great devices. I heard that the 550EX has a different power supply and performs better. This really is a black-eye for PocketWizard. PW products are expensive because they perform their intended function flawlessly. They really missed the boat on this one.

Comments about Pocket Wizard Pocket Wizard FlexTT5 Transceiver for Canon DSLR Cameras & Flash Units, with a Range of up to 1200 ft:

First time buyer of pocket wizard. It was confusing at first to figure out how to use it with my sigma ef 530 super flash. After several hours of reading and looking how to program the pocket wizard I finally got it to work properly. It's a charm to use now.

Comments about Pocket Wizard Pocket Wizard FlexTT5 Transceiver for Canon DSLR Cameras & Flash Units, with a Range of up to 1200 ft:

First time buyer of pocket wizard. It was confusing at first to figure out how to use it with my sigma ef 530 super flash. After several hours of reading and looking how to program the pocket wizard I finally got it to work properly. It's a charm to use now.

Comments about Pocket Wizard Pocket Wizard FlexTT5 Transceiver for Canon DSLR Cameras & Flash Units, with a Range of up to 1200 ft:

Works as indicated. I'll never go back to wires. I haven't gotten creative yet but I am having much more success with lighting. I have a Canon 5D Mark II with 580exII flash. with the standard cable it couldn't take use of ETTL. I have that with the Pocket Wizard now.

Comments about Pocket Wizard Pocket Wizard FlexTT5 Transceiver for Canon DSLR Cameras & Flash Units, with a Range of up to 1200 ft:

I broke the foot off of one of the two FlexTT5 units I bought the first time I tried to do some testing with the units. The foot is thin plastic and I fear these units will not last long. I am working on an alternate method for securing the flash to a light stand.[...]

Comments about Pocket Wizard Pocket Wizard FlexTT5 Transceiver for Canon DSLR Cameras & Flash Units, with a Range of up to 1200 ft:

I was at an off camera flash class when the instructor was telling everyone that there was no need to spend the $ for pocket Wizard when I just happen to have a photo of a hummingbird I shot still in the camera. The photo was taken with the flash behind a tree 2 feet from the bird and I was 10 ft or better away from the subject. No blur in the wings at all everything in the photo was sharp as a tack at 1/4000 sec. f/7.1. His question to the STUDENT (that would be me) Was how did you do that..? The answer FlexTT5 from Pocket Wizard. I did my homework.! So this is MY Review for the Pocket Wizard A+ Its worth every penny..! Its really nice to have something that works every time you need it to and the way you want and the Flex TT5 will give you even more.

Comments about Pocket Wizard Pocket Wizard FlexTT5 Transceiver for Canon DSLR Cameras & Flash Units, with a Range of up to 1200 ft:

Works great! However I have a 430 Speedlite that has well documented issues that causes limited reach.