Pocketwizards and Monolights

<p>I'm in the market for my first set of monolights and I want to be able to use Pocketwizard (PW) MiniTT1's and FlexTT5's to trigger the flash and control the power. Do the monolights have to come with PW modules built in to get remote power control?</p>

Which monolight's are you asking about? With Bowens Gemini 500R, and the 500, 750, 1000, 1500 Pro models, and

maybe the 400Rx can take an optional internal module. But it works with the ControlTL TT1 or TT5 Flex set for standard

(non TTL) mode or with standard PocketWizards (Plus, MultiMAX or the older MAX and Classic modules).

 

With Paul C. Buff, Inc. Einsteins there is the plug in MC2 transceiver which works with the ControlTL system. For Alien

Bees you need the AC9 transceiver.

<p>that pretty much limits you to the Buff Einsteins or the Elinchrom RX series. the PW website shows receiver units only for those.</p>

No bowens is now distributed in the USA by MAC Group, who also distributes PocketWizard and Bowens now offers A

PW transceiver "card". But as I noted above for right now that is just the start 32 channels (and four zones per channel)

PocketWizard sync system.

 

I'm been worked ng with a pair of Gemini 500Pro money lights since September along side my Einsteins.

Thanks for all the responses. In

looking at monolights, I'm

interested in taking advantage of

PW's Hypersync (HS). This raised

the question in my head as to how

the PW Flex and Mini were able to

remotely adjust the strobe's

power level without some

preinstalled module in the stobe.

Broncolor has a new set of lights

coming out: Siros. They can be

ordered with a PW module

installed and claim to do HS

provided you purchase their

accessory HS bulb as. The price

is kind of steep for a first set

of lights though.

<p>As far as I'm aware, HyperSync only works with strobes set at maximum power; i.e. you can't adjust the power and use HS at the same time, since HS requires a fairly long flash duration.</p>

I've shot with the Beoncolor Siros: they are extremely good. Yes they have their own radio system. Have they very

recently added the PocketWizard system to their internal set up? I haven't seen any news of that.

 

To adjust power using the PocketWizardTL system with the Elinchrom lights or the Paul C. Buff Alien Bees and

Einsteinand from the camera there are two methods: use the camera's flash exposure compensation control as a global

tool or use one of the three channels I the PocketWizard AC-3 module which sits in the hot of the Mini TT1 or Flex TT5

that is in your camera hotshoe.

<p>Ellis,<br>

I looked at the Siros' brochure. They're offering a WiFi/PW option. But, they don't seem to be out yet. I checked with B&H and they have no ETA.<br /><br />Rodeo Joe,<br>

According to Broncolor, you're supposed to be able to reduce power while in HyperSync (HS) mode! This is why I like these lights. They seem to take the hassle out of HS.</p>

<p>OK, according to the spec of the Siros the flash duration increases as the power is decreased. Not sure how they've achieved that, but it means that the flash can't be used to freeze action very well. What doesn't make sense is that Bron state that the flash duration with the 'HS tube' is 1/8000th of a second. Now that's far too short for any focal-plane shutter to synch with.</p>

<p>It also doesn't make sense that they claim you need the HS tube to be able to use 1/8000th second FP shutter speed. Either the flash stays on long enough for the shutter to transit the frame or it doesn't - no two ways about it. And if it does have a long enough duration, then the shutter speed you set is irrelevant.</p>

<p>If I was in the market for that flash I'd definitely contact Bron to explain themselves a little better. Like; exactly how does this HS tube work?</p>

<blockquote>

<p>It also doesn't make sense that they claim you need the HS tube to be able to use 1/8000th second FP shutter speed. <strong>Either the flash stays on long enough for the shutter to transit the frame or it doesn't - no two ways about it.</strong> And if it does have a long enough duration, then the shutter speed you set is irrelevant.</p>

 

</blockquote>

<p>This is exactly what I'm thinking. But, from reading some of their docs, having a PW on camera, putting the light into HS mode and having the HS flashtube installed, the tube must stay on a lot longer. So far, this is the only monolight I've seen that claims an HS mode. I'll keep looking though and I will get someone to explain how they're achieving their claims.</p>

<p>I have used Bowens (Calumet 750s) monolights with the TT1 and TT5 for quite a while. On the Pocketwizards is a mini jack which I plug a short 8" cable into. On the other end is a large mono plug like you see on headphones. There's a jack on the flash head that it goes into. Put all the PW on the same channel and it works just fine! Any monolight you can plug a "mini plug to *insert your plug type here*" should work the same way. Much nicer that having a PC cable from your camera like the old days :)</p>

<p><strong>"Either the flash stays on long enough for the shutter to transit the frame or it doesn't - no two ways about it.</strong> And if it does have a long enough duration,"</p>

<p>I know nothing of the particular kit involved, but I'd expect it to be similar to Canon's approach to high speed sync. The problem is that the slit between the first curtain and the second curtain is narrow, and transits the sensor so that the usual flash would only illuminate a small stripe. Their solution is to make many, small, flashes, so as to illuminate each stripe as the slit in the shutter passes over it. This means that if, say, the number of slices was 4, the maximum power of each flash would be 1/4 of the full power of the flash-unit, the total power of the unit being available to share between as many as required. The duration of each flash will be less than the duration of a single full-power flash, because of physics.</p>

<p>To have a single big flash that stayed on for the whole traversal of the sensor by the second curtain would require a flash with at least 4 times the power of the unit required otherwise, and probably many times the power. It seems unlikely and really is just continuous lighting switched on at the right moment.</p>

<p>Since the task for the controller is to give out sub-maximal flashes, there seems no reason why it should not be able to do so at lower power than full/n where n is the number of flashes required to paint the sensor stripe by stripe. However it cannot provide a brighter effect (guide number?) than full/n <br>

I don't have a monolight (yet) so I may be missing something - do say.</p>