Light Meters and Pocket Wizards

Kryptix

Kryptix

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I'm buying a set of Pocket Wizards and need a light metre for my home studio. Ideally I'd push a button on the light metre and it'd fire the Pocket Wizard attached to one head which will then fire the other 3 heads when it hits the light sensor.

Have I understood this correctly and is this possible?

If so, what light meter would you suggest and how much am I looking at spending?

Also, what Pocket Wizards do I need and where's the best place to buy from?

Will there be any delay with the light sensor? Would it be wise to buy an extra 3 Pocket Wizards so there's no delay or isn't it worth it?
 
If your lights have built in optical slaves then you only need one PW transmitter and one receiver (or 2 transceivers) if they haven't then you need 4 PWs, one on the camera and one on each of you 3 lights.

Sekonic do a PW compatable addon for there light meters but a cheaper way is firing the lights with your transmitter test button.

I use one of these http://www.sekonic.com/products/Sekonic L-308S FLASHMATE.asp

PWs http://www.pocketwizard.com/products/transmitter_receiver/multimax/ with these http://www.pocketwizard.com/products/transmitter_receiver/plus ii/ although you don't really need the multimax unless you are working with a lot of other photographers in the same environment.

Warehouse Express or the Flash centre are probably your best best to buy them.
 
Could you explain what you mean by 'built-in optical slaves' please? I'm pretty new to all this. Is that just a light sensor that fires when it detects a flash or have I got this all wrong?

So stick with the Plus II's yeah?
 
Why does that effect you in any way? If I want to buy PW's I will buy PW's.
 
Kryptix said:
Why does that effect you in any way? If I want to buy PW's I will buy PW's.
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Doesn't effect me at all. But you're on here asking advice and I'm,and no doubt others, wondering why a beginer would pick the most expensive triggers.
Sledgehammer to crack a walnut imo
 
I've been watching YouTube videos for ages now and built up a kit list in my head and simply need a bit of help pairing it all together.

Sorry to snap at you but so many people on this forum constantly tell me what I should and shouldn't buy and it gets annoying after awhile.
 
No worries,takes more than that to ruffle my fur. Guess that's the nature of forums-very opinionated at times.
Noticed you mentioned interfit150s in another thread. So why not get better lights and lesser triggers...
 
The Interfit's were my first thoughts but then as I read more and more my 'order total' is now up to £1.8k. :(
 
Indeed - Ive use Interfit150's and sure they are great for a starter kit.. for a few weeks, you will out grow them very quick so its probably best to spend less on triggers and more on investing in a good set of lights that you wont outgrow quick.
 
I use a PocketWizard PLUS II on my lights. I have another PW as spare. I can justify them only on the grounds of them having paid for themselves quite quickly.
If I wasn't using PocketWizards I'd look at Skyports - and although a couple of photographers I've spoken to are generally happy with their Skyports they each have a few minor complaints.
I don't know anything about the Cactus or other triggers, apart from reading that some people find them acceptable, some customise them to improve how consistently they perform, while others think they're crap. I suspect for most the truth is somewhere in the middle.

As far as light meters are concerned I use a Sekonic L-308S, although I don't actually use it all that often. Still, it's (relatively) cheap and cheerful.

Studio lights; there's nothing to stop anyone buying as many lights as they want, regardless of their lack of experience or limited/non-existent knowledge of how to use them. Having said that, my opinion is that buying only one and a reflector at the start is probably going to help you in the longer term. If you really work that one light and learn how to use it as part of making the photos you want, then it becomes much simpler later on. When you've really got the basics down then it becomes easier to build on. There's an example of the start of that process in this video: http://www.prophotolife.com/2008/06/02/video-episode-13-beautiful-portraits-with-just-one-light/
 
I've got a small studio at home and didn't spend a huge amount on lights, triggers or flash meter. A lot of it seems to me to depend on how much of an area you are trying to light, the best VFM improvement I've had is when I switched from a 40 to 60" umbrella.

I use the Sekonic 308s and it is fine, along with B-series heads and wireless triggers from www.studio-flash.com (Elemental). You can get the same triggers from HK on eBay but at least if they are faulty I know Danny at Elemental will sort it no problem. I have two sets and apart from the odd (rare) mis-fire they have so far taken 5000+ pics with no issues. All of the shots in the sample images gallery at www.snrmac.com were taken with this setup...
 
Kryptix said:
what light meter would you suggest and how much am I looking at spending?
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Kryptix said:
Sorry to snap at you but so many people on this forum constantly tell me what I should and shouldn't buy and it gets annoying after awhile.
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Imagine that. Asking for advice and then getting some! :lol:

With regards to light meters, Sekonic seems to the most popular brand and is fairly easy to use.
 
Garry79 said:
Imagine that. Asking for advice and then getting some! :lol:

With regards to light meters, Sekonic seems to the most popular brand and is fairly easy to use.
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The Sekonic C-500R or a Gossen maybe ;)
A set of 3 Bowens Geminis would do nicely for starters aswell.

...Ok ok, there are many mid-range lightmeters that will do more than you need for about £200-300 and you wont go wrong with a Sekonic. As for triggers PWs are superb of course, and if you want them then fine.
 
There is a reason PW's are the industry standard.

With that being said - Elinchrom Skyports are smaller and cheaper but just as reliable. Only downside is range. I can only trigger my flash reliably up to 500 feet with my skyports, where PW's claim 1600 feet. I've linked to my skyport range test before and here we go again:
http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=671101
 
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