Which pocket wizards??
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HoppyUK
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PW PLus2 or Plus3. They're both basic manual triggers, which is all you need for studio heads. There are much cheaper alternatives though, eg Yongnuo RF-602 or 603 among numerous others. My personal favourite is Phottix Stratto II, a bit more money than some, but have a few more handy features for using with hot-shoe guns.
Depending on your Bowens heads, you may be able to fit an integral PW receiver. You only need one, and the other head/s will fire off their built-in optical slaves. Not sure it's worth it though.
Depending on your Bowens heads, you may be able to fit an integral PW receiver. You only need one, and the other head/s will fire off their built-in optical slaves. Not sure it's worth it though.
Darren Campbell
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I have been looking at the Phottix Strato II and Phottix Atlas II as an alternative to the Pocket Wizards. User information is difficult to find, but all reviews have been favourable - with many championing the Phottix brand.
I am curious though, as to what is the main reason for choosing the Atlas II over the Strato II? As far as I can tell, the Atlas II offers a working range of 350m over 150m for the Stratos II and the Atlas II units are interchangeable transceivers and receivers - where as the Stratos II have a single designated function. These obvious differences translate into double the price for the Atlas II units.
The main physical advantage I can see - is the placement of the shoes. The Strato II has one shoe comfortably sitting at 180 degrees from the other (on top of it - where it belongs) where as The Atlas II has a shoe placement at 90 degrees (stuck on the side). I imagine the 90 degree placement will cause a lot of bending and twisting of speedlight heads and would place undue stress on the shoe, when used with modifiers such as the Lastolite Easybox. Actually - I don't think it could be used without jerry-rigging something which would render an expensive set-up Blue Peterish to the eye.
Personally I prefer the lower on-camera profile of the Stratos II units, but fancy the range of the Atlas II's.
Any thoughts? - as I thought as I was sure I was onto a winner with these.
HoppyUK
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The only reason to go Atlas, IMHO, is they're compatible with PW frequencies - if you already have a stack of PWs. That's the main reason PW got them banned in the US.
How much range do you need?
I wouldn't believe all you read, or at least the claims are unlikely to be directly comparable. I've tested Stratos at well over 200m, but then I ran out of road. At the extremes, the location, surroundings (lines of buildings good, loads of trees bad), height etc all make a big difference but are never stated.
PW's lower frequencies tend to have better penetration in difficult conditions, and you can daisey-chain them for greater range.
How much range do you need?
I wouldn't believe all you read, or at least the claims are unlikely to be directly comparable. I've tested Stratos at well over 200m, but then I ran out of road. At the extremes, the location, surroundings (lines of buildings good, loads of trees bad), height etc all make a big difference but are never stated. PW's lower frequencies tend to have better penetration in difficult conditions, and you can daisey-chain them for greater range.
Darren Campbell
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Cheers - pretty much as I suspected. Stratos II's it is then - as I will probably run out of ambition before range. 'Height' conditions never occurred to me though.
I did notice that it is difficult to purchase the Atlas II's on the net - Amazon for example, don't have any.
What sort of battery life are you achieving from the small batteries?
I did notice that it is difficult to purchase the Atlas II's on the net - Amazon for example, don't have any.
What sort of battery life are you achieving from the small batteries?
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spudey
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+1 for the stratos II's.
I've used them for a couple of months now and they haven't skipped a beat.
Build quality seems spot on and I've only exhausted one set of batteries in a receiver, I think it might have been left turned on in my bag for a couple of weeks so I guess there is no 'sleep' mode. My other 3 receivers and transmitter are still on the original batteries.
I've used them for a couple of months now and they haven't skipped a beat.
Build quality seems spot on and I've only exhausted one set of batteries in a receiver, I think it might have been left turned on in my bag for a couple of weeks so I guess there is no 'sleep' mode. My other 3 receivers and transmitter are still on the original batteries.
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boyfalldown
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The bowens PW card is hard to find. If you can its got such a bad rep, I wouldn't bother
Michael Sewell
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If you want compatibility, you'd need to source the original version. The Atlas II is a result of the US import ban, and utilises a different frequency, therefore rendering them incompatible with the original version and Pocket Wizards.
However, it is compatible with the Stratos and Odin series, both of which use the universal 2.4GHz frequency band.
Basic overview on Lighting Rumours can be found here
Darren Campbell
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Thanks to all for the input - the Phottix Strato II's arrived today and I am very impressed with the build quality and operations. They are not cheap triggers, but I am surprised to see their build quality matches or exceeds the Pocketwizards.
Straight out of the box, they fired through two rooms, three 14" thick concrete walls and a radio.
Now if only I can get the third speedlight to fire by the optical slave, without having to read the manual, I'll be a very happy man.
boyfalldown
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On a Nikon setup you'll need it set to remote to do that, which means setting one of the others as a controller. The trouble, ever time I tried this was actually getting them to even come close to syncing
Darren Campbell
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Yes, Hugh, I was up all night trying to get that to work - purely for my own gratification as I have enough receivers - but results were very mixed. The introduction of any variable whatsoever seemed to throw the set up out of kilter.
For some reason I got a better success rate from the D700 - but nothing I would wish to be reliant upon.
For some reason I got a better success rate from the D700 - but nothing I would wish to be reliant upon.
spudey
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Darren Campbell said:
boyfalldown said:
For SU-4 (optical slave) mode it should fire when seeing any other flash (no commander required), however you do need to switch the selector to 'remote'.
For SB-700/900/910 hold down ok until menu appears, scroll down to SU-4 and select 'on'.
For SB-800 hold down 'sel' until menu appears, select wireless menu (wavy arrows)' scroll down and select 'SU-4'.
SB-600 doesn't have SU-4 mode available.
Darren Campbell
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Yep - just got home and tried that - works perfectly with the SB-910's and SB-700. Many thanks.
I needed to unselect 'Advanced' - in order to select 'SU-4' and I am sure this will raise another issue if I don't switch it back. Time will tell.