Pocket Wizard Off Camera Flash

At this time every year I make my annual trip over to the NEC in Birmingham to the Focus On Imaging photography show. With every intention of leaving the credit card firmly in my wallet, it rarely happens at the show and this year was no exception!

To my justification though my pruchase was one I was going to make in the next few days anyway, and the show special price was a clincher for the purchase of Nikon Pocket Wizards. They just fell into the bag so I had to bring them home 🙂

I’ve been using  ttl off-camera flash for quite a while now  thanks to Nikons proprietary CLS system, but it works on IR technology needs line of sight, misfires quite regularly and is sometimes inconsistant.

Today I had an impromptu test with my new Pocket Wizards and I’m seriously impressed. Full, and most importantly, accurate and consistant ttl control of off camera flashes, and not a single misfire. I tested them hidden from line of sight of the camera, i.e. behind steel pillars etc. and at various working distances. Also I tried working in extreme darkness to the point where the camera would barely focus, and then in strongly backlit situations and the system got it right first time, every time.

Regarding flash comp, this is now very simple thanks to the extra purchase of a zone controller. All off camera flashes can now be zoned and then powered up or down in one third stops from the camera, and without having to dive into camera menus.

I’m looking forward to getting a proper test with these over the next few days when I have more time. For now here’s literally the first few images from today’s test of my new Pockat Wizards.

Thanks to Anna for being great and very patient in the wet and cold while I got to grips with the new equipment.