Comments on: I Bought Some Pocket Wizards. Now What?

By: Flash Factory

Flash Factory — Sat, 25 Jun 2011 06:06:36 +0000

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By: Jim Kerner

Jim Kerner — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 04:54:25 +0000

I found that optical wireless flash slave triggers (available for about $10 each on e-bay, shipping included) are a cheap, dependable alternative to radio frequency triggers. In a studio setting, my optical slaves work 100% of the time. I shoot a Nikon D40 and my on camera flash is the master. I’ve turned it down to 1/32 power and it still gives plenty of light to trigger my other flashes.

I’ve booked mark your site. I appreciate the way you explain things. You do it so well that even a caveman can understand it (with apologies to a certain gecko who’s name rhymes with g**co).

By: Tim Solley

Tim Solley — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 19:44:33 +0000

Scott, once again you’ve added a great tip to the content here. This is indeed a fantastic way to trigger strobes if you don’t have the expensive triggers. Let me add a little to your tip.

If you find that the light from the on camera flash is adding a little too much to the photo and you’re already dialed all the way down, try taping a piece of paper over the flash head or putting a neutral density gel over it to bring the light down an extra stop. This way it will still trigger the strobes but will have less of an impact on the photo.

And if you don’t have a SpeedLight that you can point away from directly at the subject, try taping a 3×5 card in place to block the pop up flash and bounce it up to the ceiling. This will eliminate that direct light. Dial the flash exposure compensation all the way down when you do this, since there’s no manual mode for on board flash.

By: Scott Hampton

Scott Hampton — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 05:25:20 +0000

Hi.
I’ve always been mystified with PWs. “Just where do you put them?” “How do they attach…?” I think they’re kind of expensive, as well!

Here’s what I use since I don’t use PWs. My first set of strobes were a pair of el-cheapo Impact 100 watt-seconds strobes. I don’t know if they come any cheaper than that. My camera didn’t have a PC terminal, and the adapters that mounted on my camera wouldn’t trigger my strobes.

Since I’m a one-light proponent, like your article encourages, I mounted my 430EX on the camera, took it out of ETTL II mode and put it in manual. Turned her down to 1/64 power and used her to trigger the strobe. Works perfect! If I want to I could use that to trigger both strobes (I have in the past).

I’m looking to get a set of Calumet Travelites or Profoto Compacts (!), and perhaps I’ll step up to PWs then.

Thanks for the article!

Best,
Scott