Breaking: PocketWizard Begins the Strip Tease
It ain't much, but I am sure it'll be enough to get the speculation started around these parts. More coming Monday, of course.
-30-
-30-
__________
New to Strobist, or lighting? Start here.
Now shipping, in DVD box set or download: Lighting in Layers
Connect: Discussion Threads | Reader Photos | Twitter
Posted at 7:07 PM.
46 Comments:
Very interesting. It looks like there's a hot shoe mount on top of that unit. I've often wondered why the PW units were so big when they feel half empty.
I'm sure I'm not the only one to think this is quite likely the Radio Popper effect :-P
Looks like a PW Jr.
I think I had a hand in this release. I just bought four PWII's this week.
hot shoe on top! awesome
Hot shoe. Hot Shoe! HOT SHOE!!!
I was so happy that they came out with a 25 dollar rebate i ran to the PC and order one up from Midwest, but they shipped it minus the user upc tab I need for the rebate!!!UGHHH
Very interesting! I was just contemplating the move to PWs after Cactus frustrations have reached an all time high.
I might just have some patience now until this tease is fully revealed.
Lets hope they are cheaper for all us with poverty wizards!
And I just bought some PWs. shoot!
Oh, man, and I just bought a pair of Elnchrom Skyports.. :/
I'm taking my skyports to Mexico in the morning; with this announcement looks like I'll be losing them so's I have to replace them with PWs :)
So here's my guess... If it's a radiopopper competitor the hot shoe on top is where you put your master flash/commander, and it uses the same induction technique that the popper uses to pick up the master IR pulse... Only without the velcro. Very elegant. Of course the velcro would still be needed for slave flashes unless they've got an elegant solution for that too.
The other possibility is that it completely eliminates the need for an IR commander, speaking the hot shoe language with the camera itself, and the hot shoe on top is just so you can keep using an on-camera flash.
Wow, I like it. I don't know if I will rush out and buy one, but anything to minimize the size of equipment is good! I guess that is why they have been trying to sell the current models off cheap.
You can actually get PW Plus II Transceivers now for $148.
I was about to get some, but I guess I shall wait.
looks like they teamed up with "gadget infinity" for the new design!
Ah man, and I just bought some tinfoil and battery wire. Shoot!
i just wish they would add a focus assist beam so i could focus in low light!!!!
And this suspension will kill more photographers around the globe than any other photo teaser so far.. :)
Looks like new design on PW coming.. Question is - will it be compatible with older models..
We shall wait. Its cruel.. plain cruel.
I am so excited! I really hope the build is a bit more solid. I remember the first time I ever touched a PW, I was like "is this it?" It just felt so cheap.
Looks like the same shape/formfactor as a skyport! Here's to hoping they're cheaper and more cross-compatible with old PW receivers.
pw would be so scareda bout the radiopopper release of the jrx very soon and the already released radiopoppers.. i know what i would buy. pw are going to loose so much money :)
Darn it and I just completed my set after years of waiting for something smaller and lower profile. Grumble, Grumble, Grumble. Rats .. and.... about time too!
being a Elinchrom Skyport owner myself I have always wondered why the pocketwizzards were almost twice as big... (and look much more easily damagable). Maybe they thought the same
Only three letters come to mind with this.
TTL
The rumor at my camera store is they are coming out with a high speed sync version that is better than than Radio Poppers.
You guys have it backwards. They are releasing a camera. accepts Nikon or Canon Glass. 6"x6" gigapixel sensor. built in wireless trigger that works with cybercyncs, cactus, PW, cell phone, 802.11b,g,n,x. 14 group commander mixing Nikon AWL/CLS and Canon Wireless, 256 channels (16 simultaneously). 8k video @ 24 fps,twin fiber channel connectivity, esata dock, 1394 ipod connectivity,and a 4" livepicture LCD. Sensor Shutter Syncs up to 1/4000th of a second and is powered by 3 12Volt car batteries.
Now off off to ebay to sell my four PWII's. :)
This weekend only, I am paying $100 for all Pocket Wizards Plus IIs! Get rid of them while you can! The end is near!
But don't forget that new Pocket Wizards have always been able to trigger old Pocket Wizards. Why would this time be any different?
EB
RadioPopper made the PW people finally get off their ass and do something instead of resting comfortably on their laurels.
Tom
I think that if PW had something to compete with the Radio Poppers they would have no need to try and bait us this way. This is the kind of thing you do to drum up interest in a ho-hum product. Just look at the tag line "New Shape in Wireless". That only speaks to the design. Only Radio Poppers have given us something new. With that said I hope to god I an wrong.
Perhaps that is why the PW prices are dropping....you can get the PW for $169 with the $25 rebate bringing the price down to $144!!
I swear, that picture is brighter today than last night - cool "build the hype" idea.
This is great though - two vendors updating their stuff, just as I'm getting into strobist stuff (and have realized the limitations of CLS).
PW updating the Bentley of wireless triggers and Cactus putting out the next gen Beetle.
Can't wait to see what they each are capable of.
Ok everyone,
For those who can read in between the lines of countless lines of techno mumbo gumbo visit the following link at the US Patent office to read the recent patents LPA Designs has filed under the term pocketwizard.
http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-bool.html&r=0&f=S&l=50&TERM1=POCKETWIZARD&FIELD1=&co1=AND&TERM2=&FIELD2=&d=PTXT
If you have trouble with the link try the following instead.
http://patft.uspto.gov/
at that page click on "quick search" then under the term 1 type in "pocketwizard". Make sure the column called field 1 is set to "All Fields"
Some of the illustrations in the patents are well worth looking at.
Happy hunting.
Tony S.
FCC has already unveiled the new transmitters....
More info available on their site....
here are two photos from the FCC
http://www.jdadams.net/dwf/pocketwizard-tranmitter.jpg
http://www.jdadams.net/dwf/pocketwizard-receiver.jpg
Don't know if you are not allowed to post this since I'm guessing you already have a set you are playing with
Well, it better be good cos the Radio Trigger game is just getting better and better all the time...
High speed sync with the Jr recievers
http://radiopopper.com/blog/
Tony
Didn't Mark Wallace from Snap factory just show what looks to be the commander for the air set-up..which looks just like what is on Profoto.com?
I just read through the Summery of the invention and guess what. The radiopopper guys aint got nothing to worry about. Unless PW has another Patent that speaks to the transmission of eTTL or iTTL data it is ass whipping time on the PW folks. I love my PWs but unless you are a pro sports photographer or some one who needs some of the specialized features or channels the PW can provide they just cost to damned much money. What the patent want's to do is add a module inside your camera that will let you control and external device using the PC terminal to transmit the signal using an antenna. Big woop. The other thing they want to do is to allow the triggering device to automatically configure itself for either transmit or receive modes removing the need for a switch. This the patent says will lower the cost of the (already over priced) device. If this is all they got why have I chosen this brand? Please someone tell me. No, I mean it.
ok good radiopoppers has work on new product !
Let see what pocketwizard will propose and at which price ;)
i love competition ;)
Pocket Wizard just updated their site. =)
TTL. =D And the design doesn't look bad either. smaller is a plus. Range suffered a bit, but it still doesn't sound bad.
Can't wait for results from tests.
http://www.pocketwizard.com/products/transmitter_receiver/36/TT1-C/
tada!!!
http://www.pocketwizard.com/products/transmitter_receiver/36/TT5-C/
http://www.pocketwizard.com/products/transmitter_receiver/minitt1%20canon/
It looks like the new PW device is, in effect, and radio-version of an extension cable. Your flash thinks it is sitting on the camera's hot shoe, and that seems like a pretty good way to do it. And it works with all my existing PW PlusII. So I'll buy one for the smaller size and ability to add control for CLS.
The bad news - Canon only for Q1, Nikon for Q2.
On the technology page, the PW site says this:
"Need more speed? Push your ControlTL system beyond 1/500th and go into FP/High-Speed sync mode automatically. Simply change your shutter speed to get flash sync all the way to 1/8000th. No buttons to press or settings to change!"
So they have added the AutoFP trick we've been using. Currently I've been using an old SB600 that won't fire to trick my camera into using AutoFP mode, and using my PW to trigger the strobe. That has been working fine, and it sounds like this will give me that in a tiny package. I'm sold.
Now if only they would come out with a generic receiver with power control. Then tell all the independent strobe makers how to communicate with it. Then we could mix and match strobes, but still have remote power control.
Welcome back to the party, PW.
It's out. The new ControlTL systems are E-TTL compatible, with iTTL coming in a few months.
http://www.pocketwizard.com/inspirations/technology/controltl/
http://www.pocketwizard.com/products/transmitter_receiver/36/TT1-C/
e-ttl and i-ttl it is.
Well Strobist does it again. Pocket Wizard site is down. :)
Post a Comment
<< Home