Today, Pocket Wizard rolled out the newest in their line of wireless flash triggering devices: the long-awaited update to the industry standard Pocket Wizard Plus II, the Pocket Wizard Plus III. We at Fstoppers have been playing with them for awhile, and we're here to give you all the details, including an exclusive video look at the new Pocket Wizard Plus III. [Pre Order The Pocket Wizard Plus III Here]
For years now, the Pocket Wizard Plus II has been the standard in wireless flash and camera triggers for professional photographers. One might ask why an upgrade is necessary, or why a new version is even needed. After all, they are reliable, consistent, readily-available and incredibly simple to use. Pocket Wizard knew they could take the best and make it better, and there's no question that these radio triggers are a huge improvement from the Plus IIs. A few of us here at Fstoppers.com were lucky enough to get our hands on a bunch of the new Pocket Wizards Plus III units, which are slated to be officially released in mid-March, and we put them through the test over the course of a handful of shoots. Our thoughts so far? They're absolutely awesome and totally worth upgrading! Check out our Pocket Wizard Review Video below to get all the details and see them in action:
Youtube Version:
Patrick Hall's Test Image
Thanks to Pratik Naik with Solstice Retouch for help with the composite.
Lee Morris's Test Image
Here's a rundown of the new features:
Modes
A variety of modes let you tailor the unit to the exact function you need.
TxRx: Transmits and receives. A standard transceiver mode, what you'll use most of the time when you are shooting with off-camera flash.
Tx ONLY: Disables all receiving functionality and allows you to use the Plus III only to transmit, best used when sharing the airspace with other photographers to prevent accidentally triggering the Plus III on your camera.
Rx ONLY: For use in an area where there are multiple photographers or flashes. This will prevent a remote Plus III from performing relay functions when mounted in the shoe of another camera or to prevent a Plus III from triggering other radios when the TEST button is pressed. For example, this would be the mode to use if the PWIII was triggering a remote camera.
LR (Long Range): Doubles (!) The maximum range of a radio in a given shooting environment. There may be a slight reduction in X-sync speed as a result.
RP (Repeater): Automatically re-transmits any triggers received on the selected channel. Can be used to dramatically extend working distance with flash or remote cameras when an additional Plus III is placed halfway between the camera or flash and the transmitting radio.
HSR (High-speed receive): Shortens the contact time of the flash/camera port, allowing for triggering of remote flashes at higher FPS. Up to 14.5, that is. Woah.
Other Features
A three-stage battery meter. This might be our favorite little upgrade - no more guessing at battery power.
The Antenna is contained entirely within the Plus III. No more broken antennas due to me tossing them in my bag at the end of a long day. In addition, the durability of the Plus III has also been changed for the better, at least it seems to me - they're a bit more solid-feeling and robust than the Plus IIs, and the buttons are made with heavy-duty rubber. They're built to last; make no mistake, your standard cheap trigger these are NOT.
A backlit LCD. This is going to be especially handy, as it seems half the time (at least) that I'm using flash, there is little-to-no ambient lighting.
Zones: Four assignable zones, each with it's own switch on the face of the unit. Think of sports shooters who have more than one set of lights in the rafters, or photographers using multiple remote cameras.
USB port for upgrading firmware and changing custom user settings (let me say that I've been a HUGE fan of this functionality on the Mini TT1 and Flex TT5s that I've been using). I also anticipate more functionality being added in the future, now that this is a standard feature.
PC Screw-Locking Cords now ship standard with the Pocket Wizard Plus III units. Fstoppers has been encouraging photographers to upgrade their loose and faulty PC Sync cords to the Nikon Screw-Lock PC cords for years (yes the work for Canon too). Now Pocket Wizard has included the upgraded PC sync cord with each unit along with a 1/8" to 1/4" adapter jack for your power packs taking the larger input connector. Nice touch Pocket Wizard!
Price
As anyone who has gone shopping for radio triggers knows, PocketWizard Plus IIs are usually one of the pricier options, despite their outstanding range and reliability. While you might expect the Plus III to cost more than the previous versions, as is the trend with nearly all photography-related items these days, they are actually priced lower than the Plus IIs, despite all of the improvements. The Plus III will be released with an MSRP of $139 in the US. That's right. Not only is it much better, it's much cheaper. This is going to be a HUGE game changer in the wireless trigger market.
Overall Review:
Our Thoughts
Mike Kelley: Despite suffering through recovery from a lower back surgery, I was eager to get out and put the new Plus IIIs through the ringer. From what I can tell, PocketWizard has hit an absolute home run with these. The first thing I noticed after unpacking them was how solid they felt: I've used a lot of triggers over the past few years and I can say that these are some tough little cookies. You'll never have to worry about them falling apart or malfunctioning on a shoot; I can't say the same for some of the cheaper triggers I've used.
I've been a long-time fan of the Flex TT5 and Mini TT1 triggers, and was looking forward to seeing how the Plus III would fit into my workflow. Integration was simple and seamless, and I didn't have any trouble getting everything working together perfectly. Since I do a lot of remote camera and flash triggering, the extended range mode and zone features are a welcome upgrade. In my testing, I didn't experience one misfire, granted I was shooting mostly indoors and at distances of at most 300 feet. Battery life also seems to be great so far. I'm also looking forward to see what PocketWizard does with the new USB and upgradeable software functionality in the future.
I've spent the better part of the week trying to think of ways to improve upon the Plus II and it seems that PocketWizard has covered all the bases. These are without question going to find themselves a permanent home in my gear bag, and I'm sure I'll enjoy getting acquainted with the new features I haven't used extensively yet.
Lee Morris: When I was told about these new units I was honestly worried. I've never been a big fan of the Multimax units because they were so overly complicated and I thought there was a chance that the Plus IIIs would wreck the simplicity of the Plus II units. Luckily I was very wrong. 99% of the time I am going to use these new units in the standard tranceiver mode and even still I think these things are worth the upgrade. The fact that these units are built better, HAVE A BATTERY INDICATOR! and have tons of extra features waiting to be used while at the same time being cheaper than the Plus II's makes this upgrade a no-brainer. I'm excited to change my fleet of 14 Pocket Wizards over to the new Plus IIIs.
Patrick Hall: It's pretty rare that I get really excited about a new piece of camera gear, but when the guys from PW called us to tell us what they had been working on, my ears perked up! Obviously the most exciting news is the new lower price. As said over and over again, the new battery indicator is my favorite new feature. I'm also really happy PW kept the standard AA battery instead of going with something less common or not rechargeable.
The new Group Mode feature is going to be so awesome for wedding photographers who often set up a few strobes on light stands so they can light their wedding receptions. The Pocket Wizard Plus III is going to change the way I shoot my own weddings for sure because I can now mix up my lighting schemes without having to run around adjusting lights and switching the individual remote channels. I'm also excited that Pocket Wizard has found a way to improve the overall radio transmission so that when you are shooting in the portrait orientation, the Pocket Wizards now fire much more reliably than they did in the past. Overall these units are well worth the upgrade and Pocket Wizard has brought us a nice unexpected gift for the new year.
Vimeo Version:
To learn more about the PocketWizard Plus III, head over to PocketWizard's Plus III mini-site, which contains every last (scintillating!) bit of information on these new units.
Is that a new remote triggering cable that was connected from the PWiii to the camera?
Nope, we used the current pre trigger 8 pin cable currently out for that shoot
The trigger cable used in the video looks significantly different than mine (PocketWizard CM-N3-ACC Canon Pre-Trigger Cable for MultiMax & FlexTT5). Is that because it's for a Nikon camera, or is it an aftermarket cable? I'd like to get an extra one, but at $90 they're extremely overpriced. Have you found a lower cost alternative?
I'm not sure...they used to have a HUGE box on them with a rocker switch. I think the newer ones now have a small inline box with a small dim switch. It def says PW on it
watching the video am more interested on Auto Relay mode how this being configured in respect to groups channel and triggering PW III. Thats where I get confused. (is the PS III that triggers the camera are different channel as the Lights? How is the PS III sitting on camera being configured to trigger the lights and at the same time received, TxRx)?
Sick shoot and I think you covered everything. Again guys nicely done. If you old wizards need a home NY is where it should be.
No more sticking the antennae up my nose by accident - that alone is totally worth the upgrade
Looks like a Remote Control for Car instead...
I like the way these sound but love using my radio poppers! I use the PX system along with the JrX system together. I get to use ETTL along with manuel strobes, full control - so it's hard to give that up. But let me know if i'm missing something - I always willing to switch if it's really a better system but doesn't sound like it to me?!?!
Never liked them, they always broke down or broke period. And these guys won't see another buck from me.
I have the CyberCommander system from Buff and it's head & shoulders above this crappy plastic just they took advantage of all of us for years and years with the overpriced garbage. I have no doubt it will be made with the same standards.
I'm still using my su-800 and (3) sb600s in studio and outdoors. I have thought of switching over to PW's and advanced strobes, like Profoto's, but it's not financially feasible at the time.
will these sync with the mini and flex?
Yep - that's how I'm currently using them, but there is no ETTL or ControlTL functionality on the flashes using the Plus III.
its so annoying that after years and years of being in business they still haven't fixed their biggest flaw. They still have a plastic boot, which will eventually ALWAYS break.
It's not really a flaw. With a plastic shoe, you break the PocketWizard, with a metal shoe, you break the camera. I've had the shoe from my 580 totally ruin the shoe of my 5d when i dropped it accidentally one day. If it were a plastic shoe, I could easily have replaced it after it broke, rather than having to send my camera to Canon for repairs.
It's a pick your poison thing, really:
Plastic shoe: break $130 trigger
Metal shoe: break $2000 camera
I don't know about eventually, between lee and I we probably have 20 plus iis and neither of us have broke a single foot. Maybe we are just lucky
Dang 20! yeah your fortunate, at the studio I work at 3 of our 10 got broken, but due to the high volume of use it was bound to happen eventually (They were just the pocketwizard plus though)
Anyone prefer using the PW Flex system over these (or Plus IIs)? Looking to upgrade from ebay triggers and on the fence on which option to go with.
Is there a way to lock the settings so as not to accidentlly change during a shoot?
Great review, guys. Thanks for walking us through the features.
Great review! Very excited to see the lower price as well, however, not sure if it's worth the buy since I already purchased a few TT-5's....
with this can i adjust flash power remotely?
nope, that's what the flex and minis are for
Does anyone know if there is a shutter lock for use in Bulb mode when using the PW as remote release?
Does the Plus III have the 2nd curtain sync feature?
not that I know of but doesn't your camera control that? If I put a PW on my Nikon's hotshoe and choose Rear Sync, I'm pretty sure the camera sends a delayed signal to the PW which then allows Rear Sync.
Canon doesn't support rear sync in camera, you can only select it in the flash custom function settings when a flash is connected via the hotshoe.
I have 3 Pocket Wizard Plus II Tranceivers. If I add one hot shoe mounted Pocket Wizard Plus III Transceiver, can I set each Plus II on different channels (i.e. 1, 2 and 3) and use the Plus III to activate any one of the Plus II's on it's own channel like you were doing with the Plus III's in your video?
In a nutshell, no. The groups A, B, C, and D are only available on channels 17-32. Channels 1-4 on the Plus IIIs act exactly like 1-4 on the Plus II.
I wish their next product will be combined Plus III and Flex with TTL
So I'm shooting with a couple of Einsteins with CyberSync Transceivers and a Cyber Commander - and honestly I've just not fond of the Cyber Commander. Perhaps it's too much controller for me when really all I want my flash to do is fire at the right time.
And I do have to admit that the PocketWizard Plus III looks pretty sexy and is probably more in line with what I need from a trigger.
The 98 dollar question is - does the Pocket Wizard III work with the CyberSync receivers?
I doubt it, they are two different products using different frequencies
Can the new Plus III control other FlexTT along the lines of an AC3 (ie. Flash Exp-comp)?
(apologies if this question has been asked and I've missed it).
The Plus and Multi Max line has never done TTL or Exposure Comp...so no they can't do the same thing the Flex/Minis do but they can trigger channels 1-4
Is there any compatibility to old PW models?
I believe Lee mentioned this in the video, channels 1-4 are compatible with all other Pocket Wizard models
Great Video. I just purchased 4 yongnuo triggers but I want these. Finally affordable pocket wizards. These are my next purchase. I wish there were triggers that would all work together across brands. Are there?
If it's not 2.4ghz and international travel friendly, it's still not worth the investment to me.
What are the plus III compatible with? cactus? cybersync? can they trigger anything else?
they are only compatible with other Pocket Wizard units that have channels 1-4.
Do I need an external light meter when using the 3's?
We have a pocket wizard III on our 5D mark 2, set up to trigger to 580EX which is connected to another pocket wizard III. We were hoping to trigger a second 580EX with the light sensor, but we are getting a delay. Any suggestions on how to get the flashes to fire simultaneously?
I have the 580EX I and I'm wondering which cable to use for the PW III and the 5D II?
Is anyone having problems with the Plusiii and the flextt5.... I cannot get them to work together.... Is this an issue? The flextt5 is on a Cann 580ex flash and the +iii is on a 7d.... both set to channel 1... the flash does not fire.... What is wrong here? Ideas, solutions?
Anyone know if you have to buy a PC cable for your speedlights for these or does it come in the package?
Can these guy's fire a Speedlite (430 ex II) without a receiver on the speedlite?
I have a Nikon D7000, one SB 910 & two SB600...I want to get the Pocket Wizard III but I was wondering if they would all work together? Is it manual only & how does that work out? What cables would I need (if any)? My ideal goal is to have at least two lights in the reception hall to go off at the same time, no delays. Would this set up work? Thanks
I have one question!!!! Poketwizard plusIII or plusX?
I bought two of these units off ebay for 215 shipped. STOKED. I need a pre-trigger remote now and maybe another unit or two :-)
This may be stupid question but I'm new to this world so bare with me please.
Is it possible to fire a a second speedlite 580 EX II in the M mode without using a PW?
Exp. one mounted on camera the other connected to SL1, and the SL2 is in the range of the SL1.