So it’s been about two weeks since I received my new Pocket Wizard Plus IIs. You may have seen my recent post discussing my options and why I went with the Pocket Wizards.  So far I have been extremely happy playing around with them.  You can see a recent test shot on Flickr here.

Over the weekend I saw on some discussion boards that Pocket Wizard is planning a new annoucement for today.  Well they made an announcement alright.  They introduced a new product line, the Mini TT1 and Flex TT5.  These products enable Full TTL operation.  I wont go into a full review here, Chase and Dave Hobby have already covered that plenty.

Dave goes into the specifics of what this product can do for you, even if you normally shoot in full manual mode.  A couple of the highlights that I like:  HyperSync technology – basically gives you an extra stop of power from your flash, software upgradeable (as a software developer I like when things can be upgraded in the future) and these units appear to have a metal hotshoe..finally.

My first thought when I saw this is this would have been nice to know about two weeks ago.  On second thought, Pocket Wizard maintains backwards compatibility so I can continue to use my current Plus IIs.  The prices appear to have been released and the units a slightly more expensive then the current Plus IIs.  THe Mini retails for $199 and the Flex is $219.  This will give the folks at Radio Popper some competition in the emerging wireless TTL space.  I may consider picking up a Mini or Flex to play with the HyperSync.  You can head over to the Flickr forum that is going nuts about this announcement.

After playing around with my recently purchased Canon 580ex II flash for the past couple months, I have finally bought all a start of the equipment to use it off camera.  I purchased:  10ft air-cushioned light stand, shoot-through or reflective umbrella and a strobe clamp.  The last piece of the puzzle was the wireless triggers.

I was looking at several options for triggering the off camera flashes.  I didn’t want to get a solution that I would not be happy with or need to upgrade in short order.  Here is my list of triggers:

• Alien Bee CyberSyncs
• Elinchrom Skyports
• Gadget Infinity V2S (eBay triggers)
• Recently Released Radio Poppers JrX /PX
• Pocket Wizard Plus II

I reviewed the products based on their advertised features along with anecdotal testimonials from various online photo communities.  There is tons of talk about off camera flash on the Strobist Flickr group.  Click the jump to find out the winner.  (more…)

Canon has recently been running one of their semi-annual sales.  They usually run for a few weeks twice a year.  After reading many lighting blogs and forums on Flickr, I decided it was time for me to start the journey of off-camera lighting.  I picked up the Canon 580ex Mark II Flash.  I had already ordered and received my Maha battery charger so the batteries were fully charged and ready to go.

My first thought after taking the flash out of the box and loading up the batteries was that this will be heavy on my XSi body.  The overall construction of the flash is very solid and feels durable in your hand.  One really nice upgrade I noticed is the slide-lock mechanism used to attach the flash to the camera.  No more twisting a large locking screw, just slide and done.

As I just ordered the flash at this point I was not able to do any off camera work.  It’s just as well as I barely knew what all the modes and dials on the flash did.  I had done some basic reading about the 580 while I was waiting for it to arrive so I have some basic understanding of its usage.

I took about 20-40 pictures the first night of various objects and scenes around my house.  Here is one of the better ones I ame up with.  I’ll post more information as I explore the features of the flash and get my off-camera accessories.