The price of flexibility and range.

Taking Nikon's iTTL/CLS to the next level...


As mentioned previously, I stumped up for a set of PocketWizard Control TL radio remotes recently. I love Nikon's iTTL/CLS (Creative Lighting System), for its ability to let me get a flash off-camera, yet still use TTL, quickly. It's especially quick with a D300 and SB900 combination, as the D300's little on-camera flash can be set to just Command, and the SB900's remote control mode is another click of its rotary on/off switch - simple. It's the (not much) time thing again - local press photography.

iTTL/CLS does have some limitations, though, which are frustrating to run into and not be able to overcome. This is where the PocketWizard ControlTL system comes in...

Nikon D300, with a MiniTT1 in the hotshoe, SU800
above that as Commander, and an SB900 on a FlexTT5 on an
AS21 stand. The MiniTT/SU800 is a nicely compact setup.

More after the break.


In a small'ish room, iTTL/CLS is almost infallible - it triggers happily, responds to control - either via D300, SB900 as a commander or SU800. Outside, or in larger halls however, it's less reliable.
Its limits are chiefly: 1) Line of Sight operation - remote flashes must be in front of the camera, even if only by degrees. 2) Limited range - perhaps 30 feet in a large room, much less outside. 3) the infra-red comms and trigger signals are overwhelmed easily by sunlight and 4) the pulsing bursts of light as the units communicate are very visible, indoors and out, and visibly slow down the actual moment of exposure, especially if you are running a Master flash with SBs on all three Groups. If your subject is a flash-blinker, then they are gonna blink with all that going on.

Enter the PocketWizards.
I thought these looked intriguing when they were first announced. Canon users got to try them first and Nikon users have had to wait nearly two years more. The wait was worth it. The experience for Canon users wasn't entirely happy, it has been reported, but the extra R and D time has paid off - the Nikon versions are damn near infallible, so far as I can tell as of today.

The technology is far better explained on the PocketWizard website; PocketWizard ControlTL System for Nikon but briefly, the MiniTT1 transmitter and FlexTT5 transceiver "grab" the comms signals out of the camera and flashes before they appear, turning them into radio signals - the only flashes you see the SBs emit are the exposure assessment pulse(s) and then the main exposure pulse.

There's also an excellent, in-depth article on using the Nikon versions in action, on Rob Galbraith's website; Rob Galbraith DPI . Rob Galbraith is well worth visiting regularly anyway, for a wealth of links and information generated by two pro photographers.

What these units mean for me - apart from a lighter wallet - is reliability. I've given them a bit of a work-out when I can on real, live, press jobs over the last few weeks. These have been portrait-type shots, where I've dragged out a light stand, or handed an SB plus FlexTT5 to a VAL (Voice-Activated Lightstand - a handy bystander).  With just a single Flex, fired by the compact, on-camera MiniTT1, I've got almost as quick access to remote flash, but it triggers every time outside. And it's still working TTL. If I need to raise or lower the output with this I can do it, one-handed, with the exposure compensation button (NB best to keep the camera in Manual exposure). Need more flashes? Need Manual flash control? Stick a Master SB or the SU800 onto the shoe of the MiniTT1 and use that as the power regulator. Outside, using TTL or Manual flash ratios, you can have SB units yards away and control it all from the camera, with it firing every time. Gosh. (And see *, below.)

And this is before trying it indoors at the usual grip-and-grin awards ceremonies in large, dark halls. It was covering one of these that finally persuaded me to splash out. I can now have a couple of remote FlexTT/SBs on a balcony to lift the overall light levels, and use an SB on the MiniTT as the TTL main light. Instant improvement in light quality and yet without the long walk back to the remotes to re-ratio them...

Mike Crow, outside the cathedral, with a Flex'ed SB900
held by a VAL at 45 degrees left.

Mike Evans, with a Flex'ed SB900 on the
little AS21 stand placed on the track in
front of him

Kevin Goddard - Flex'ed SB900 on a Light Stand. He is in
open shade, but the SB is out in the hard sunlight.

Mark Reckless MP. Hard sunlight coming from over his right
shoulder, countered by a Flex'ed SB on a stand to camera right.

There's still a theme of looking for open shade where possible in these, because I am using SB's and it's a big task to fight direct sunlight. Some more recent tests and the last image do show it's possible, however, with bare, straight flash, and it's still giving a reasonably flattering light if positioned carefully. But the thing is, in sunshine the SB fired every time, from behind the camera position if required (Mike Evans' pic) and with TTL exposure adjustment of the flash from the camera. I can still engage with the subject rather than wander around twiddling switches, which is important if you're trying to keep an amiable but busy MP reasonably on-schedule.

The downside? The set of two Flex/ one Mini I bought was over £600. Sadly, we are paying much the same in ££ as the units retail at in the US for $$, so there's a healthy dose of import duty and VAT there. It's now possible to get the same set-up, at the time of writing, from Speed Graphic , for £500 (aargh!).
The system isn't cheap but, certainly for Nikon users, it's straightforward, it blends in with our existing iTTL Speedlights and SU800 pretty much seamlessly and is, so far, thoroughly reliable. Added to which it extends the range, removes the operational weakness in sunlight and suppresses the most distracting of the pre-flash pulses. They even blend in with your existing PWs, as they also transmit (non-TTL, of course) on standard PW channels.

And it's easy to fit into a bag so there's reason to have it with you always, and that can't be a bad thing when you need to make decent pictures, quick!

Zap! Like the first image, this remote FlexTT/SB900 is
fired by an on-camera Flex, working as a transmitter
with an SB900 in its shoe as Master.

* PocketWizard have a unit, just hitting the retail front-line now, called an AC3 Zone Controller. If you think of this as an SU800, without the fancy lcd interface but also without the £300+ price, you'd be about on the mark. Put this into the shoe of a Mini or Flex on the camera, and it allows control of three zones - the Groups in iTTL-speak - either TTL, Manual or a mix of both. And it's a much more reasonable £60...