This year’s camera body is amazing! It’s your main squeeze, your baby, your precioussssss! What to do with last year’s camera body; Old Black Betty? Occasionally you tote it around as a spare, “just in case something happens.” 99 times out of 100, nothing ever happens. It sits in the bag patiently waiting for you, vibrating the dust off its little sensor joyfully, gleeful at being powered up for maybe the second time this year. It’s making sad little puppy-dog eyes at you right now, actually, but you can’t see it buried among all the spare radios, batteries, and flashes. Poor thing!
Make it happy and put it to work! At your next wedding or ball game, use it for a little self-serve photo booth. While your customers enthusiastically mash a big red button and take nicely framed and beautifully lit self-portraits, you’re off making artful money shots somewhere else. The masses are entertained and you have one more folder on the DVD you can deliver, or one more line item to offer in your package deals, setting yourself apart as a dynamic photographer.
Mark Wallace demonstrates a fun setup he used to take portraits of himself riding a motorcycle in this quick video. Originally part of a Webinar we aired in March to help intro the features of the PlusX, you can get the entire 49 minute video in the PocketWizard Webinar archive.
With his 1DS Mark II securely attached to a rig on the back of a car, Mark has an assistant fire the car-mounted camera using a PocketWizard PlusX. On their way back, they add a strobe to the mix, also fired by the PlusX.
Check it out above and see more of Mark’s videos on Snapfactory.
SOSKIphoto poses the question that I’m sure more than a few photographers have been asking: “Does the new PlusX offer enough bang-for-the-buck or is the Plus III a better buy?”
Helpfully, they offer a side by side comparison of the features of the two triggers and suggest target users for each. They write, “With the PlusX’s top notch build quality, updated feature set, and friendly price, there is no denying that this radio trigger will take the Strobist market by storm.”
Which trigger is right for you? Read the full post to find out.
Scott Wyden Kivowitz recently gave a presentation entitled Photography Studio Lighting on a Budget for the Google+ community of New Jersey photographers. Held at Dynalite’s Union, New Jersey studio, studio portraiture was demonstrated and practiced with Dynalite’s hardware triggered by PocketWizard PlusX radios.
After Scott’s presentation was over, students practiced studio portraiture using the Dynalite gear and PlusX radio triggers. Scott put together a quick video of student impressions on the PlusX.
We’ve covered Dan Baileyseveral times on the PocketWizard blog. One of his most recent posts is a great behind-the-scenes look at how to execute flash photography with snow biking as the subject.
Hoping to catch the sunset through a spot of second-growth trees, yet have the rider and bike properly illuminated, Bailey triggered a TritonFlash with two PocketWizard PlusX radios.
Check out the post for behind-the-scenes shots, final images, and all the gear info you could want. Get more of Dan’s Alaskan action shots on his blog and site.
Dave Hahn is a Freelance photographer based in the New York metro area. His primary focus is sports and action photography. Below, Dave explains how he sets up floor-mounted cameras during basketball games using both PocketWizard’s new PlusX transceiver and the Plus III.
If you’re new to remote photography hopefully this will help explain how easy it can be using a camera mounting plate I developed, combined with a couple of transceivers from the folks at PocketWizard.
March 23, 2013: 2013 Women’s NCAA Tournament – University of Idaho @ UConn – Gampel Pavilion Storrs, Connecticut. Mandatory Credit: David W. Hahn / CSI: Photo
Here I’m going to talk about setting up remote cameras for basketball using both the PlusX and Plus III radios triggers. In the image to the right, you can see my set-up for the Women’s NCAA basketball tournament at UConn. The camera was mounted to a plate called a “fplate” (floor plate) and a Plus III was used to trigger the camera from the opposite side of the court.
If you’re new to remote photography, the newly-released PlusX is a great way to go. The benefits of the PlusX transceivers are affordability. It’s the first time PocketWizard radios break the $100 barrier. Next is, its simplicity in design and ease of use. The Plus II’s had only four channels to work with, sometimes making difficult to find an open channel when there are other photographers working the same event. The PlusX radios have ten channels. 1-4 will work with all the older models. With the addition of channels 5-10 you now have six low-use channels that will also work with the Plus III’s and the MultiMAX radios. Setting the channels on the PlusX transceivers is as easy as turning a dial.
“The PlusX is a trigger,” adventure photographer Dan Bailey writes, “No more, no less. One button, knob. Connect to flash/camera, turn it on, set the channel and boom. You’re ready to fire. Boundless creative options.”
Dan recommends our newest trigger for two types of photographers. “At $99 each,” he writes, “the new PlusX is by far the best value for a radio trigger. It’s the perfect choice for photographers who are just entering the world of radio remotes, as well as shooters who just need more triggers because they keep getting more lights.”
Adam Bronkhorst is a Brighton-based portrait photographer who also offers workshops on a variety of topics, from toy cameras to wedding photography.
As a teacher, Adam always recommended PocketWizard radio triggers to his students saying that “I’ve tried most things on the market and I’ve found what works and more importantly what doesn’t work, so if I can save people time and money then I’m more than happy to.” PocketWizards, he says, “just work.”
He was overjoyed to hear about the new PlusX, an affordable option with the same range and reliability of the other more advanced PocketWizard triggers.
FREE LIVE VIDEO SEMINAR Control Your Lights & Cameras with PocketWizard Plus III and PlusX Radios
PocketWizard radios enable you take your flash off-camera and use it almost anywhere for lighting effects ranging from natural-looking to amazing.
You can also use the Plus III or PlusX to fire remote cameras in sync with remote flashes. If you are not using them now, they should be at the top of your must-have list.
Host Joe Brady will show you how to make best use of the PocketWizard Plus III and new PlusX radio triggers. He’ll demonstrate how they work together with your camera system and various camera and flash techniques to improve the way you shoot pictures. He will even show you new ways to use those old flash units you may have put away.
Join us at this free live broadcast sponsored by PocketWizard and learn how to take control of your camera and lights from anywhere.
The Phoblographer’s Chris Gampat is out of the gate and running with the new PocketWizard PlusX. He’s written up his first impressions of the just-announced trigger and says “so far they’re quite tempting — especially at the $99 price point.”
In the couple of hours he spent with them, Chris managed to trigger studio strobes and flashes from two floors above and on the other side of the building from his apartment. In a later review, he’ll be comparing them to his Plus III’s, but for now he concludes the PlusX is “compact, solid feeling, reliable, and simple to use.”
With his 1DS Mark II securely attached to a rig on the back of a car, Mark has an assistant fire the car-mounted camera using a 
