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PocketWizard Plus III Transciever
We all love Pocket Wizards as they are reliable, and easy-to-use. Pocket Wizards are one of the first choices when it comes to solution for remote flash and camera triggering.
The Plus III Transceiver as the MultiMAX features an impressive 32 channels. Whether you’re a wedding or sports shooter or working in a busy studio, finding a clear channel shouldn’t be a problem. Selective Quad-Zone Triggering, adds four zones enabling photographers to remotely trigger flash and or cameras in groups or individually. The Plus III is reverse-compatible with all PocketWizard radios, so it ain’t going to be a problem matching it with your existing gear.
Design
The Plus III looks simple to operate. There is a soft-touch keypad and a little orange backlit LCD panel display. All of this is presented in a sleek, side-view design unlike the previous version where you had the controls facing the photographer. The reason for this turn in design lays in reducing the viewing obstruction. The precision-tuned antenna is now housed inside the case of the radio for better durability.
Modes
For more challenging environments or distances, there are two added features to improve range and reliability. Long Range Mode (LR) will roughly double the working range and is ideal for remote camera triggering. Repeater Mode (RP) allows the addition of one or more radios in between the transmitting and receiving radios to overcome distance, obstacles or other interference. RP mode works well for both remote camera triggering and remote flash triggering. Each hop is going to cost you some microseconds, so this is generally not for syncing flashes. But each added unit buys you another full-distance hop.
Like the Plus II, the Plus III is an Auto-Sensing Transceiver which means it will automatically switch between transmit and receive as needed. This is very useful when syncing remote cameras to remote flash. When the receiving radio on a remote camera receives a trigger, it can automatically engage Auto-Relay Mode and send a trigger signal out on the next higher channel. This triggers remote flash completely in-sync with the remote camera.
Two-Stage Trigger
Remote camera users will love the new Two-Stage Trigger feature. The TEST button on the Plus III acts like a camera’s shutter release with “half-press”. Use this unique feature to wake, focus and meter a remote camera before triggering. Pressing TEST all the way triggers the remote camera. Also, with a Plus III on a hand-held camera connected with a PocketWizard ACC cable to the motor-drive port, that camera’s shutter release will also wake and prepare a remote camera for shooting.
The Plus III can fire at sustained triggering rates of up to a blazing 14.5 frames per second which is probably faster than your flash will recycle. Two AA batteries can power the Plus III up to 50 hours and when needed for remote camera triggering, it can be powered with an external battery through the Mini-B USB 2.0 port. The USB port can also be used for firmware updates.
Specification:
| Frequency | 340-354 MHz (FCC/IC) |
| Channels | 16 standard channels 16 selective Quad Zone Triggering channels |
| Zones | A/B/C/D |
| Antenna | Precision tuned internal coil |
| Display | Backlit 1″ / 2.5 cm LCD |
| Range | 1640′ / 500 m |
| Max Sync Speed | Up to 1/250 sec. for focal plane shutters Up to 1/500 sec. for leaf shutters |
| Triggering Speed | Up to 14.5 fps |
| Contact Time | 62 milliseconds in normal 2 milliseconds in High Speed Receive mode |
| Output Power | <0.001 W |
| Power Supply | 2 x AA batteries (alkaline, NiMH, NiCAD, NiZn, Li-ion) USB (with optional adapter) |
| Battery Life | Up to 50 hours |
| Max Port Sync Voltage | 300 V |
| Max Current Handling | 1.0 A peak, 0.2 A continuous current limited |
| Voltage Present | 3 V |
| Operating Temperature | 5-120°F / -15-50°C |
| Storage Temperature | -22-185°F / -30-85°C |
| Input/Output | 3.5 mm stereo miniphone jack Hot shoe |
| Dimensions | 5.25 x 2 x 1″ / 13.3 x 5.1 x 3.2 cm |
| Weight | 4 oz /120 g |
Conclusion
So if you like PocketWizard Plus II, you’re definitely gonna love the plus III. Especially if you consider that they have taken everything from the Plus II, made it way better and all that for 30$ less.
But if you already own a set of IIs, you just might stick with it cause they are still a solid piece of equipment.
