Alien Bee's vs. Pocket Wizards

I'm a bit new to the whole studio lighting thing. I shoot Canon and have the 580EXII flash and the 580EX, and am soon to be purchasing light stands and umbrellas (finally). Can you recommend whether to get Alien Bee's or Pocket Wizards and why? Thanks so much!!!

Tags: alien, bees, lighting, pocket, wizards

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Permalink Reply by John Adkins on December 9, 2009 at 8:00pm
I use Alien Bee Cyber Syncs and LOVE them! They have never failed me, are reliable and the CSRB receivers use standard AA batteries. I've used Pocket Wizards as well, and for the money, I think the CyberSyncs are the better solution ...unless you're just rolling in money. =)

I did a review on the CyberSyncs a while back on my blog, if you're interested: http://jwadkins.blogspot.com/2009/03/cybersyncs-review.html
Permalink Reply by Amber Sigman on December 9, 2009 at 8:04pm
John,
I would love to meet with you sometime and learn more important. This stuff intimidates me a bit to be honest. Thanks John.
Amber
Permalink Reply by Michael Stepp on December 9, 2009 at 8:46pm
I followed Johns advice earlier on the topic and Ive been very happy with the AB cyber syncs.
Permalink Reply by Jacob Zimmer on December 10, 2009 at 1:43am
Maybe I don't understand your question... Alien Bee's are lights, Pocket Wizards are transceivers. They work together.

OK, after reading John's post, I guess you are asking bout using PWs vs. the triggers that AB makes. Here's my thing: PW works with everything, including your battery powered strobes. Correct me if I am wrong John, but I believe that the Alien Bee's gear works only with Alien Bees lights.
Permalink Reply by Brent Halstead on December 10, 2009 at 5:29am
Just keep in mind that the new PWs take advantage of Canon's ETTL system. This won't matter if you're going to shoot manual all the time, but it is nice letting the gear think for you sometimes.
Permalink Reply by Michael Stepp on December 10, 2009 at 6:28am
I have alien bee lights and nikon speed lights (sb600/800) and the AB cyber syncs work with all of them
Permalink Reply by John Adkins on December 10, 2009 at 9:26am
Hey Jacob,

The Cyber Syncs work with any lighting system just like Pocket Wizards. They don't have the range that PW's have but I usually don't photograph subjects 20 miles away. ;)

Also, replying to what Brent said, if you're a TTL/iTTL/ETTL shooter, then the new PW's may be the way to go.

Jacob Zimmer said:
Maybe I don't understand your question... Alien Bee's are lights, Pocket Wizards are transceivers. They work together.

OK, after reading John's post, I guess you are asking bout using PWs vs. the triggers that AB makes. Here's my thing: PW works with everything, including your battery powered strobes. Correct me if I am wrong John, but I believe that the Alien Bee's gear works only with Alien Bees lights.
Permalink Reply by Jacob Zimmer on December 10, 2009 at 12:04pm
OK, I just went to the AB website - I didn't realize they came out with a new battery powered remote system. I was thinking of only the AC devices which led me to conclude that they worked only with AC lights.

I also went to your review that you posted and yeah, I do that (remote fires SB-600 via hot shoe adapter) with my PWs and 600s all the time. Sounds like Paul has finally put something on the market to compete with PW.

I worked with remote triggers many years ago on slide projectors. When the world started transitioning to PowerPoint, no one made a decent remote. There were IR ones that required line of sight and low, low range RF devices. So I actually invented a remote where basically I took the old slide projector remote and plugged it into a mouse. The range was about 200 feet.

I wish I had known about PW back then, because their range is incredible. Anyway, there are plenty of PowerPoint remotes on the market now, but only a few with decent range. The main way to tell the difference, is the battery. If they use a small disc battery, the range is going to be pretty weak. But if they use AA or AAA batteries, it will be great.

So all that is to say, I would be nervous with a disc battery powered transmitter.

If I were starting over, I would probably get cyber syncs. But at this point, I am already invested in PW and so it makes sense to stick with them for three reasons: 1. It's cheaper to buy another PW or two than build a whole new system. 2, The fact that a unit is both a receiver and transmitter means that if my transmitter breaks, I can use another PW that I already have in inventory. If you have a CS system and step on your transmitter, you are SOL. 3, PW's can be rented at Murphy's and are still the industry standard if I want to rent or borrow additional units for a big project.

On another note: I always put everything on Manual. The new transmitter that allows you to put your flash on it would be great, but as of now, I believe they only make them for Canon. If they come out with a Nikon version, I would probably do that. There is no loss of previous investment because my current transmitter can simply be turned into a receiver.

Frankly, in the world of signal flow (whether wired, RF or IR) then notion of a transceiver - one device that can be a transmitter or receiver) is pure brilliance.
Permalink Reply by John Adkins on December 10, 2009 at 6:33pm
Well, I can honestly say I would never argue with anyone over the quality of the Pocket Wizards, they are indeed the industry standard. However, for the price of 2 Pocket Wizard Plus II tranceivers ($338.00 for 2 on B&H), you could buy a WHOLE SET ($339.75 on AB's website) of Cyber Syncs ..being one CST Transmitter and FOUR CSRB Receivers so its not really cheaper even if you wanted to start over.

I do love the fact that the PW Plus II's can be either transmitters or receivers and I hope that the Cyber Syncs will come out with something like this. However you can buy 2 CyberSync CST transmitters for for less that one PW Plus II so you could still have your backup at a cheaper price.

Paul C. Buff has already introduced the Cyber Commander transmitter too which will allow you to dial in all of your strobes' power settings at the camera (similar to the Elinchrom Skyports) ...which is too cool imho, and the Cyber Commander is only $10 more than a Pocket Wizard Plus II tranceiver.

So, if cost is not an option (and if I didn't already have a ton of CyberSyncs that I dearly love), I would probably go with the Pocket Wizards, but again, if cost is an option, I don't think the CyberSyncs can be beat in the bang-for-the-buck department.
Permalink Reply by Jacob Zimmer on December 10, 2009 at 8:01pm
No kidding? I didn't realize they were that inexpensive.
Permalink Reply by Michael Tigue on December 10, 2009 at 11:28pm
Cybersyncs are probably the most recommended trigger on Flickr.com's strobist group.
One because they always work and two because they are cheap.

I, however, am buying these because they are even cheaper and reportedly just as dependable.
http://www.flickr.com/groups/strobist/discuss/72157611535964184/?se...

aid:
No kidding? I didn't realize they were that inexpensive.
Permalink Reply by Ryan Armbrust on December 10, 2009 at 11:47pm
4 channels though...

I use the Cyber Syncs and love them. Find me anyone with better customer service than Alien bee / Paul C. Buff and I will hand over a pair of D700's!

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