![\"\"](\"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/images\/review\/pocketwizard\/josh-adams_0091-edit-900.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
This portrait of musician, Josh Adams, was a fairly quick set-up. I deliberately chose an area in a large hotel conference room to shoot this. A bit of a challenge to see how quickly I could get a simple but dramatic portrait out of a ‘nothing’ scenario. Here’s the pull-back shot that will show you the area, as well as the placement of the lights:<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/images\/review\/pocketwizard\/NV2_0096-900.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
The light came from three speedlights, all controlled with the PocketWizard FlexTT5 transceivers. They in turn were controlled via an on-camera FlexTT5 (for Nikon), with an AC3 Zone Controller piggy-backing on the TT5. Using the AC3 Controller made it a breeze to control the output (and mode) of each of the three speedlights. I could switch any of them to manual, or to TTL. I could control the TTL units’ Flash Exposure Compensation from the ACR3. \u00a0And I could control the manual output, if I had decided to switch the speedlight to manual mode. \u00a0All from my camera …<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/images\/review\/pocketwizard\/AC3-zone-controller-lrg.jpg\")
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Of course, features such as:
\n– wireless controlled TTL flash, and
\n– high-speed flash sync,
\nare not features exclusive to these types of radio controllers. \u00a0That’s inherent in the Nikon or Canon (or other manufacturers’) \u00a0wireless flash systems themselves.<\/p>\n
Where the newer generation of radio transmitters & receivers like the PocketWizard MiniTT1 and FlexTT5 have their real use, is in allowing all this without the line-of-sight restrictions.<\/p>\n
With this portrait of Josh, two flashes are hidden behind him. Trying to control the two speedlights in the back with just an on-camera speedlight set to Master, would be a headache due to the misfires that will surely happen.\u00a0So you do need radio transmitters and receivers to control the flash’s output in situations like this.<\/p>\n
With the MiniTT1 and FlexTT5, you could do this via the speedlight mounted on the TT1 \/ TT5. However, the AC3 simplifies this to just a set of dials and switches. Immediately accessible.<\/p>\n
camera settings: 1\/200 @ f4 @ 400 ISO<\/p>\n
Back to the portrait of Josh:
\n– the speedlight in the front (with the small Lastolite softbox), was kept to TTL flash;
\n– the speelight in the middle was set to Manual, and 1\/32 power
\n– the speedlight in the back was also set to Manual, and 1\/32 power.<\/p>\n
As mentioned, changing any of these, would be a simple turn of a dial on the AC3. \u00a0Simplicity.<\/p>\n
I really think the AC3 Zone Controller makes the new PocketWizards even easier to use, giving you immediate access from your camera.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
PocketWizard AC3 Zone Controller<\/a> (B&H) Oh, and the speedlight in the back, throwing the diagonal blast of light on the wall, had two black foamie things<\/a> to act as a snoot to shape the light like that.<\/p>\n camera settings: 1\/200 @ f4 @ 400 ISO<\/p>\n <\/p>\n –\u00a0photo session \u2013 Shawna \u2013 using the PocketWizard AC3 ZoneController<\/a> using the PocketWizard AC3 Zone Controller This portrait of musician, Josh Adams, was a fairly quick set-up. I deliberately chose an area in a large hotel conference room to shoot this. A bit of a challenge to see how quickly I could get a simple but dramatic portrait out of a ‘nothing’ scenario. Here’s the Read more inside…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":30159,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[315,13,833,15,33,1],"tags":[871,196],"yst_prominent_words":[8929,8924,8921,5350,5150,8826,8822,5944,8927,8922,8919,8832,8827,8925,5947,5941,8926,8928,8923,8920],"class_list":{"0":"post-7208","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-after-dark-edu","8":"category-equipment-review","9":"category-equipment-reviews-lighting-gear","10":"category-flash-photography","11":"category-portraits","12":"category-uncategorized","13":"tag-flash-photography","14":"tag-pocketwizard-ac3-zone-controller","15":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7208"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7208"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7208\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43673,"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7208\/revisions\/43673"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30159"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7208"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7208"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7208"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=7208"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nPocketWizard FlexTT5 transceiver<\/a> (B&H)
\nNikon D3; \u00a0Nikon 70-200mm f2.8 AF-S II<\/a> (B&H);
\nNikon SB-900<\/a> (B&H);\u00a0Nikon SD-9 battery pack<\/a> (B&H)
\nManfrotto 1051BAC<\/a> (B&H)\u00a0Lastolite 8.6″ Ezybox<\/a> (B&H)<\/p>\nrelated articles<\/h2>\n
\n– Keegan \u2013 a photo session \u2013 using PocketWizard MiniTT1 & FlexTT5 & AC3 ZoneController<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"