Old style Pocket Wizards

[thelawoffives]

I am thinking about picking up a couple of PWs from someone on Craigslist, but I want to make sure about what they can do. He says they are from the early-mid nineties, and are labeled "The Pocket Wizard" with an FCC ID of KDS PocketWiz-T and -R. I am hoping that someone has a link to an online manual for these products, or even a website that discusses their use. All my searching leads me to information for the Plus II model and other products from the current lineup. All I really want to know is if the older models function similarly to the newer, and if I can do remote triggering using PC sockets on my MF cameras (I know that I have to use PW cables) as well as from a hot shoe.

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[Mike Wilde]

Buy something with a for sure forward path. I have been very happy with cactus v2 triggers off the bay from Hong Kong. 2 transmitters and 4 receivers for under $180, I think I recall. Two years of sporadic use, and I am more than pleased with what they do. The only failure is of the user variety when I forget to turn the receivers off and find them dead after sitting in the lighting case after being on for 3 months.

 

[thelawoffives]

Do Pocket Wizards not have a forward path? It is possible that I do not understand what you mean by the term, so any clarification would be welcome.

 

[Mike Wilde]

I looked at pw's but each generation seemed so more software complex. Gen 2 was rx/tx either on any unit, then the ability to control camera triggering, etc and all sorts of options that seemed to go beyond what analog cameras need.

I thought 'do I need to fire lights from 200' or am I just sick of tripping over the sync cord?'

I realized that for 95% of my flash work that a radio trigger with a range of 5-50' and a few channels would be fine. Cactus gen 1 had short range , longer if you dangled a wire from the tx. Gen 2 has good range, 16 channls and fine battery life from my experience so far.