# 5D Mark IV Issues with Wireless Recievers (Pocket Wizard/Dynalite)



## LSXPhotog (Mar 7, 2017)

Has anyone been having issues shooting with a remote trigger system on the top of their 5D Mark IV? I've been experiencing an issue where the camera will randomly stop commanding the trigger on the top. You have to take it off and put it back on or turn the camera off/on for it to work again. I thought maybe it was a communication with the Pocket Wizard because of the channel, so I changed the channel, then I realized when I press the TEST button, it worked every time. The camera itself was just not telling the Transceiver to work...

This is a very big disappointment to me because I have a lot of money invested into my lighting. It's not only embarrassing to have these go down during a shoot, but it's getting in the way of my work very often.

Are there maybe settings in the camera that I'm messing with that could be impacting the performance? Maybe WiFi? I am just stumped here. Pocket Wizard is pretty bad with its customer support as they haven't pick up the phone or respond to emails for 2 days.

Thanks for the heads up.

Pocket Wizard III and Dynalite Baja Triggers both have the same issue.


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## Mt Spokane Photography (Mar 7, 2017)

Every time a new camera comes out, third party flashes and lenses seem to have issues. I don't recall seeing any posts about the pocket wizard, they have had firmware fixes in the past. Make sure you have all the firmware updates installed.


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## msatter (Mar 7, 2017)

The 5D MKIV is not supported by PocketWizard as is with the 1DMKII. Maybe you spend to much money on the 5D and had better got the 5D MKIII.


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## LSXPhotog (Mar 8, 2017)

msatter said:


> The 5D MKIV is not supported by PocketWizard as is with the 1DMKII. Maybe you spend to much money on the 5D and had better got the 5D MKIII.



I am very happy with my 5D Mark IV and was with my 5D Mark III. Sounds like you're sour on the 5D4 for no reason.


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## Mt Spokane Photography (Mar 8, 2017)

LSXPhotog said:


> msatter said:
> 
> 
> > The 5D MKIV is not supported by PocketWizard as is with the 1DMKII. Maybe you spend to much money on the 5D and had better got the 5D MKIII.
> ...



Don't feed the trolls.

Sometimes it takes a while for a firmware update, or if a product is no longer supported, then they stop with the firmware upgrades. They sold a few tons of the PW's, so it will not earn them any points to stop upgrading it, but nothing goes on forever.


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## TexasBadger (Mar 8, 2017)

If you are using live view and quiet shutter mode, it will not fire the flash remote.


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## Mt Spokane Photography (Mar 8, 2017)

The pocket wizard pages do not list the 1DX II or 5D MK IV on their compatibility pages that were updated in December.

That's just one of the risks of buying 3rd part items that try to integrate tightly with something like Canon's flash system. Its very expensive to upgrade them, and PW is probably just limping along financially, the Chinese are selling cheap units that cut into sales. Back in 2014, it sounded like the end was near.

https://petapixel.com/2014/02/21/pocketwizard-plagued-poor-sales-lays-almost-half-staff/


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## eosuser1234 (Mar 8, 2017)

Pocketwizard has always gotten back to my requests within 2 business days, usually 1. With that in mind, I understand when responses take a bit longer. People who respond to emails may be sick, work gets backlogged, etc. Good luck trying to get a response via email from a larger company, or even one of those chinese knockoffs. their cs just does not exist. 
I would rather support a united states company as well, where at least the people answering the customer service emails have a clue about the question being asked to them. 

Bottom line is always know and test your equipment before an important shoot.


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## Valvebounce (Mar 8, 2017)

Hi Folks. 
Perhaps it is because I'm not affected by this issue and am only reading along for mild interest, I read it differently. 
To me the comment seemed more like an informative post with a light hearted end prompted by mild jealousy. ???
Amazing what you can read in to comments when you can't see the face saying it, unfortunately our languages have evolved through millennia of staring at the person speaking where the most remote conversation was governed by the volume of a shout and so our conversations are quite reliant on visual cues. 
It is only the last century and a bit that we have been having conversations (as opposed to letters which took days to receive) in real time or (almost real time) where missing visual cues seem to influence the response. 
Plus we are not all reading in the same regional dialect let alone language! 

Cheers, Graham. 



Mt Spokane Photography said:


> LSXPhotog said:
> 
> 
> > msatter said:
> ...


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## msatter (Mar 8, 2017)

LSXPhotog said:


> msatter said:
> 
> 
> > The 5D MKIV is not supported by PocketWizard as is with the 1DMKII. Maybe you spend to much money on the 5D and had better got the 5D MKIII.
> ...



I could be very happy with a 5DMKIV if there was not the ridiculous price over here. Shops are not allowed to reduce the price and have obey Canons law.

I love my PocketWizards despite they are just replaced by Godox triggers. PW itself has come to a full stop and I have seen no adaptations to the latest models by Canon.

You interpretated it correctly Valvebounce and to avoid misunderstanding it I even put the emoticon there. This is the first time in my life that I am called a Troll and that saddens me. :-[


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## Mt Spokane Photography (Mar 8, 2017)

msatter said:


> You interpretated it correctly Valvebounce and to avoid misunderstanding it I even put the emoticon there. This is the first time in my life that I am called a Troll and that saddens me. :-[




Your comment

"The 5D MKIV is not supported by PocketWizard as is with the 1DMKII. Maybe you spend to much money on the 5D and had better got the 5D MKIII.




"


Some people think they can post a insult and that a emoticon makes it all better, not so.


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## msatter (Mar 8, 2017)

The emotion was put there especially for out people that would read it wrongly and maybe it better not to be that consderated in the future.

I am now even more saddened by this all.


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## LSXPhotog (Mar 9, 2017)

So Pocket Wizard responded back to me and I am just lost. There was ZERO mention of there being a comparability issues and I was simply asked to take my Transceiver apart and see if it's working properly....They sent a YouTube video with instructions on how to take it apart!! I've never seen a company request a customer to take their products apart.

At this point, I'm going to try. I have 6 shoots this weekend and can't afford to be without a functional light system.


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## Valvebounce (Mar 9, 2017)

Hi LSXPhotog. 
Wow that is the most bizarre customer service I have heard about! ???
On another note, are you happy to have broken on Thursday, fixed an Friday and in the deep end Saturday, for sure I wouldn't. 
I tend not to trust stuff like that when I have fixed it myself until it has had a really good test, as in been heat cycled (at whatever heat it may make itself) at least a couple of times, but then I'm not an electronics engineer, I'm a mechanical engineer and I went that way because I couldn't get to grips with electronics! 
Is this a professional tool, if so isn't it one of those "should have a backup" items? Even if it is the old fashioned cord if that is suitable for the environment it is to be used in. 

Cheers, Graham. 



LSXPhotog said:


> So Pocket Wizard responded back to me and I am just lost. There was ZERO mention of there being a comparability issues and I was simply asked to take my Transceiver apart and see if it's working properly....They sent a YouTube video with instructions on how to take it apart!! I've never seen a company request a customer to take their products apart.
> 
> At this point, I'm going to try. I have 6 shoots this weekend and can't afford to be without a functional light system.


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## LSXPhotog (Mar 9, 2017)

OK, I just performed the surgery on my Pocket Wizard III and I'll be damned if the contacts for the hot shoe communication on the inside weren't 100% aligned properly...not sure how that could have happened in the past 6+months, but the issue just stared about 30-40 days ago. So perhaps it was damaged in the Pelican case somehow.

Either way, I'll be putting it through its paces again this weekend and see if the issue has been resolved. If this really was the source of the problem I am questioning the design and quality of this American-made product. PW is supposed to be the best in the business and they used to be dead nuts reliable.

- Kevin


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## LSXPhotog (Mar 9, 2017)

Valvebounce said:


> Hi LSXPhotog.
> Wow that is the most bizarre customer service I have heard about! ???
> On another note, are you happy to have broken on Thursday, fixed an Friday and in the deep end Saturday, for sure I wouldn't.
> I tend not to trust stuff like that when I have fixed it myself until it has had a really good test, as in been heat cycled (at whatever heat it may make itself) at least a couple of times, but then I'm not an electronics engineer, I'm a mechanical engineer and I went that way because I couldn't get to grips with electronics!
> ...



Ironically, I'm the guy who says "always have a backup" and my backup to the Pocket Wizards have been the built in receivers and the transmitter that came with my Dynalites. They are about 75% reliable for me which is why I went to the PW system - in addition to their reputation and longer ranger. So I can't exactly say the Dynalites weren't working either because they honestly don't work very well...and if 1 out of 4 of my shots doesn't fire the lights, then it's hard to say it wasn't just the trigger.

Where I feel silly is that they asked if I tried using one of my Pocket Wizard X transceivers and I was like "wowww....why didn't I try that?" LOL


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## drmikeinpdx (Mar 9, 2017)

Thanks for sharing, LSXPhotog. And please keep us posted on how your Mark IV functions in the future with whatever triggers you happen to be using.


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## kaswindell (Mar 9, 2017)

It isn't just Pocket Wizards or Dynalites that are unreliable. I bought a Phottix Stratto TTL set about 18 months ago, it seemed to work with my 5DmIII and a Metz 48-1, but then I figured out that it was only working properly about 75% of the time, with the flash firing but not properly exposing, my theory is that the TTL flash occurred but not the actual exposure flash. I picked up a used 580exII as an upgrade to the Metz and the Phottix did not work at all with the combo, however the 5DmIII and 580exII are 100% reliable when the flash is in the hot shoe or attached by a cord (just a $15 Vello from Amazon). I sent it to Phottix in the US to test, but they didn't have a 5DmIII, only a 5DmII and that worked with their 580exII. Ultimately I gave it to my son-in-law who uses it with his 6D and 430exII, and will wait on remote flash until I can afford to get the Canon 600ex or 600exII and a Canon trigger or a 430exIII. In hindsight I should have just bought the 600ex and waited on the wireless trigger. You simply can't go cheap on photo gear and expect anything of it, I learned that lesson in the 80's with lenses but now it applies to flash gear too. I guess I just never learn.


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## Valvebounce (Mar 9, 2017)

Hi LSXPhotog. 
Do I understand from this that it was a mechanical (misalignment) fix rather than electronic fix? Sounds like a fix and monitor over time issue. 
Are you also saying that you have a backup unit which you overlooked? ;D
I'm glad that the bizarre customer service method was ok in the end. 

Cheers, Graham. 



LSXPhotog said:


> Ironically, I'm the guy who says "always have a backup" and my backup to the Pocket Wizards have been the built in receivers and the transmitter that came with my Dynalites. They are about 75% reliable for me which is why I went to the PW system - in addition to their reputation and longer ranger. So I can't exactly say the Dynalites weren't working either because they honestly don't work very well...and if 1 out of 4 of my shots doesn't fire the lights, then it's hard to say it wasn't just the trigger.
> 
> Where I feel silly is that they asked if I tried using one of my Pocket Wizard X transceivers and I was like "wowww....why didn't I try that?" LOL


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## LSXPhotog (Mar 10, 2017)

Valvebounce said:


> Hi LSXPhotog.
> Do I understand from this that it was a mechanical (misalignment) fix rather than electronic fix? Sounds like a fix and monitor over time issue.
> Are you also saying that you have a backup unit which you overlooked? ;D
> I'm glad that the bizarre customer service method was ok in the end.
> ...



1) Do I understand from this that it was a mechanical (misalignment) fix rather than electronic fix? Sounds like a fix and monitor over time issue. 

They made no mention of any sort of incompatibility with the 5D Mark IV. They just asked me to take the unit apart and make sure I bent the contacts out further to ensure contact with the circuit board off the hotshoe. I performed this and was surprised to see that they contacts were indeed not 100% correctly aligned...but the problem JUST started happening in the past couple 4-6 weeks, so perhaps I actually did damage it somehow in my Pelican case during travel - I don't know. But I've had a 5D Mark IV since October and this wasn't a problem at all until now...

2) Are you also saying that you have a backup unit which you overlooked? ;D

Yes/No. I was firing 4 lights and I have 4 Pocket Wizard Plus X transceivers and 1 Pocket Wizard Plus III I keep on the camera for its extra theoretical range and Long Range ability. When I was having the problem I never thought to swap out an X for the III...but if I have the issue tomorrow morning, I will.

3) I'm glad that the bizarre customer service method was ok in the end. 

- It was a fairly simple repair. I don't like that I was even asked to do it, honestly. But perhaps that's why they moved to the new design - they know issues existed with this older model.


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## msatter (Mar 10, 2017)

There can't be any incompatibility with the 5DmKIV because the trigger you own are single pin trigers and will work with anything that has a standard hotshoe.

At least I, was thinking of the TT series that has a more pins in the hotshoe and support HSS/FP and needs lots of time by PW to create the timing tables.

You triggers do not have that and are much more basic and brand/type independent.

I have used support from PW in the past and was never disappointed by them and the first reaction took mostly a few days and some adaptation/fixes some times years. No emoticon!


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## LSXPhotog (Mar 16, 2017)

As of right now, I haven't had any issues with the Pocket Wizards since the surgery. I appears they are just very poorly designed and built...which is great.


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## pwp (Apr 6, 2017)

Most hot-shoe items I use seem to have their moments, speedlights, triggers and so on. In the majority of cases it's a dirty connection, often quickly fixed with a brisk cleaning rubbing the gold terminals hard against my jeans.

-pw


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