March 10, 2010

Las Vegas, NV - Just survived a few days of face-to-face harassment (I mean enthusiasm) from the Nikon shooters.  Since we have the first working prototypes with us here, we thought it was time to show some of the progress we’ve made.  We asked Mark Wallace if he wanted a little time with the first Nikon system to shoot a short video. Here it is:


 

First, a clarification:  Not everything is working.  Mark had about ten minutes with the system and did not get to try everything. We’re going to be right up front and say there is a lot we still have to figure out and a whole lot of testing still to do.

71520100309_wppi-6192-7_web.jpgSo what do we have?  We have a few of the first functioning prototype FlexTT5 Transceivers that work under normal i-TTL operation and high speed sync using the D3 with SB900’s and SB800’s. 

So what’s next?  We will continue to build the firmware out to add compatibility and functionality with key Nikon cameras and features.  Then we will test, test, test and test some more.  Then we will continue testing and tweaking.  Once the system is dialed on the FlexTT5 Transceiver, we move it over to the MiniTT1 and keep testing.

71520100309_wppi-6182-5_web.jpg Once we are reasonably happy that we have the core functionality and compatibility working well, we will expand the testing to some inner-circle/private beta testers (they know who they are!).

Once the private Beta program has proven the system out and the major bugs have been squashed, we will be looking into doing a larger public beta.   Please don’t email saying you want to be a beta tester. We’ll announce this program when it’s ready with details.

71520100309_wppi-6184-6_web.jpg






So the big question is “when?”  It all depends.  There will be surprises along the way. As we learned with the Canon system, it is IMPOSSIBLE to peg a date.  If things go well, it will be sooner.  If there are major surprises, it will be later.  We have hopes that this will move along at a good clip, but even if things go very smooth (and they won’t), we’re still looking at months before there is a production version available. 

71520100309_wppi-6168-4_web.jpgNikon shooters, just remember that we have a lot to gain by getting it done – nobody wants this system to get to you sooner than we do.

PocketWizard Marketing