Pocket Wizards in Asia - Japan

[ricoche]

Hello,

I currently live in Japan and am trying to figure out if PocketWizard PLUS II devices are useable in Japan. Although I live in Japan, I am from the US and I find information like this to be very hard to find with regards to Japan. <grin> I have contacted the Pocket Wizard website directly in the US about their product, but thought I would ask here in case some photographers in the Asia area may have used them in Japan. I understand if you have a Sekonic Light meter you can get a Japanese version, but on the Pocket Wizard front, I have no idea.

Thank you very much,

Jim

P.S. I have been googling like crazy all day on both US google and Japan google to no avail for an answer. It appears all other countries are well represented except Japan. Thanks again.

[ShaolinTiger]

I'm not sure what you mean by useable in Japan? They use standard hotshoe/sync connections.

Are you looking for a Japanese language version or something?

[ricoche]

Hi there,

Thanks very much for the reply.

I was basically wondering about the radio frequencies and whether a license was required for operation of a Pocket Wizard in Japan. Recently there are some popular "Ebay transmitter/receivers" from Gadget Infinity which have a useable frequency in Japan, but might require a license as well. I emailed them in Hong Kong and they said they should be useable, but licensing might be a problem. For some reason I can't seem to get a concrete answer from anyone in Japan ( within reach at the moment ), so I was appealing to any photographers, pro or amateur who might have had photoshoots in Japan using the Pocket Wizards or Ebay ones from Gadget Infinity without any issues.

If correct, I think radio frequencies and licensing are different in some countries, especially in Asia. Not sure.

Thanks again,

Jim

[ShaolinTiger]

Ah ok, sounds more like a legislation problem than anything else.

They are definitely usable in Japan, but if you need a license or not, that's another matter entirely.

I wouldn't imagine you would though as they are limited range radio frequency devices, so they shouldn't really interfere with anything.

[jayhan]

although im not entirely sure about the legislation issues on PW's, I believe they claim to be designed to meet many countries' radio transmission legal requirements - unlike those of the Gadget Infinity.

like ST said, can it be used legally (without breaking any nim-wit laws or regulations) is entirely another issue than can it be used physically :P as for me, i think you can use them as long as try to stay away from neighborhoods with loads of radio triggered garage doors! :P wouldnt want the whole hood's doors opening and closing like crazy when you are happily shooting away :)

good luck!

[ricoche]

Thanks for the info everyone. I bought a couple Pocket Wizards and have been using them just fine in Japan.