I have been busy recently, had a great shoot in Yellowstone, now back in Colorado focusing on winter sports. I am also now blogging for the ProPhoto Coalition, check it out if you get chance.
One item I have been excited to try are Radio Poppers, a flash transmitter that takes a unique approach to wireless TTL flash. My set of the PX radio popper system arrived in the mail the other day, and off I went to try them out.
Radio poppers work by converting the infrared signal from my SU800 transmitter to a radio signal. This signal is then sent to the receiver on the flash, converts the signal back to infrared, and the flash fires.
Why is this so exciting? Because a radio signal doesn’t need line of sight, and can travel much further than an optical signal. Where radio poppers really shine is on sunny days. My SU800 will often get interference from the sun resulting in inconsistent flash outputs. Using radio poppers eliminates this problem. The receiver comes with a plastic stand that mounts the receiver right on top of the sensor on the flash. This works fine for one flash, but what if you want multiple flashes going off at the same time?
I decided to use some velcro and mount the receivers directly on my flash, and put three together on a Lastolite Triflash bracket. This works well once you have the receivers lined up right over the holes.
The beauty of radio poppers is you have all the functionality you have when using the SU800. That means iTTL, High Speed Sync and multiple group capability…all with a range close to 1/3 of a mile and no sun interference.
I’ll explore other means of attaching multiple flashes using radio poppers in a future post, and look at some of the capabilities this system allows.