RadioPopper Test Shoot
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
If you haven't heard of the RadioPopper system yet you need to check them out!
I was privileged to be one the first photographers in the country to get these little beauties delivered to my door this week -- I was so excited! The beauty of these little gizmos is now you can finally use your ETTL flashes without the limitations of your ETTL flashes.
What do they do?
It's pretty simple, the RadioPopper Transmitter takes the IR (infrared) signal sent by your transmitter or on camera flash, converts the signal to RF (radio frequency) and sends it to your RadioPopper Receiver mounted on your off camera flash.
See the RadioPopper website for full reviews and pictures.
So why use these over Pocket Wizards or some other sync options?
The RadioPopper allows you to utilize the full ETTL features of your flash with high speed sync at shutter speeds of up to 1/8000 -- others don't.
So why add all this stuff when you have built in IR?
The built in IR has limitations of line of sight, distance, and bright sunlight can interfere with the IR signal. All of these limitations make IR very inconsistent and unreliable -- trust me I've tried to use it.
My first RadioPopper test shoot
I was just itching to try them out, so yesterday I had a friend come over and we went out around my house and did some simple tests in various lighting and environmental conditions, some that would have been a disaster without my RadioPopper setup.
A dual purpose test
Have you ever needed to do a shoot and not had that sweet light you need and wished you were in the studio?
Since I had all the makings of a studio lighting setup outdoors I also wanted use my new flash system as my main light like I do in the studio, not just as a fill light -- novel idea huh! I can't take credit for this great idea I borrowed it from John Hartman - he's so smart!
I've still got more testing and refining to do, next with multiple flashes. Natural light is great, studio light is great, the two combined is even better!
I highly recommend the RadioPopper system -- it will certainly change the way I shoot!
My setup for this test
Canon 1Ds Mark II
Canon 135mm lens
Canon 14mm lens
Canon ST-E2 transmitter
Canon 580Ex Flash
Canon Flash Battery Pack
RadioPopper P1 Transmitter and Receiver setup
Small flash softbox w/ stand
A patient and willing subject
A little Vegas wind and sun
Image Specs
Iso 100
All ETTL flash
Aperture priority mode
Wide open 2.0 - 2.8
Shutter speeds from 500-6000
Flash WB
All these images are straight out of the camera with some minor levels adjustments.
Standard headshot in the shade outside of my front door
Open shade near the fence, sun to her back behind the houses
Here's where the RadioPopper system really starts coming in handy! I'm shooting with my 135mm at a pretty good distance away so I can include the lighting setup for you and you can see that the flash is going off.
Now I zoom in, the old manual way, by foot!
Then for a little fun, who said you can't shoot directly into the sun!
Out in the middle of the street, sun to her back, standing in the shade of the houses. Gotta love that 135mm lens wide open!
Hey, Get in that pipe over there! Sure, I can kick flash in from the front side, but...
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why not back light the pipe just for kicks, just because I can and the flash is no where in line of sight, but no worries I have a RadioPopper setup! This will come in handy especially at night with multiple flashes -- I can't wait to try that!
So, overall I'm hooked and give the RadioPopper system a big thumbs up!
You'll certainly be seeing more RadioPopper images from me...
Labels: Radio Popper, Wayne Wallace Photography
posted by Wallace Advertising @ 11:51 AM,
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