Radio Poppers

Radio Poppers

I’ve been using these radio poppers three times a week for the past three weeks. I have no previous radio triggering devices to compare them. Prior to these little guys I was using the canon infrared system; what a frustration that was. Half the time one flash wouldn’t fire because I wasn’t in the correct position. Gone are those days.

I purchased these devices about three weeks ago and have definitely been able to focus more on the photography and less on the “Why aren’t my lights working consistently” which I must say is rather embarrassing for any photographer. Pocket wizards were never an option because of the need for ETTL for my army of strobes.

My setup: 40D with 17-55 or 70-200. I use a 430ex 580ex and 580exII. All I need.

Out of a total of five stars I would give these guys a solid four star rating. Let’s go over my criteria. Build quality, reliability, functionality, and fun factor. J

Build Quality: They feel pretty good, maybe a little on the light side... well of course that is because they are plastic.

One point taken off here are the removable fiber optic receiver. On one shoot my tape wasn’t 100% and the tip of the fiber optic cable removed from the shaft and I was wondering why it wasn’t working correctly.

I had to take another point taken off because of the Velcro attachment. I just have this terrible vision of one of my units crashing to the floor or ripping the fiber optic table out.

Other than those two points (which im sure will see improvements over time), the build quality is just fine. Haven’t had any falls or drops yet and the antennas come up as to prevent breakage. Good!

Reliability: After doing nine shoots with these guys I find that they are fairly reliable. I do get an occasional not fire, but that could be related to my fiber optic cable removing from the little white head or pulling out of the body of the receiver. Over all they are reliable and always find the transmitter. I couldn’t count the misfires because I am way to into taking pictures to keep track, but it wasn’t often enough to be a problem.

Functionality: ETTL which is why I purchased these guys. I can setup in 10 minutes, take a shot and perfect the lighting in 30 seconds. I can move on from there. Very quick and easy. Great!

Also has manual mode which I end up using with static environments because of the ETTL of the camera system can sometimes give me pretty wide variations of exposures (Bride, Groom, Brides maids, grooms men, white people black people, etc etc) Not sure what my deal is there, but no fault of the radio poppers. Good to have manual mode though!

Two little lights on each of the units show me what is going on and that is all I need. Simple and sweet!

Fun Factor: These make photography fun. I don’t find setting up gear for an hour fun. I don’t find spending oodles of time making lighting adjustments fun. I like to go and interact with the models and enjoy the time. For this rating the radio popper is hands down the best investment I have made to date. Go here to learn more about owning a few of these little guys!