Digital Photography Equipment Review—The PX RadioPopper System
The PX RadioPopper System provides any digital photographer with a reliable and versatile tool to control remote flash units with a fully wireless radio command. Its technology will help you avoid the line-of-sight, range and sunlight interference limitations of standard lighting capabilities. The PX system includes a transmitter and receiver. The transmitter translates the magnetic pulses from your camera’s commander, and then communicates the radio command to the receiver, which is placed on the remote flash unit. The radio command is then processed into infrared, which is conveyed to the flash, causing it to fire in any position relative to your camera.
The RadioPopper PX System is compatible with Canon, Nikon and other camera brands. The Canon EOS flash exposure system uses the company’s proprietary E-TTL, or evaluative-through the lens technology, while Nikon utilizes its i-TTL, or intelligent-through the lens Balanced Fill-Flash. Other important RadioPopper features include high-speed sync to 1/8000th, a 1,500-foot range and no need for cables, programming or a companion PC.
One PX transmitter will control an unlimited number of flash units; however, each off-camera or remote flash must be equipped with a PX receiver. Installing the RadioPopper PX system takes only minutes. Attach the transmitter to the top of the master flash, commander or on-camera commander. Then, mount each receiver to a flash unit, with either the Canon- or Nikon-specific bracket that is included in the system. The people at RadioPopper must be Canon lovers, since the system comes configured for that camera brand. To use it with a Nikon camera, just change the hardware mode in both the transmitter and receiver’s menu. Both the PX transmitter and receiver are priced at $249.
The RadioPopper PX System is very beneficial for a number of digital photography opportunities. You may want to illuminate a scene or subject with a flash unit located around a corner or in an adjacent room; but, of course, standard E-TTL and i-TTL will not operate correctly because that unit is not in direct line-of-sight. Shooting at twilight is one of the magic times of the day to capture above-average images, but because twilight is so short, the flash needs to be constantly re-balanced as the light changes. A RadioPopper will help you shoot some of your best portraits during the ambient light of twilight and from a greater-than-normal distance (50 yards or more), as it adjusts for the fading light.
Wedding photographers will find the RadioPopper PX System particularly helpful when using multiple strobes on light stands to photograph individual and group pictures of a wedding party. If you’re using a Nikon camera and want to capture close-ups of the members of the wedding party, then you may find yourself beyond the 30-degree visibility window, where the standard i-TTL will not produce acceptable exposures. Wedding photographers with assistants will also save time and are less likely to miss important digital photos. With RadioPoppers, whenever the assistant changes the position of the flash unit, it doesn’t have to be turned completely, so the sensor has a view of the commander flash.
The RadioPopper PX System has proven to provide very reliable performance for many digital photographers, even when testing the extremes of its range, such as shooting across bodies of water and in the dappled, low light of the woods. Many photographers that rely on RadioPoppers are also pleasantly surprised by the company’s high level of customer service. In one case, it extended the warranty for an additional year when the product failed to work properly and had to be replaced twice.
Because the RadioPopper PX System is lightweight and easy to use, it will support the professional shooting weddings and portraits, and the amateur that wants to improve the lighting of digital photos of family functions and vacations.