LOOKOUT FOR THE RADIOPOPPER!

[d_g5]

Its a wireless flash tool on the way that I hear also sends ITTL and ETTL

information along with the fireing signal that'll control the power of your

hotshoe flashes! It'll be great! Anyone else have any new info on it yet? If not

go to radiopopper.com If anyone's ordered it... how is it!!!!

[Matt Laur]

It's interesting, certainly. It's pretty obvious from their web site that they have NOT shipped any of these yet (hey, not even a photograph of the product yet). Though they're not being specific, it's obvious that these things will depend on IR light pipes.

 

Essentially: whatever you're doing now to control your IR-aware remote TTL strobes (whether Canon ETTL or Nikon iTTL), you'll still be doing. But these units will have an optical sensor (a short hunk of clad fiber optic, it sounds like) that will be bent around to gather some of the controlling IR pulse from the camera location. That collected IR chatter will then be translated into an RF signal, sent by the new hardware, and it will be received by a companion unit sitting with the strobe. The companion unit will then emit an IR signal that the remote strobe would normally get from standard line of site transmission from the camera/controller position.

 

Basically, it's an RF-based IR extension cord that makes up for the range/path limitations that E/iTTL users currently have to fuss with.

 

Clever, because it gets around any need for reverse engineering of the C/N equipment. It's just an IR repeater that uses an RF hop along the way. What remains to be seen is how mechanically pleasant and robust the IR coupling will be at either end of the souped up system. I can see how it would work, in a Borg-Implant-ish sort of way.

 

Of note, they're falling all over themselves to make it clear that these are NOT intended to be PocketWizard competition. For non-dynamic lighting situations, they specifically recommend sticking with the PWs. We shall see! If they work, they'll sell a truckload of them every month.

[joseph_wisniewski]

It's supposed to ship in January, they say they've got parts in inventory, yet...

 

They don't have pictures, and can't tell you what frequency it operates on. ;)

[d_g5]

THANKS! I've been wanting a kinda explanation of them! :)

[frank_skomial]

None of current wireless, radio or optical systems (ETTL or iTTL) allows controlling power of the hot shoe mounted flash from a remote flash. So, do not hold your breath, the radiopopper will not do this for you either. It is just an add-on to existing system(s), or more appropriately, it will be in the future.

 

Radio popper is supposed to translate IR/viual signals into Radio coded at the camera transmitter, then untranslate radio at the remote flash and produce IR/visual signals - thus this could avoid the need for direct line of sight needed for commanding. The idea is great if it works.

 

Since best radio triggers, without any signal processing except channel modulation, introduce delay for non-TTL signals, and limitting the max sync speed. I am not sure the radiopopper will be practical and reliable.

 

Also, it was developed by a single person with soldering iron in his kitched. The site mentions couple years ? Hopes for compatibility, etc.. but no assurances, not even a picture of the product ?

 

Is it another scam ?

[Matt Laur]

D G: I can only tell you what I've determined by looking at their web site. They're being a little vague about it. I think one reason for that is that they're a little worried that people will be disappointed that this isn't a simple hot-shoe-type solution. It will seem a little kludgey, as it must, so they've got to get all of those little physical details/look down just as much as they have to get the repeater lag/performance down to as near to zero as possible.

 

Of course, I could be totally misunderstanding how this is going to work, but since they're only giving us small clues to go on, that's the most rational conclusion I can draw.

[Matt Laur]

Well, Frank, Mssr's Hewlett & Packard got started in a little wooden shed, so I wouldn't allow the kitchen to be a determining factor. Or the soldering iron. There's no reason, within the timeframe of an open shutter, that a well-integrated repeater coudn't work. It's doing it small enough, tough enough, and interference-free-enough and at a tolerable market price, with decent customer service, and all of the other little details that will make/break the venture.

 

I think that if I was unsure of my business skills in that regard, I'd just license the design to Paul Buff, sit back, and enjoy my time off.

[scottconners]

I'm really looking forward to the release - they've been enough in the community's eye that I'm sure we'll know very quickly how the product stands up to the hype once it's released. If it works as good as they say, I bet it sells extremely well. Not to mention the promise of a cheap reliable radio trigger in the future. I'll hold my cash till the reviews are in, but I'm hoping for the best, I want these to work.

[joseph_wisniewski]

Matt - "There's no reason, within the timeframe of an open shutter, that a well-integrated repeater coudn't work."

 

Actually, there is. Not sure about the Canon system, but the Nikon system sends around 60 bit messages, at a rate of about 50kbit/sec using 10 microsecond long, phase modulated pulses. It uses exactly the same rate for its "measuring" light pulses, which are a pseudorandom pattern, and coherently demodulates them. All flashes in a group (A, B, or C) fire the same pseudorandom sequence, in phase with each other. The coherent demodulation insures that only flash light is measured, not ambient light. If a flash fires its measuring pulse sequence as little as 5 microseconds late, it's so out of sync with the demodulation for that group that it won't get measured.

 

So, unless this RF link has about 100kHz bandwidth, and less than say 2.5 microsecond delay for its own modulation scheme, it's not going to work a Nikon iTTL system wirelessly.

 

Look at the mess Quantum made of free X-Wire...

[Two23]

Vaporware.

 

 

Kent in SD

[Matt Laur]

Well, sure, Joseph, if you're going to drag actual facts and information into the picture then we're going to just have to change the <i>entire</i> tone of this conversation.

<br><br>

The metering is the bug-a-boo, here, it seems. Now, is 2.5 microseconds viable, modulation-wise, in a highly integrated low-chip-count device made specifically for that purpose? I understand that optical/silicone interfaces have come a long way. Well, we'll see! Maybe there's a reason that the web site seems to be leaning a little more Canon-ly in their early vapo-chatter.

[zigzag]

This has been proposed for a long while - and gets repeat announcements - time to deliver.

[frank_skomial]

"Mssr's Hewlett & Packard" - this name brings to me warm feelings.

I was president of Hewlett-Packerd Computer User's Club in 1970s. Visited HP, and met top HP brass in Palo Alto. We were using HP2100A, and HP21MX computers with RTC and later systems at that time.

[stwrtertbsratbs5]

I'm happy with Pocket Wizards.

[Matt Laur]

Robert: and the (new) manufacturer repeats, over and over again on their web site, that people who are happy manually setting the exposure/power on their remote strobes should - by all means - continue to use "the industry standard" triggers. They aren't trying to compete with the PWs - it's a totally different market/problem they're trying to address.

[d_g5]

I dont even have nikon or canon.. I just hope its not vaporware! I just actually hope that the low cost version the RadioPopper Jr comes out! Thats all I want! I want a near pocketwizard level of reliable triggering. Thats all... thats it!

[stwrtertbsratbs5]

Matt - The real difference is that I can actually buy Pocket Wizards. They aren't vapor ware.

And they work perfectly.

[joseph_wisniewski]

"Now, is 2.5 microseconds viable, modulation-wise, in a highly integrated low-chip-count device made specifically for that purpose?"

 

Yes. The problem I see isn't technology, it's bandwidth. I can't see where we'd put this in the spectrum. It's high speed, way up at WiFI levels, and there just isn't that much free bandwidth available.

[ellis_vener_photography]

here's some radiopopper news:

 

http://www.radiopopper.com/blog/

[stwrtertbsratbs5]

Great. They have a pre-production version 1.0 prototype.

[ellis_vener_photography]

I rely on Pocketwizards and have for at least 10 years now. I use them to fire strobes and als t

fire cameras.I've independently recommended them for nearly that long. The Pocketwizards

are great products and I really like hoow I can go cordless with a Sekonic meter, and certain

models of Profoto, and Dyna-Lite strobes.

 

Until Pocketwizard comes out with both e-TTL and i-TTL compatible versions of the

MultiMAX, that capability is the only reason I can see a need --for me --for the Radioppper.

[joshroot]

I will second Ellis's statements above as his story is virtually the same as mine. My Pocket Wizards just keep on ticking despite the years of hard use they have received.

[stwrtertbsratbs5]

I'm very happy using my flash in manual mode. So I guess I'm not the target market anyway.

[sagephotoworld.com]

What I want is not this. I want something that works with the Canon hotshoe contacts. Years ago, multi-dedicated flashes were available. Why can't they make a multi-dedicated thingy here?

 

My other question - how will the popper cope with multiple flashes? My STE-2 will talk to as many flashes as I wish to use.