Radiopopper Update: Lookin' Pretty Darn Real
Looks like Santa might be coming a little late this Christmas, but coming nonetheless. Hey, about 87% of you thought this whole thing was vaporware anyway. So this is good news, right?Lots of new info up on the fully operational Radiopopper Blog. That's right, young Skywalker. The Radiopopper blog is now fully operational...
To recap: Radiopopper claims to greatly extend the range of IR-based TTL flash modes via a piggyback radio system in two of its three models.
But the big news, if you'll remember, is the third model: A standard RF remote trigger set at ~$50 a pop with a 2,000-foot range.
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Posted at 4:22 PM.
19 Comments:
Seems a bit odd that they are so "non competitive" to the "other leading brand". Seems to me this product could offer the best of both worlds and they could steal the market. I say the heck with others, and Kudos to the RadioPopper guys. Obviously I have never used this, but at a $375 price point for non IR, TTL control - it's a no brainer.
If this company is able to get these products out the door, and it looks like they are very close with the non-Jr. versions, I think we'll find out how motivated to support the photographic community they truly are.
Upon a successful product release, I suspect they will have PocketWizard knocking on their door with a "lets swallow the competition" buy-out offer less than 1 month after roll-out.
Here's to hoping they slam the door in their faces, and continue their innovation and competition! :)
I am hoping they have seen from Paul Buff / Alien Bees how to run a hugely successful business with concern for more than just squeezing the absolute maximum profit margins out of your customers, at the cost of quality, support, etc.
The web site is saying $25 each for the manual mode version! To think I can avoid spending $700+ to get fit out with PWs AND get more reliability over the Cactus units. Almost too good to be true.
Look, it's still a prototype. Don't go counting your chickens yet. Tons of products never get past that stage. I still say it's wait and see.
I say, lets think of some creative ways to support these guys. the crew that dreamed up several gadzillion ways to make a dirt cheap ringlight (not to mention modding the sweet bejezus out of the humble V2) is certainly force to be reckoned with.
with the digital camera market swelling like it is, eyes are swinging towards what ameture DSLR consumers (thats alot of strobists, i reckon) want on the market, which is of course quality stuff at an accessible price.
Radiopopper? Lets twitter it, digg it, email photo publications about it. lets write to Pocket Wizard and tell them you are flirting with radiopoppers and just what are they going to do to keep you. let's get this thing buzzin and poppin like a sackful 580s in multi mode.
this solution is long overdue, but of course i dont know jack about how to pull off what radiopopper is claiming to have done. but i do know what i want, what i think alot of us, pros and ametures alike want, a product line just like theirs. (that works for really real)
any other ideas on how to help this product become a reality?
Have anybody heard something about this? http://www.microsyncdigital.com/
I just found them on our local e-shop and they are cheaper than pocketwizards, pretty small and made by tamrac.
Have anyone used it ?
Sweet. If I understand correctly how this thing works, you even don't need more than one radio channel in absolutely most circumstances: E-TTL itself has four channels! If someone else is shooting besides you with same one-channel thing, you can use different E-TTL channels, that's it!
Although I'm really excited about this product, I'm concerned that they are using fiber optic lines. I have visions of these cables being attached to the IR emitters and receivers on the flash. Sounds like a bit of a kludge. There was a company that used a similar technique to add a vertical release to their D70 battery pack, and it wasn't a huge hit.
Cheap, long range triggers = wonderful
One channel = crazy, and the reason why I wouldn't buy them. Surely it wouldn't be too hard to configure for 4 channels.
@Eugene Sysoev: What do you do if you want to use these manually? One channel is going to make life very difficult if you're within 2000 (!) feet of another Radiopopper! Or am I missing something?
The Radiopopper guys are brave - I checked the IP landscape (patent) very quickly, and they might be infringing. Foreign knockoffs usually get away with this because it's hard to prosecute.
"Upon a successful product release, I suspect they will have PocketWizard knocking on their door with a "lets swallow the competition" buy-out offer less than 1 month after roll-out."
Or they are hauled into court. I really hope they did a freedom to operate search.
@crash
if I understand well, the MicroSync are not TTL enabled, they're just a cheaper (and lighter) alternative to PWs. The Radiopoppers are so cool because they are TTL compatible.
@DanB: I use Canon's Wireless E-TTL for both auto and manual. It gives me the ability to control light outputs from on-camera flash, which I found extremely convenient and time-saving. Now let's see what Radiopopper transmitter does: it picks encoded light from your master unit, converts it to radio signal and sends it to the air. RP receiver listens to that radio signal and converts it back to encoded light for the IR port of your slave flash. So my point was: if Canon's wireless system has 4 channels itself, I don't really care if my RP receivers are picking someone else's signal. My RP receiver will pop, but my flash will not if "that guy" is using different E-TTL channel than I do.
I want to see the device in someone's hand, with regular old direct flash, then I'll believe that these are for real. That could just be a great 3-D render.
I want to see the device in someone's hand, with regular old direct flash, then I'll believe that these are for real. That could just be a great 3-D render.
'Dude -
3-D rendering? Gettin' a little 'Capricorn One' on us maybe?
:)
@DanB: There is a spot on their P1 page that gives a little more insight about how two P1 transmitter units can "plan nice" together, (if given enough room - in theory):
[quote]
Additionally, the RadioPopper receiver is uniquely designed in that it “locks on” to a “carrier” broadcast by the transmitter. Even if two transmitters are operated together, the receiver will seek to lock onto the strongest “carrier” broadcast. This means if you and another photographer are both using RadioPopper transmitters at a large venue, even within 1000 ft of eachother - each of you will likely enjoy normal operation as your receivers will likely lock onto your transmitter as that signal is stronger. This much the same as a car radio locking a strong station even if a weaker station reaches over from another city.
If you expect to shoot in busy situations with multiple photographers, or if you operate a studio where multiple photographers will shoot wireless ETTL at the same time, check out the RadioPopper P8 - a multichannel version of the P1.
[/quote]
So, if given enough distance, two P1's can be used in the same area, and if you really are going to be bumping elbows with other photos, then there is the P8, (probably an 8-channel version).
A Feb 3 update to the RadioPopper blog site indicates the P1 product development is complete!
http://www.radiopopper.com/blog/
The official announcement is slated for the next couple weeks, and the final product photos, product details & specs will be released between now and then.
"We are very pleased to announce that the RadioPopper P1 units are finally….. DONE!"
So my main question is: when will the Jr.'s hit the street?
Am I reading their spec page correct? You would need a Canon ST-E2 or Commander to trigger this if you are not using a flash on-camera? If building a remote kit from scratch, this could add another $200+ to the initial cost!
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