I often get asked by other photographers how I get my images so well exposed. It’s no secret…off-camera flash! I know so many photographers who refuse to use off-camera flash and while people like Jerry Ghionis and Jim Garner produce amazing results, I just find that for me, off-camera flash is the way to go.
Over the past couple of years I have relied heavily on Pocket Wizards (PW) to do all of my off-camera lighting. I always found PW very reliable though I’ve seen some people comment on reliability out doors but I’ve never experienced those problems; in fact, I used them across a large lake once and was at least 500′ from the wizard and it never failed once.
So, what’s up with this review? Well over the past couple of months I have become very interested in what RadioPopper had to offer. I tried the new MiniTTL PW’s and really didn’t like them so I went back to what I knew, Plus and Plus II. Since PW’s worked so well for me, why would I change? Because, I am all about giving my clients the best available results!
I purchased a VERY expensive RadioPopper set-up so that I knew that I was getting the best that RadioPopper had to offer. Well, I received them today and this begins my mini review and first look.
Taking them out of the box you immediately realize how much smaller they are than PWs.
The new brackets for speedlights like the Nikon SB-800 is amazing! I love how compact and well built it is. And the transmitter is so small and is really out of the way when mounted.
Dual Nikon SB-800 flashes mounted to a flat bracket. This bracket is installed on a monopod or lightstand as needed.
I did have a little trouble at first getting things dialed in but it was mostly because I had to understand groups and that the speedlights were controlled, not by the transmitter but by the on-camera flash. Then, I did have to call RadioPopper because I was having some trouble decreasing the power on my alien bee studio lights.
(With that said, RadioPopper is SOOOO easy to get a hold of and their staff is quite knowledgeable! The rep on the phone was able to correct my mistakes and had me shooting within minutes.)
On to the results. My first few shots were all test shots and trying to understand how I could control an off-camera speedlight, while also controlling my favorite studio style strobes, Alien Bees! I am still in disbelief that I can control all of my lighting from the back of my camera. Over the past few years I have had to put lights up and down and adjust to get things dialed in. Now, if its too much or too little, a quick adjustment on the camera and I can keep shooting.
I do have a test subject at home that lately has been happy to be my little model. So I took my daughter out front, put her up on the mailbox and within 10 shots I had it all dialed in…with settings that I normally wouldn’t use.
Here is the 10th shot!
Settings? f2.8 . ISO 100 . 1/8000th of a second
So the question, am I in love? Am I happy that I sold all of my PWs only days before a wedding and swapped to something I was unfamiliar with? YES! Reading the manual is a bit like trying to decipher some Egyptian code. But within seconds of speaking with RadioPopper representatives and what I know of off-camera flash, I already feel as comfortable with these RadioPoppers as I did PWs. I am so excited for the next day of shooting and I hope to update this post after the weekend to let you know how well they worked for me!
****Note, I did have these overnighted so that I would receive days before the wedding to really get familiar with them. I NEVER go to a wedding unprepared!****
