RadioPopper PX-RC Receiver with Canon Mounting Bracket (Black)

RadioPoppers are tough to review. Until recently, they cost just under $250 each for the transmitter and a receiver. A high end Nikon strobe was only around $500 for the whole thing, so paying half that for just a small electronic receiver was tough. I paid $500 for my first round of PX transmitter and receiver pair. They finally came down in price to $189 so the sting is not so sharp. I recently bought two used receivers through an Amazon vendor and saved quite a bit of money.The two button controls take some time to understand and the manual is only online in PDF format. The stand that holds the receiver against the infrared port is huge and klunky, but I guess it works. You can also go back to their original design and Velcro it to the side of the strobe. After watching a few videos by Dave Black on action sports, I had Michael Bass Designs retrofit my receiver with a splitter and some IR cables. They work well, but are also a very expensive route. I looked at the Fox Splitters, but didn't go that way.Okay, after all of that, the bottom line is they work great! They convert the IR signal to radio signals, then back to IR at the strobe. I set my tripod loaded with four strobes at one end of the street and I triggered it with the RadioPopper transmitter in mid-day sun in mid-winter with bright snow on the ground from 100 yards. I carried my camera inside and was able to trigger the strobes from my upstairs office at 75 yards through the walls and glass. The radio signal does not need line of sight, solving a lot of problems of the past.[...]The link is a teaser at Kelby Training for uses of a Speedlight and RadioPoppers in sports action by Dave Black.Three Stars: I'd like to see them much cheaper, include a manual and pocket guide for the settings, and the initial setup takes more reading and testing before you get them set up. After that, they work!Hope this helps,M. Jackson

I'm a full time professional photographer. I make extensive use of Speedlites. Typically I bring 8 Speedlites with me on any job, sometimes more. I rely on my radiopoppers to give me absolutely reliable firing of my speedlites under nearly all conditions. And I depend upon my radiopoppers to give me full control of all of my speedlites from the back of my camera or from my master flash. In dynamic environments (e.g. hotel black tie gala events happening in multiple ballrooms, or walking on the Las Vegas Strip) I'll often switch my Speedlites between Manual and ETTL as I transition between radically different lighting conditions. Once I've dialed in the right speedlite settings in the new static environment I switch my speedlites back to Manual and lock it in. I can't imagine doing my job with Radiopoppers.Once in a great while my RadioPoppers don't fire, but it's almost always my fault. Here's an essay I wrote on the top seven reasons radiopoppers don't fire and how to fix it right away. [...]

Didn't work with RadioPopper's JrX transmitter, as advertised. Kudos to RadioPopper's tech support - the support rep spent 30 minutes with me trying to get it to work. We concluded the PX-RC was defective, and I returned it.The rep told me the Jr2 receiver and transmitter were much better options than the PX-RC with JrX - easier power-setting in particular. While the PX-RC was less expwensive on Christmas sale, the Jr2 I bought instead was definitely worth having, just for the elimination of cables and RPCubes, another frequent point of failure with the JtrX system. The Jr2 transmitter is far superior to the JrX transmitter, allowing stop-accurate power settings withj the Jr2 receiver. The Jr2 TX also lets you see the power levels all four channels are set to. That's one additional channel you copntrol compared to the JrX.The only possible downside is that RadioPopper was sold to ProMark a couple years ago, and it's unclear whether there will be any ongoing product development or imp[rovement.

Never have been able to get it to work. What's the secret?

Like I said before - "I can't believe how well these work, no problem what so ever, the range and flexibility is phenomenal! The batteries kinda go quick i think, maybe I should use better or rechargeable ones.I can finally get super creative with my lighting and not go super broke. Anyhow I love this product. Do the research and make sure you configure and set them up properly before you actually get your hands dirty with them."Yeah, I am still raving about these, this is for the receiver but they work together so I cut and pasted =P

No more slave Flash anxiety or 'line of sight' worries with my set of 3 Canon 580Ex Flashes with my radio poppers. They act as amplifiers or enhancers of your ETTL Canon Flash system. If you have any questions or difficulties with the product, you get live, friendly Californians (or Laurent, the owner) to answer them. During this year's Photo Expo in NYC, Bob Davis, (lighting Guru) gave a demonstration and called it a "game changer"...especially for event photographers. I agree.

Great device and I bought for very good price