Inconsistent results with Radio Poppers

[misterb]

I purchased Radio Popper PX's to run my Canon flashes. I'm working with a Canon 5DMkII, a Canon ST-E2 mounted in the hotshoe, a PX transmitter attached to that, and PX receivers on 2-580EXII flashes and 1-580EX. The receivers are attached with velcro to the flashes so I can mount them inside a Lightware Direct Foursquare, or hand hold them.

I'm having ongoing problems with the flashes not firing. Realistically around 10-15% of the time. Never at great distance. I'm looking for some feedback on whether other people have experienced issues, and what troubleshooting I can be doing.

[PeteQ]

Have you velcro'd the PX units to the front of the 580's? Can you post a close up picture of your receiver setup and how the RP attaches?

Ok, obviously, check and make sure fresh batteries are in all the equipment. The RPs do tend to eat battery power if left for a day or two. I pop fresh AAA's in before every shoot and recharged MAHA 2700s in the flash units and external packs.

I have used RP's for a while now and the while original P1 version had a few glitches my use of the new PX units and brackets have resulted in very few issues, if any. The number one issue I have seen with people I have shot with, and this is directed more towards the Canon wireless system than the RPs, is that you almost always need to run an external battery pack to get reliable wireless firing. If your batteries are even the smallest amount depleted the wireless communication seems to go haywire and you start seeing large over-exposures. I typically run a Canon (or FlashZebra knock off) pack on each of my receiver units as the way I shoot my camera mounted 580 flash is set to provide only signals and not contribute to exposure.

If my camera is going to be providing exposure flash then I run a pack on it as well. Granted I shoot primarily weddings so the pace may be faster than some, but if you are shooting anything more than a slow pace (call it 10-15 seconds between shots) without a pack you will start to see problems, at least that is what my experience has been over the past three years with Canon.

The RPs either tend to work or not work. They just pass along to the remote what they get from the master. If you are seeing inconsistent results I would first look at the battery/power to the 580 units.

Where are you located? Maybe I can find someone near you that can help

[misterb]

Peter,

Some really valuable insights here. Thanks for the detailed reply.

Yes, I was shooting pretty quickly, and only one of the 580EX's was on a Canon battery pack. But that one was misfiring, so I'm not sure if that is the only issue. I'll have to look into the FlashZebra unit in any case. Have you been happy with it? Any major differences/drawbacks compared to the Canon?

Here are pictures of the set up.

[PeteQ]

The FZ pack is fine, the only thing I noted is that the tray is not interchangeable with the Canon OEM units but that is not any thing I am worried about, all my stuff is color coded.

I might try moving that transmitter slightly forward as maybe that could contribute but I have seen them mounted that far back and worked well.

When you get the consistency problems what metering mode are you shooting in on the camera and what mode are you running the the flash units on? Are you using ratios? I hate ratios, I hope Canon loses that archaic system soon....

I use partial metering and eTTL but one way you could check is to run your camera and flash units on manual to check them and see if all the remotes are putting out the same power and you would know that the communication is good. If the communication is good then it may be the way you are metering or something else. Heck space them out and shoot against a wall and get a general idea what's going on. You can usually tell if you have something going way out of whack. I have seen folks not realize they are in spot metering and that can cause a lot of exposure issues.

Sometimes these kinds of problems are hard to remotely diagnose as there are so many way to set your system up that there are a lot of variables that can cause problems.

Another thing you can do is put a 580 on as the commander and see if the problems go away or if you can narrow it down to a single unit.

If you were near NY I would tell you to drop by and we'll sort it out...

[misterb]

Thanks again. I'm shooting in matrix mode, aperture priority, ETTL, no ratios. Will try to change one variable at time and see where things go wrong. Thanks for the offer to stop by. I'm in Denver, though, and we both know what NY will be like in the summer. I wouldn't consider going back home til the trees start to turn in Central Park. :-)

[misterb]

I did another shoot this weekend, and noted a couple of things. First, the battery on the ST-E2 was low. Replacing that cured the failure issue I was experiencing at that point (I had tested it on a battery tester before the shoot and it was fine-maybe the fast firing rate caused it to drop precipitously). I also had a 580 stop firing, and when I checked that, it was not recycling fast enough. Replaced the batteries, and all was good. One problem though was that once the batteries were replaced, the flash lost its setting as being in Slave mode. Is there a custom setting that will force the unit to stay in that mode? I could not find anything in the owner's manual.

For now, it seems like I a working through the issues with the Poppers. Will see how things go on the next shoot. Couple of questions, though. Any more thoughts on additional power for the 580EXII's would be appreciated. I know there are other units besides the Canon and Flash zebra trays. Any reason to go with the Quantum or other units out there?

Also, I found the connection between the Popper and the 580 using velcro a bit of an issue, going in and out of a fanny pack throughout the day. Any suggestions for keeping the unit in place would be appreciated.

[PeteQ]

There is no custom function that keeps the 580II in slave mode. The original 580 has a mechanical switch which is great and hopefully Canon's next flash will go back to that.
And it sounds like battery power was your main issue with the problems you were experiencing, it usually is. Here's why I like the Canon or FZebra units, I can get AA batteries ANYWHERE at ANYTIME. If I forget to recharge my batteries before a wedding or an engagement shoot I can easily grabb AA at any store and be back in business. Not so with most third party power systems. If you have to wait to recharge you could be in a fix. I have never had an issue with power. I use MAHA 2700 batteries and I can usually shoot a full 8 hour wedding with one external pack on my remote flash. I have a backup ready but rarely use it, and I am a flash guy. Youhave to learn to manage your flash power though. I shoot higher iso's at weddings and events like that because today's cameras are fine with them and I can stretch my power. Everyone's usage is different, you have to find yours.

You can burn up a flash with ANY external pack so no matter what you choose, keep that in mind.

As for the RP shifting on your receiver because you are using velcro instead of the bracket, well not much to say there other than it can happen and that little foam spacer may actually block the ir light if it shifts too far.

Good luck!

[misterb]

Pete,

Thanks for the detailed response. Some very logical reasons for what to buy.

I saw something yesterday about the 580EXII having some sort of thermal sensor to shut down the unit. I wonder if that may be playing into what I'm seeing as well. Is there any indication of when this kicks in other than the flash not working? Like a different color on on the LCD lights?

[vigorotaku]

Radio Poppers are just great. I use them on Nikon. So far they can't be beat on Nikon. See how I use them at
href="http://vigorotaku.blogspot.com/2010/11/radiopoppers.html">vigorotaku.blogspot.com

I use the standard Pocket Wizard II's as well.

I know that when you don't tape them up to block out external light sources, they tend to have the same problems that the manufacturers' flashes have in bright sunlight.

I hope that this helps.

http://vigorotaku.blogspot.com/2010/...iopoppers.html