Radio Popper PX on Canon 7D

[dwk1336]

Has anyone figured out an innovative way to attach with flash popped up? (Sans gaffers tape). I treid RP Nikon mount which would work with a safety piece of gaffers but would prefer a more solid mount. Thanks!

[macatack71]

I was thinking about purchasing the radio poppers for my canon syste, and was told about the nikon unit as well..My thing is, it's 100.00 more then pocket wizards.. Have you had good luck with the radio poppers??

[dwk1336]

Yes I have had good luck at distances. I have read of many problems with pocket wizards translating ettl correctly at any distance, so I went with the RP's. I dont know if PW has resolved those issues yet.

[danrowe]

I know you can modify the nikon RP mount to work but keep in mind that the pop-up flash will not do 2nd curtain or High speed sync (which is a major goof on Canon's part).

[PeteQ]

Here's a couple of shots of the modified Nikon pop-up mount (hot shoe area) that we used on a 7D. As mentioned, you DO NOT get high speed sync with the pop up which, I agree with danrowe, is a huge gaffe. Hopefully a firmware update will fix that.

[anton albert]

Has anyone figured out an innovative way to attach with flash popped up? (Sans gaffers tape). I treid RP Nikon mount which would work with a safety piece of gaffers but would prefer a more solid mount. Thanks!

I used velcro on the black side of the 7D's pop-up flash and on the underside of the PX Transmitter. I also used two thick rubber bands that I connected together to wrap around the pop-up flash and the RP PX transmitter...the second rubber band fit around the 7D's eye piece. This arrangement is very firm and gives me a very solid mount without fear of the PX coming loose. This also enables me to use the built in wireless controller for all functions. This is certainly low-tech but it works great! I have a few pics...

[flip.photodesign]

I just got my PX system today to work with my 7D.I modified the Nikon hotshoe mount like PeteQ so it doesn't trigger the override to shot off the pop-up flash when there is something in the hotshoe. It doesn't work in ETTL mode with RP transmitter on the hotshoe and receiver on my 580EX II. But works in Manual mode only. The only way I can get the 580EX II to trigger in ETTL mode is if I turn off the pop-up flash to just have the 580 on, but the ETTL isn't correct. I can see it fire but the image is dark and obviously isn't getting all the ETTL info. Then I put the PW Transmitter on my 580EX II to trigger my 430EX with the RP Receiver on it and it works perfectly. Does anyone else with a 7D having the same problems? Do I have a Faulty unit?

[PeteQ]

Shoot me a message at quinncolist AT mac DOT com with your phone number and let's see if we can get it sorted out and report back here. Too many questions to type and try to troubleshoot.

Note to Admin: Why are the PM's disabled? I would rather have just sent a PM with my email.

[PeteQ]

Ok, I spoke with the OP and we walked through things and I have been asking around and trying to sort this problem out, with little luck.
First of all, everything works as it should with the Canon line of sight wirelss via the pop-up flash.
Secondly, everything works fine when using a 580EXII as a master on camera and a 430 as a remote both via Canon wireless and Radiopoppers.

Here's the problem...
It seems to come down to that the 7D pop-up signals only in ETTL mode aren't translating via the Radiopopper to the remote flash. If the 7D pop-up is set to manual output the correct signals are passed via the RPs to the remote as evidenced because the OP can control the output of the remote via the 7D panel. It is only when he goes to ETTL that the signals aren't getting passed correctly. The other odd thing is that typically when there is an ETTL communication issue you get a huge overexposure but in this case it is an underexposure, more like a not recycled exposure but we know it's not because of batteries and plenty of recycle time.

So that's where we stand... It's somewhere in the output of the pop-up and how the RPs pick that up that isn't working right. I guess the question is: Is the wireless control signal output different when telling the remote to fire ettl vs manual?

I played with a 7D/580 combo a couple of weeks ago and didn't have the issue. I am trying to find someone near me who has a 7D so I can do some troubleshooting... Anyone know anyone near NY with a 7D????

[Ron]

You could probably go to the Adorama store in NY and play with a 7D there.