Okay all, we’ve had a little gem in the bag for a while now. Time to share yet another feature of the new RadioPopper X system. How would you like to activate nearly any light source ever produced – including large powerful studio lights – using high speed sync – by radio. Another world’s first, right here.
We’re happy to announce, the new JrX Receiver (both versions) when activated by a PX Transmitter attached to any Master device on a Canon or Nikon camera, will activate the lighting device so the exposure is proper using high speed sync all the way up to 1/8000 with no hint of a shutter in the image.
And it’s not even April fools or anything. Check the video for the setup and a laugh.
Check the EXIF from some real files for yourself. These were shot on a Canon 1DMkII camera, but the results are the same with other bodies including Nikon. Posted here is a real image – the file is copied directly from the CF card. Included is the actual CR2 Raw file, as well as the Medium sized JPEG (we shot in Raw + M1 mode).
CR2: http://radiopopper.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/MQ7H6601.CR2
JPEG: http://radiopopper.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/MQ7H6601.JPG
And if you can’t have a little fun along the way, then what’s the point in doing it, right?
Giddy with anticipation… You thought 580’s on HSS were cool… just wait.
Cool that you guys made that happen! You should make a new video outdoors on a sunny day that shows off the effects of the high speed flash, nice blue skies… The basement shot’s don’t really get the point across
Ok, this looks really cool and all, but, um, how? And how does metering work? etc. etc. Too many questions
RP EDIT:
Once you get past the x-sync speed built into your camera, the light behaves very much like a “constant light source”, thus, the faster your shutter goes, the more dim that light source becomes in the image. Imagine if you had a very powerful hot-light in your shot that burned the entire time. Faster shutter speeds = less light contributed. Same with smaller f/stops.
At speeds under the x-sync, a flash or studio light is normally considered “instant” and shutter speed has no effect on how much light you see in the image. Just consider it a super bright constant light in your scene that comes on right before the shot happens and goes off after the shot is over.
We’ll get some more images up shortly comparing the power of a standard AB800 at 1/8000 compared to say a 580EX or SB-900 at the same speed. The studio light produces vastly more power, and it still recycles nearly instantly.
Soooo … when can I buy those Jx?
Frak! Is this Earth?
You guys realize you just made my day, right?
Tom
WOW,WOW,WOW,WOW,WOW,WOW,
Did I say wow yet? Gosh this is going to make a difference to this wedding photographer!
I wasn’t going to bother with the jrx recievers but the ability to shoot outdoors using my AB’s for fill at high sync speeds and being able to control the power from camera. That is very very big.
would they work with Profoto 7b?
RP> I’m not familiar with the Profoto line, but it will probably work. Overall, it should work with just about any studio light out there, with varied performance on small hand held flashes. At any rate, you would see light fall off on the top or bottom, rather than a solid band of a shutter, so even then even though not perfectly “even”, still very useful as a highlight source.
this will be very useful to photographers working outside.
To really sell it to us pleasse post some shots or a vid using them outside in strong backlight and using f stops around 11-16.
you will sell out if you do this. I promise you.
That’s very cool. I’ve been waiting to hear when the JrX units would start shipping so I can use my Bees along with my SB-800’s (watch ebay for my old PocketWizards!) but the possibility of high-speed sync hadn’t even occured to me. This could open up some very cool possibilities.
Is there a Nobel prize for this kind of stuff?
This is very exciting!!!
A ?
Can this be used with the Nikon SB800 in manual like a standard flash or will this need a more powerful flash to work right for the faster sync speeds??
How fast can i get one?
RP> This will work with an SB800 in manual. However, you will note the light emission won’t be perfectly “even” across the entire image. It will slightly peak then drop off – the transition is smooth so unless you’re shooting a white wall for test, it’s still usable. Generally, the larger the physical size of the flash tube, the more even the light as it burns stronger for longer.
Can’t wait to use these on location for senior shoots. Radio Poppers, ABs, battery/inverter, & foldup boxes = portable studio. You guys are my heros! See ya in Vegas.
Coolness! But … how do you get these flashes to behave like a constant light source? I thought they did a virtually instant power dump the moment they’re triggered … didn’t realise it was electronically possible to slow down the dump …
RP EDIT:
We’ll see how the “compatible gear list” plays out, but some flash tubes burn longer at a fairly constant rate. Some burn very short and won’t play in this new way, but some of the particularly less expensive studio and strobe units out there – it turns out – are perfect for this trick.
It’s like magic.
So this will work for any ’studio’ light? I can hook a JrX receiver up to my Lumadyne and Halo umbrella and have a nice battery operated big soft light source overpowering the daytime ambient at 1/8000 sec?
Where’s my checkbook?
This seems really cool. However, is it really high speed sync using strobe lights??? Those setting don’t add up for using strobes:
1/8000th f2.8 ISO 400
If using a strobe, why ISO 400 not 100, and why F2.8 and not F11?? Why not just increase the power from the strobe and bring your ISO down to 100 & your f-stop to 8???
From my understanding if you would be able to sync @ 1/8000th… then technically, you could shoot outside in the bright sun light anytime and not need lights that are powerful to overpower the sun. For example, with 1 of my studio strobes… I can get F8 @ full power w/ a soft box. So my settings are usually:
f8.0 ISO 100 @ 1/200th which doesn’t really let me over power the sun. The sunny 16 rule is: ISO100 @ F16 1/125th
If I could increase my shutter sync to 1/8000th, then I’d be able to overpower the sun easily if I could keep my aperture & ISO the same. Is this possible with the radio poppers?
So if you’re out side, not matter what time of day… if your settings are: F8.0 ISO 100 @ 1/8000th… the only thing you’re camera would register is the strobe lights??
Sorry if I missed something…
RP EDIT:
Alexis – you are correct in all of this. The big deal with high speed sync is wide aperture. Shooting F8 or F16 will work fine, but you’ll also have sharp backgrounds. The idea is to allow sculpting of light outdoors while still shooting f/2.8 to separate the subject from background and add that punch many people are looking for. Wide aperture requires high shutter speeds to compensate, thus, normally pushing well above the 1/250 x sync.
[...] of a second with pretty much any flash unit. The example that the team have put together in their wacky online video uses Alien Bees, but they themselves say that the top-end shutter synchronisation should work with [...]
RP> This will work with an SB800 in manual. However, you will note the light emission won’t be perfectly “even” across the entire image. It will slightly peak then drop off – the transition is smooth so unless you’re shooting a white wall for test, it’s still usable. Generally, the larger the physical size of the flash tube, the more even the light as it burns stronger for longer..
———————————————
I have been shooting using two SB800s side by side do you think using two SB800s side by side this will fix the drop off problem.?
I also have a large Metz 70MZ will this work with it.?
Dose the flash have to have a phone jack plug in for it to work? how will it plug in.
As for the older RPs we used them for most of the year in 2008.
95% of everything in the gallerys here are shot with two SB800s side by side with the RPs in manual. We shot over 180 family’s with them on location.
http://atthebeachportraits.com/
RP EDIT:
Adding extra lights wouldn’t have an effect on “drop off” as the two lights would drop at the same rate. The JrX will trigger anything with the proper adapter cord. The JrX has a standard 1/8″ stereo jack output also – cords are available to adapt that to just about anything.
We haven’t tested with a Metz, but larger flashes to tend to more naturally work better for this as the flash tubes are larger.
The sample picture is very cool!
Have you tried any other packs or monolights besides the AB800?
Does this work at lower shutter speeds too? Like 1/1000?
RP:
Yes and yes. Generally, if the monolight burns exceptionally fast, it’s less likely to really work with this. There are quite a few lights out there, and more so with the less expensive lights, that burn longer and the trail off of light at the end of the burn is more slow and constant – these will be great for use.
We’ll have some real-world test results and test images posted with a handful of the more popular lights before the release.
how cool
can’t wait to get them
So when are these available for purchase? I do all on location shoots and need some additional lights. These would be perfect for what I need.
How would these work with a quantum Q-flash?
I’m very interested in getting a couple of these receivers to go along with my px system. Do you think you’re going to release anything sooner because of PW’s new release?
RP:
We haven’t tried them with Q-flash yet, but I’m guessing they’ll work pretty well as the flash tubes are a bit more powerful and larger. We’ll release the JrX units once we’ve got a pile of them in stock.
Kev I do not know how you and the guys keep pulling this stuff off but I am glad you do!
Thanks for changing the face (again) of the lighting and photographic industry.!
A few questions:
1. Do the both the JrX transmitter and receivers have high speed sync like the PX’s?
2. will they work with Lumedyne and Elinchrom Ranger units(I guess essentially any unit)? (If so, additional factor of the flash duration of the unit determines how well the light output will be is understood)
3. when are they available?
RP:
1. The JrX Transmitter has no ability for any high speed sync. Standard x-sync limited triggering. The JrX Receiver units are able to be triggered in a high-speed-sync-like way from the PX Transmitter units.
2. Haven’t tested, but there’s a good chance they’ll work. Much more testing toward a compatibility list to come.
3. They’re in production. We’ll release them once we have adequate stock in-hand to immediately fill what we expect to be a long list of orders.
One question: are the AB’s strobing like the 580exII would do in HSS mode or does this work because the duration of light of an AB is longer than a speedlight?
RP EDIT:
This works because the duration of the light is longer. The PX is reading the data signal from the master flash and knows when the trigger instruction is about to happen. It starts the light burning before the shutter moves, so the light behaves like a constant ambient light source in the image. The longer and more steady the burn, the better this works. Shorter burning lights (or those that have exceptionally fast ‘dump’ times) will still work, but the light will be less even across the image.
Note in the example images above, the “fall off” you’re seeing is due to the snoot action of the reflector, not the fall-off caused by the burn time. The AB lights put out pretty consistent light across the shutter speed range.
My Jaw drops – If I had a genie pop out of a bottle on me this little trick would make my top three list… but, I need Pentax support, please.
I heard a rumor that the poppers worked on Pentax bodies even though it wasn’t officially supported. If I have to switch camera systems to shoot these I’m telling you right now it’s a done deal but it sure would be nice if these would “unofficially” work with my Pentax bodies. Can anyone verify that?
RP:
The P1 units won’t do this trick, but they do “unofficially” work with Pentax. The PX units are required for this trick and they currently absolutely will not work with Pentax – however, Pentax support is just a software update away and it’s in process. We expect Pentax support in the near future – we just need to complete a software profile that will optimally handle the timing and “language” of Pentax.
This goes also for Sony and Olympus.
Awesome. I can’t wait until the JrX’s are released.
[...] are a bit sketchy, but THIS POST on the RP blog, seems to indicate some “hypersync”-like functionality with the JrXs. My guess is [...]
[...] feature list is long and impressive. More Information here. Related ArticlesBookmarksTags There are no related articles. Digg it Stumble [...]
Please keep us posted on the software upgrade for Pentax compatibility. I wasn’t going to buy a radio slave and just use the K10D’s built-in command mode, but with the ability to perform HSS I will take a second look at the PX and JrX units.
I will assume the system will work with the Pentax AF360 and AF540 flashes so I don’t have to buy a set of ABs?
Thanks
Tim
why was the transmitter attached to the canon IR transmitter in the video?
RP:
The PX Transmitter reads a signal from the Canon IR transmitter or other master device. The JrX transmitter goes right on the hot shoe of the camera, but does not have the ability to do high speed sync.
Will this work with 3rd party hotshoe flashes? I have a Sigma 500 DG Super for my Canon XTi and would love it if the PX was able to work with this.
will they work with flashes specifically built for short flash duration (like elinchrom ranger AS-speed with freelite A heads)?
will the flash have gone down before both shutter curtains have finished their movements and therefore not get even lighting across the whole frame?
how about the shutter times close to real sync speed (like one 320th for example if sync speed is on 250th). is flash duration long enough for those speeds to get even lightning?
georg
So to clarify:
1. You need a Canon/Nikon flash or transmitter capable of high speed sync.
2. You will need to attach this to a RP Jrx Transmitter.
3. The Jrx receiver will work with high speed sync ON YOUR OFF CAMERA FLASH.
So you will need:
1. Canon/Nikon flash or transmitter
2. 1 Jrx Transmitter with said unit from 1 attached
3. At least 1 Jrx receiver attached to your off camera flash (i.e. AB1600 or 580EXII)
Then you will be able to use high speed sync with the studio strobe or speedlight?
P.S. Thank you so much for this. My PW’s are going on Craigslist as soon as these become available. Hopefully I get in on the first batch out.
Is there any RP setup combination that will give me iTTL capabilities as well as hi speed sync? I’m shooting Nikon SB-800’s and AB400.
RP EDIT:
Chi- You’ll want to use a PX Transmitter on one of your SB-800’s as a Master, and a PX Receiver on each SB-800 used as slaves, then you’ll add a JrX Receiver STUDIO to your AB400 to control the power and activate with the rest of your system. This will provide you full iTTL and hi speed sync with your SB-800’s and there is a good chance the AB400 will also sync at high speed in this combo, though that isn’t guaranteed (you may see some light fall off from the AB400). Thanks for the comment!