My NEW Yongnuo RF-603C radio poppers

[Derf]

Yongnuo RF-603C radio poppers


Poppin on a budget

I love off camera flash work and purchased 2 expensive flashes, the Sigma EF-500 DG Super and the Sigma EF-530 DG Super because of the off camera optical flash Capability. Optical means that when 1 flash fires from any camera, the Sigmas' will fire. It sucks when your at a wedding and you have it set to full power, it will take 7-8 seconds before the flash is charged enough before they are ready to fire. If I keep one flash on the camera, I can trigger the other flash without doing it where everyone is using my flash (But then I only have 1 flash off camera)


Downside 2 of my sigmas'

Line of site and distance. During the day it needs to be within 30 feet for it to work, your always having issues with distance but it did the job, Just not great. Line of site, I am always struggling with making sure the red face was facing my camera because just a little off and the flashes would not fire, the further away, the bigger the issue.

Shot triggered Optically from my 40D




Pocket Wizards....the Cadillac of radio popper's.... If you have these you can tune to the right channel at MSG and fire a dozen strobes in the ceiling and strobe the entire area. This is what the pros use but they are like $250 a piece!!!! I would need one transmitter and 2 receivers and that is WAY over my budget. They are pretty reliable but because of the frequencies they work at the flash cap and charging may interfere with the actual shot leading to misfires. The misfires are not many and from what I have had and read it is about 1 loss in 25 popps but that also is VERY dependent on the equipment being used. The Pocket wizards are also TTL and that is a big plus.




While shooting long exposure and using painting with light will not work with radio poppers like above, the photo below shows where your popping a subject, this is the perfect use and will same me LOTS of frustration due to Sigma's line of sight limitations. Also will allow $60 flashes to replace my $250 sigmas!!!



EL CHEAPO - Yongnuo RF-603C radio poppers Quantity 4 for $65.00


Positive
VERY INEXPENSIVE
Can use as a wireless trigger (very long range trigger)
Each RF-603 can be Master, Slave or wireless trigger with included wire
VERY LONG RANGE 100 feet plus, some people have claimed up to 800 Feet but I do not believe it.


Negitive
No Lock for hotshoe (Cheap fix $5 lock on Ebay)
No TTL transmission




So far I am in love, Distance seems limitless, I can walk a block away and move my flashes...move just out of frame and click the trigger off, then move my flashes and pop it again and again and again! Sure, No TTL but from a block away I really am not going to use TTL as well! I can not wait for Hockey this weekend! This is going to rock!


I have 4, two for flashes, one for camera and one for a remote trigger. All four cost me $60 and 1 pocket wizard is $250!!!

[eric8669]

Very Nice Fred

I use something similar.
http://radiopopper.com/

They work great, a little bit more expensive to what you are using.

[Derf]

I wanted those so badly but I like the ones I got because there is no difference between master and slave. The radio trigger (can use a popper not hooked up to anything to fire my camera!) makes up for the no TTL but I usually have that setup prior to shooting mainly due to my Photobuddy iPhone app. I do not guess anymore. First time everytime unless I am doing macro work and then the flash is very VERY CLOSE.

[steve1840]

Just bought mine!

[Derf]

Loving my new triggers and have done a few shoots. It has really helped me creatively and made my life a lot easier. One thing about
them is that they do not have a hotshoe lock and I purchased for a few dollars a hotshoe lock from ebay


I would recommend only one type of rechargeable battery, Sony Eneloop battery are the best as they DO NOT LOOSE A CHARGE like other rechargeable batteries. These are important because the flash trigger uses very little power and your regular rechargeable batteries will probably die from non use as regular rechargeable battery will drain over time without use. The Eneloop batteries will retain 95% charge over a year!!!!! It is almost like alkaline batteries as it does not discharge. I find these batteries to be better than any rechargeable I have ever used.



Chargers For me there is only 1!!!


Charge slow, medium or fast. This charger will discharge the entire battery and recharge if you choose... it will deep discharge, recharge and tell you what the mAh of the battery ACTUALLY is so you can see how good or bad your batteries are. It will refresh where it discharges and recharges over and over until there is no gain in performance to get the battery working as good as it possibly can!!! ( had 4 AA's getting abouit 200mAh and after a refresh was getting about 1200 mAh and that was 2 year old batteries that were useless...now they power remotes and my wireless mouse very well!!!

I love my LaCrosse Charger! I swear by it!