JrX or Wizards

Radio Poppers had The Big JrX Announcement a few days ago. These are going to be an interesting addition to my photo bag. 

For a while I've been using a radio sync for off camera flash that I purchased off Ebay. Actually this wasn't the first set I purchased off ebay. The first radio slaves I purchased had an annoying tendancy to just fire the flash randomly whenever it wanted to and usually not when I pressed the shutter button. They were great if you wanted to turn your photo shoot into a techno-flashing dance studio but otherwise unreliable.

The current trigger I've been using is the one pictured here. I've hacked the heck out of it by adding a pc sync cord so I don't have to use the 1/4" stereo plug and two AA battery holders to hold 5 batteries which is velcroed to the bottom of the receiver. The original battery was a 6 volt battery that looked a little shorter than a regular 9 volt battery. The only source I could find to buy them were from China and would have cost over $20 a piece not including shipping, so I replaced them with AA batteries.

(Side note: Rechargeable AA batteries do not put out 1.5 volts as advertised. They are closer to 1.3 to 1.4 volts when fresh off the charger. Hence 5 AA's makes a 6.5 to 7 volt charge. This receiver could handle the extra voltage. A second receiver that I purchased isn't able to handle that higher volatge.)

This solution works fairly well. It isn't perfect and is a pain to change batteries but has served its need. A fresh set of batteries will allow me to shoot from over 30 feet away from the receiver and last days. The only major problem were "dead zones" where they just wouldn't fire the flash. They happen randomly but the dead spots were usualy right where I wanted to photograph from.

As a professional photographer I've always wanted a set of Pocket Wizards. We have a couple sets at work to share among several photographers, and I have used them to trigger a flash through several feet of concrete. They just work, but they are expensive compared to the ebay flash triggers.

The Radio Popper radio slaves that were announced this past week have been something I've been waiting for a little while. They announced them months ago as a coming product so I've been holding off purchasing a set of Pocket Wizards. They are much cheaper than the PW's but look to be just as reliable. The previous slaves that Radio Popper came out with handles TTL and from what I have read just work.

I think a set of the JrX's will be in my near future. I'll let you know how they perform.