User's Manual
Page 22
RadioPopper P1 Radio Wireless System
Range and Reliability
Please see the Release Notes included with this manual or as available on our website at www.radiopopper.com for a
more detailed discussion of all the specics regarding range and reliability.
It is important to understand the limitations of your P1 system so you may comfortably work within them. You will have
occasional misres which may be caused by a number of factors. Reading through this section will go a long way to
maximizing reliability and system usefulness in your type of photography.
How ETTL and iTTL Work
Many of the misre events you may experience are directly attributable to the ETTL and iTTL systems built into the
ashes themselves, rather than the P1 radio system. Please read this section to familiarize yourself with how your ash
system operates.
Your ETTL or iTTL system works by causing the wireless Slave ash to emit two separate bursts of light. The rst burst,
called a “pre-ash”, is a dim ash of a known amount of light. Before your camera’s shutter opens, your camera’s meter-
ing system measures this rst “pre-ash” and based upon it, calculates the correct amount of light needed to properly
expose your image. Your camera then opens the shutter and commands the wireless Slave ash to emit the second
burst, the “Main Flash” that actually exposes your image.
Pre-Flash with no Main-Flash
One of the most common mis-re events you are likely to observe is the wireless Slave ash emitting a short “pre-ash”,
but you see no ash contributing to your actual exposure when looking at the picture after the shot in your camera’s
display. It may appear your ash is “ring”, but you don’t see any ash in your exposed image.
NOTE: If you are using high speed sync, please refer ahead to the High Speed Sync note on Page 26.
This type of mis-re may be caused by a combination of several factors and will likely occur in a certain percentage of
exposures.
NOTE: This type of mis-re will only happen if you are actually using the ETTL or iTTL function of your camera (the
“automatic ash” mode). Some camera bodies, Master Flash devices or IR Controller devices allow you to remotely adjust
the power of your wireless slave ashes manually. In this case they re at the prescribed power level with each shot
without performing a “pre-ash”. You may nd greatest system reliability especially at longer ranges when setting your
ashes to this manual mode. Please refer to your camera and ash owner’s manuals as dierent hardware may vary
greatly regarding features for remotely setting the power level of slave ashes. If this paragraph confused you, disregard
and just set your ashes so they display “ETTL”, “iTTL”, or something similar in their display.
1. If you’re getting a lot of these misres (anything much over 10% of your images), you should adjust the Sync Interval
setting on the transmitter (Page 20). A bit of trial and error here should dramatically improve reliability.
2. In much testing of ETTL and iTTL systems without the P1 System installed, we’ve found a misre rate of 5% or more
when the Master ash is red directly into the Slave ash at a range of a few feet. It is clear that even in the most ideal