Rich Creamery Goodness

Thanks to Flickr user Eng-Shien I realized shortly after Flash Trigger Cheat Sheet cleared the store that an old bug cropped up in the release version. Really really stupid mistake on my part. I guess I was excited to get it done and missed it in QC. Nonetheless, I fixed it in about 20 seconds and then had to wait another 10 days or so for Apple to clear the update.

Nonetheless, it’s all good now and you shold update your app if you are using this.

Sorry for the error.

iTunes link:

Well, after the elation of getting my first app in the app store yesterday, I have learned how humbling it can be to be an idiot. One of the new users of my app pointed out that the state of the Modeling Lamp Tracking switch for the receiver is backwards. Doh!

No excuse except those of an excited noob developer who missed it in QC. Looking back through my builds, I did have it right once, but in tidying up the code and interface for release I dropped the ball.

Version 1.0.1 of Flash Trigger Cheat Sheet has been pushed to the App Store and hopefully it won’t take long before users see the update.

Sorry.

::Bangs head against wall::

Well, after first waiting for RadioPopper (and giving up) and then waiting for Apple’s approval, my Flash Trigger Cheat Sheet is available in the iTunes App Store! I’m still waiting for propagation to search and the general index, but it can be found here (iTunes link) if you are interested.

Well just a short entry to say that I think the app is complete. I struggled for a few days with tracking down some memory leaks (wow Xcode has awesome diagnostics!) that were a result of my amateur coding hacks (and almost twenty years since writing a line of C). In fact, I rewrote the whole thing to straighten up my commented out trial and error, strange variable and pointer names and lack of code documentation. I also streamlined a few things and I think it’s much tighter now.

Now I just wait. RadioPopper has the app to play with and I hope they allow me to release it with their logo and everything. Otherwise I’ll have to come up with a more generic version that references some imaginary dip switch endowed device (wink, wink, nudge nudge).

Ok, to a seasoned programmer, it’s not much. But to a guy that hasn’t touched much C since college, it was an interesting journey in getting my feet wet again. I really need to do a full review, but I wrote in my last few posts about my adventures with the RadioPopper JrX flash triggers and I am really impressed. Probably the only drawback that I have found (if you can call it that) is that I found myself on location recently without the reference card to set the dip switches on the unit to change modes. I have since scanned the reference card and put it in my iPhone image library, but, wanting a project to learn something about iPhone programming, I thought this would be a good exercise, and programmatically simple enough that I could concentrate on learning the syntax and constructs. No – the code’s not pretty – but it works.

The basic premise of the app is simply to present the user with two tabbed windows, one for the receiver and one for the transmitter, each with the dip switches for each device displayed. Tapping the dip switches turns them on or off, and the resulting setting is reflected in the parameter display. Conversely, tapping the parameter (or sliding the channel slider) toggles or changes the parameter and the corresponding dip switches change accordingly. Since the channel parameter is common to both the transmitter and receiver, those settings are shared between windows. All the settings are saved and restored when the app is quit and relaunched.

That’s it. It’s just a reference (no, it doesn’t trigger your flashes, it doesn’t set the power, and it doesn’t make coffee). My hope is that RadioPopper will like it and let me put it up in the iTunes App Store (for free of course) so that other JrX owners can use it. No, it’s not a major breakthrough, but it is my first app.

Check out the Demo:

First of all, let me say this: the RadioPopper JrX is so good that I couldn’t wait for RP themselves to activate my Nikon Speedlights. RadioPopper has been an incredible company to deal with and if they had the RPCube – the adapter that enables speedlight control in addition to AlienBees and White Lightning control – I’d be totally on board.

Also, proceed at your own risk. I checked, rechecked, and double rechecked my connections with a multimeter all throughout the build. If you blow something up, it’s not my fault. So let’s proceed.

The key to controlling the power remotely of a typical Nikon or Canon (or other TTL) speedlight, is to take advantage of the TTL mode on the flash itself. As I understand it, while the communication between flash and camera in TTL mode isn’t necessarily as simple as this, the fundamentals involve two signals to trigger the flash (as well as each manufacturer’s proprietary comms). When the shutter is pressed, at the correct time, a trigger signal from the camera turns the light on. Whether calculated on the fly, or beforehand, the intensity of a speedlight is controlled by its duration and thus, when the desired exposure level is over, a quench signal tells the flash to turn off. A series of preflashes and communication as to mode setting and other discussions take place, but these aren’t important to the fundamental task of setting the light level.

The RadioPopper JrX Receiver is capable of this through it’s 1/8″ stereo mini jack on the side. The stereo jack provides three connections: trigger, quench, and signal ground, so in essence, all we need to do is connect these three contacts to the proper pins on our speedlights and voila! remote power control and triggering of our flash.

RadioPopper promises a device called the RPCube which will provide these functions. I can’t wait, so let’s see what we can do ourselves!

A little internet research reveals the pinout of the Nikon hotshoe and identifies the quench pin as the lower right contact (if you are looking down at your camera from the top). Obviously I could have butchered a Nikon TTL cord, but chopping up a 60 dollar cord didn’t seem like an efficient use of materials. I did find the YongNuo AS-10A TTL Multi-Flash Hot Shoe Adapter from DealEtreme.com, a Nikon extension hotshoe (I later found that B&H had a similar part that probably wouldn’t have taken two weeks to arrive from Hong Kong – Update: the similar Nikon part is cheaper, too) so I ordered three (for my three Nikon SB speedlights). While I could have gotten them anywhere, I also ordered two M-M stereo 1/8″ mini extension cables at the same time (each end makes one DIYCube).

The construction of the hotshoe makes it very easy to modify. Four screws hold the case together and give lots of access to the internals. I decided to simply remove one of the three Nikon-proprietary three-pin connectors on the shoe and add a stereo-mini pigtail.

I clipped the wires to one of the connectors and soldered the three conductors from the clipped off end of the stereo mini cable. The stereo plug is configured with the tip as the trigger, the ring as the quench and the shield (base) as the common conductor. The color of your leads may differ, but like I did, I suggest you check and recheck your conductors with a multimeter before you connect your flash.

Finally, with everything connected, it’s time to insulate and close it all up. I was out of tiny shrink tubing, and so I improvised with a little hot-melt glue. A knot in the line provides strain relief (remember to slide the existing plastic mount for the jack you removed onto the cabled BEFORE you start soldering).

How does it all work? Well I did verify that I can change the power of my SB-800 using my DIYCube. I’ll hopefully be using it in the field soon and will give my full review of the system soon.

Just a quick entry today in anticipation of the arrival of my RadioPopper JrX’s. I’m very excited to have wireless control of the intensity of my strobes right from my camera. I use this feature built into my Nikon camera and Nikon Strobes (Nikon CLS AWS) which uses infra-red signals to communicate between camera and Nikon Speedlights. This works great in many situations, however it doesn’t work with studio strobes (or any other non-Nikon light) and starts to fall short in bright sunlight or without relative line-of sight (or reflective surfaces). I think the answer for me is RadioPopper’s new JrX system. The JrX system essentially gives me three knobs in my hot shoe to control the power level of three groups of flashes. I’ll use them fist with AlienBees studio strobes and eventually (when adapters are available – more on this later) with my Nikon Speedlights – or any combination thereof.

But that’s not the point of my post. Customer Service is. You see, yesterday UPS thinks they delivered my RadioPoppers. They may have delivered them to someone, but definitely not me. Unfortunately, UPS’s “Proof of Delivery” just indicates that the driver left my package on the front porch. Not much of a PROOF of delivery now, is it. (UPS needs a camera in their little delivery tablet – drop off the package and take a snap of the location and post that. Everything else has a camera in it these days, why not UPS?) So I called UPS last night (I think I was talking to India or something) and they weren’t much help. They just told me to look in the bushes (of course I had already spent an hour or more scouring the yard, the neighbors, etc). I was a bit discouraged, and as is the usual case when you have to deal with customer service, I was prepared for a battle.

No battle necessary. I emailed RadioPopper and called them in the morning. They were quick to email me back and were investigating the issue with UPS. Shortly thereafter I received a call from a nice gentleman at UPS who asked me some simple questions about the missing delivery, and it became obvious that he had RadioPopper on the other line as they worked to settle the matter. After my short interview, I received a call from RadioPopper who offered to send me a replacement order while they sorted things out with UPS. Sarah at RadioPopper was extremely helpful and really wanted to get things sorted (even though the ball was clearly in UPS’s court) and my new RadioPoppers are on the way.

I’ll be discussing my experiences with the JrX’s when they arrive and I get some time in, but in the meantime, for Customer Service alone, RP is tops in my book.

Check them out at RadioPopper’s web site and Strobist David Hobby did a great review of the units.

Tasty.

Posted via email from Steve’s posterous