Radiopopper Flash!

At last, after having had them for a few weeks, I've finally got to play with my Radiopoppers today!

I got myself a second-hand set a while ago but, with a family wedding along with overseas and long-distance visitors, I haven't had the chance to try them out. Well, that's my excuse - a healthy dose of "fear" might be thrown in there, too!  ;-P

For you non-photogs out there, these gadgets, which consist of a transmitter that attaches to the top of the camera where the flash normally goes, and a receiver that attaches to the flash, allow me to use a flash to light my subject - with the flash unit located up to 1200 feet away from the camera position! They worked a treat!

My usual targets, at the moment, are our resident Rufous Hummingbirds. They weren't too obliging today, only showing themselves a couple of times - they must have young that they're spending all their time tending, instead of gorging on our sweet-water - but I managed to get a few frames.

Speaking of our sugar water, check out our fancy new feeder - my Dad and his Fiancee kindly bought it for us as a thank-you for having them stay during the wedding - and after I destroyed our cheapie version by putting too-warm water in it! The bottle is glass, and the lid of the base with the "flowers" on it, is metal - lovely!

These shots are, as usual, heavily cropped. Flash (Canon 580 EX II) at 1/32 sec, lens: Canon 70-200mm 2.8L at 200mm, camera: Canon 1DmkIV at 1/250 sec, iso 100, f2.8. High resolution images may be viewed here.