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I'm looking for a radio trigger system to control my manual speed lights from the camera.
To be clear, I am not looking for a TTL system. I want to be able to adjust the zoom and power, preferably using multiple groups, on a flash like the LumiPro LP180.
I also don't want to use an IR based system.
Is there any radio trigger system which allows that?
Triggers like the Pocket Wizards allow you you to interact wirelessly with your flash as if it were hard wired to the hot shoe of your camera. Of course the top Pocket Wizard systems cost considerably more than flashes like the LumiPro LP180. Non-TTL wireless radio triggers generally only communicate in one direction that allow the flash(es) to know when the camera sends the "first shutter curtain fully open" command to the hot shoe every time the shutter is fired.
These type of triggers, such as the Pocket Wizards, allow you to use a two way communication system, including TTL or manual control of the flash unit from the camera's menu system if both your camera and flash are compatible with the same system. They allow you to automatically control your flash via TTL as well as manually control the same flash units when you don't want to control the power automatically. In general you need a TTL compatible flash to control the power and zoom manually from the camera interface (rather than the flash's direct interface). To put it another way, there seem to be no third party flash units on the market that can be controlled via the menu of a specific compatible camera body that aren't also TTL compatible with that same specific camera body. If the flash power and zoom can not be controlled from the camera when the flash is mounted directly on the flash shoe then I know of no such wireless trigger system that will allow you to control them via a remote radio trigger.
Don't get an LP180. Get an LP180R. It has a built-in Phottix Odin/Strato II receiver, which can control its power level and zoom, if you're using Phottix triggers.
Most of the remote power control radio solutions (RadioPopper RPCube, etc.) do so by manipulating the quench pin signal. But this requires a TTL-capable flash with a quench pin signal to mess with. Otherwise, the trigger has to use the built-in capabilities in the flash to be power controlled remotely either through the hotshoe, or something built internally into the lights. The LP180 has no quench pin (just the sync pin), and no built-in path for remote control, so there's no way to do what you're envisioning with it. Which is probably why LumoPro came out with the LP180R.
