Phottix Odins for Nikon, or PocketWizard FlexTT5 system, who's using them ?

[TG.]

Just wondered if anyone here uses Phottix Odins, on Nikon, or the PW Flex system, if so how good are they, pros, cons etc, the Odins do seem to have good write ups on the net, however there isn't a lot of difference in the price of both systems now, i also like the fact the Odins have a display, and by all accounts are very easy to use, feedback much appreciated on both systems.

 

[TG.]

Anyone :shrug:

 

[HoppyUK]

Anyone :shrug:

Biggest difference is Odins are plug-in-and-play, replicate the OEM Nikon system, but with radio. Neat, easy, huge range, excellent.

PW Mini/Flex is a bit more fiddly, especially with the add-on AC3 zone controller that you really need. But PWs are camera model specific (you may have to download latest camera profiles) so then you get things like peak-hypersync, tail-hypersync, enhanced second-curtain sync, enhanced FP-sync performance, pre-flash boost etc. Details on PW site.

If you can make good use of those features, particularly good for outdoor action situations, then PW wins every time.

 

[boyfalldown]

I moved from Pixel Kings to PWs earlier in the summer. The Kings were good, but seemed a little too inconsistent. I'm sure there was a technical reason for this I'm missing, but my biggest bugbear with them was I always seemed to be dialling in a lot of -ve comp. That and having to remove a transmiter with a hack saw, due to **** poor locking mechanisms. It was the only way I could save the hot shoe.

The PWs work every time and do give more consistant results. To me thats worth a few £ (and it is only a few nowdays).

Richard - you're not right about individual camera profiles, the firmware needs updating to handle newly released cameras, but this is easily managed through the utility. Each firmware update covers all new camera profiles from a maker. They are only maker specific.

It is worth spending a little time tweaking in the utility as this does improve results, but they do work at least as well as plug and play triggers do out of the box.

The AC3 is a great little addition, but you do have the choice of using nothing, or of using and SB900/800 or SU800 as a commander instead. OK its a more expensive choice, but it you have a spare one then they are a viable and useful alternative to an AC3

 

[HoppyUK]

I moved from Pixel Kings to PWs earlier in the summer. The Kings were good, but seemed a little too inconsistent. I'm sure there was a technical reason for this I'm missing, but my biggest bugbear with them was I always seemed to be dialling in a lot of -ve comp. That and having to remove a transmiter with a hack saw, due to **** poor locking mechanisms. It was the only way I could save the hot shoe.

The PWs work every time and do give more consistant results. To me thats worth a few £ (and it is only a few nowdays).

Richard - you're not right about individual camera profiles, the firmware needs updating to handle newly released cameras, but this is easily managed through the utility. Each firmware update covers all new camera profiles from a maker. They are only maker specific.

It is worth spending a little time tweaking in the utility as this does improve results, but they do work at least as well as plug and play triggers do out of the box.

The AC3 is a great little addition, but you do have the choice of using nothing, or of using and SB900/800 or SU800 as a commander instead. OK its a more expensive choice, but it you have a spare one then they are a viable and useful alternative to an AC3

Not quite sure what you're meaning there Hugh. PWs are obviously brand specific, but if you want the full performance benefits they are model specific. I believe the final firmware release for Nikon D4 and D800 only came out last month, but Canon 5D3 users are still on beta firmware.

 

[mike weeks]

Not quite sure what you're meaning there Hugh. PWs are obviously brand specific, but if you want the full performance benefits they are model specific. I believe the final firmware release for Nikon D4 and D800 only came out last month, but Canon 5D3 users are still on beta firmware.

Sorry but they are not model specific, an update adds support for new cameras and occasional general updates applicable to the brand that the model suports.

What you can do is manually tune to your particular camera / light combination but that does not make them model specific.

Mike

 

[HoppyUK]

Sorry but they are not model specific, an update adds support for new cameras and occasional general updates applicable to the brand that the model suports.

What you can do is manually tune to your particular camera / light combination but that does not make them model specific.

Mike

Ah right, my apologies, I didn't mean to imply you needed a different unit for different cameras. It's the fine-tuning of firmware that is model-specific, like peak-hypersync etc that I mentioned in post #3.

Though IMHO those are the main advantages of the Mini/Flex system, and unique to PW.

 

[boyfalldown]

Though IMHO those are the main advantages of the Mini/Flex system, and unique to PW.

Yep, this is true - there are a couple of others as well though. I still stand the PW produces more consistent and better results with TTL then anything else I've tried. Its also marginally cheaper (when you count the cashback PW are doing till the end of the year) then the Odins

 

[TG.]

Thanks for the feedback chaps

you get things like peak-hypersync, tail-hypersync, enhanced second-curtain sync, enhanced FP-sync performance, pre-flash boost etc.

So presumably you don't get any of these functions on Odins Richard ? i also like the ease of use with the display on the Odins, am i right in thinking the PW,s don't have a display, and is this a big disadvantage ?

Its also marginally cheaper (when you count the cashback PW are doing till the end of the year) then the Odins

Any links for the cashback please Hugh

 

[boyfalldown]

Thanks for the feedback chaps



So presumably you don't get any of these functions on Odins Richard ? i also like the ease of use with the display on the Odins, am i right in thinking the PW,s don't have a display, and is this a big disadvantage ?

I don't think you do. You don't get a display, but you can use either a speedlight
in commander mode or SU-800 to do the same job. Alternativley you can use an AC3 to control

Any links for the cashback please Hugh

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/feature....rd_t=201&pf_rd_p=329127287&pf_rd_i=B001T9NXA0

 

[HoppyUK]

Yep, this is true - there are a couple of others as well though. I still stand the PW produces more consistent and better results with TTL then anything else I've tried. Its also marginally cheaper (when you count the cashback PW are doing till the end of the year) then the Odins

That's interesting Hugh. As far as I know, the trigger has no input into exposure control, which is done by the camera. All the trigger does is convert the camera commands to radio and transmit them, then the flash fires when it's told, at the level dictated by the metering system.

PWs do intervene to adjust the exact timing moment in some modes (as discussed above) and potentially have the ability to change the power output instruction too, but how would they know what adjustment to make?

 

[HoppyUK]

Thanks for the feedback chaps



So presumably you don't get any of these functions on Odins Richard ? i also like the ease of use with the display on the Odins, am i right in thinking the PW,s don't have a display, and is this a big disadvantage ?



Any links for the cashback please Hugh

No, none of the clever PW tweaks, unique to them, and patent protected I believe. Odins just replicate the Nikon system.

And yes, Odin's display is a big plus - it's the key to their operational simplicity. You don't even have to read the instructions This aspect is all a bit subjective though, operational features. Eg, for me, I would particularly like to also use a flash on top of the transmitter, which wouldn't bother a lot of folks. And a focus-assist light, that kind of thing.

 

[boyfalldown]

That's interesting Hugh. As far as I know, the trigger has no input into exposure control, which is done by the camera. All the trigger does is convert the camera commands to radio and transmit them, then the flash fires when it's told, at the level dictated by the metering system.

PWs do intervene to adjust the exact timing moment in some modes (as discussed above) and potentially have the ability to change the power output instruction too, but how would they know what adjustment to make?

dunno is the long answer. I'd always assumed that the PWs were doing a lightly better job engineering and sending the firing signals, but TBH I've no real idea why.

 

[TG.]

Thanks again guys, just something else i forgot to ask, with the HSS facility, can you fire off shots in succession, ie like when you have the flash fixed to the hotshoe of your camera, you can have it on say 8fps (D700) albeit the frame rate will slow down slightly but the flash will fire in succession with the frame rate, will this work whilst the flash is off camera, with the PW's and or the Odin's firing the flash ? i'm thinking for fast action sport shots, ie wake boarding, snow boarding jumps etc.

 

[HoppyUK]

Thanks again guys, just something else i forgot to ask, with the HSS facility, can you fire off shots in succession, ie like when you have the flash fixed to the hotshoe of your camera, you can have it on say 8fps (D700) albeit the frame rate will slow down slightly but the flash will fire in succession with the frame rate, will this work whilst the flash is off camera, with the PW's and or the Odin's firing the flash ? i'm thinking for fast action sport shots, ie wake boarding, snow boarding jumps etc.

In practice, no. The limitation is the recycle time of the flash.

Speedlites will recycle very fast at very low power output, but only until the capacitor/s are fully discharged, ie one flash at full power, two at 1/2, four at 1/4 etc. Then you have to wait a few seconds.

That's theory, in practise you'll probably get less than that, especially if the pre-flash is also active, and HSS is very wasteful of power so hopeless in that mode. Whether the trigger can keep up is another question, but probably irrelevant.

 

[TG.]

In practice, no. The limitation is the recycle time of the flash

So Richard are you saying having the flash off the camera, will slow the recycle time ? as i'm not quite getting this, i thought the idea of the PW's and the Odins, was to act like the flash was still mounted on the camera, hence one of the benefits would be to get the same recycling times, hope that makes sense, lol.

 

[boyfalldown]

So Richard are you saying having the flash off the camera, will slow the recycle time ? as i'm not quite getting this, i thought the idea of the PW's and the Odins, was to act like the flash was still mounted on the camera, hence one of the benefits would be to get the same recycling times, hope that makes sense, lol.

It makes sense, but what Richard's saying is in reality working like that with a flash on camera won't work very well either. Its not a limitation of the triggers but a limitation of the speedlights themselves

 

[TG.]

Its not a limitation of the triggers but a limitation of the speedlights themselves

I see what your saying Hugh, and yes agreed, like i mentioned earlier in my post, i know the shutter will slow down, hence the recycle time of the speedlight with it, but the way i was reading what Richard said, was that it can't be done at all, with any effectiveness anyway, it's probably just the way i'm reading it though

 

[HoppyUK]

I see what your saying Hugh, and yes agreed, like i mentioned earlier in my post, i know the shutter will slow down, hence the recycle time of the speedlight with it, but the way i was reading what Richard said, was that it can't be done at all, with any effectiveness anyway, it's probably just the way i'm reading it though

In your post above, you wanted to shoot in HSS mode at 8fps. That won't slow the shutter down, but there's no way the flash will keep up. Check the recycle times. Nothing to do with the triggers, or on-camera vs remote. I've seen some big (and very expensive) studio flashes run at that speed, but even then only at very low power.

What exactly is it you want to do?

 

[TG.]

In your post above, you wanted to shoot in HSS mode at 8fps........What exactly is it you want to do?

Pretty much that really (8fps in HSS) I was shooting a guy inside a snowdome recently, doing jumps etc, and the light was pretty poor, and i thought if i could get camera off flash using continuous mode, how useful this would be, however from what you have explained i now appreciate the fact the flash wouldn't recycle quick enough for all 8 frames, but i was hoping for something near that, maybe dropping it down to 6fps i suppose, if again that makes sense, or maybe i'm asking the impossible

 

[HoppyUK]

Pretty much that really (8fps in HSS) I was shooting a guy inside a snowdome recently, doing jumps etc, and the light was pretty poor, and i thought if i could get camera off flash using continuous mode, how useful this would be, however from what you have explained i now appreciate the fact the flash wouldn't recycle quick enough for all 8 frames, but i was hoping for something near that, maybe dropping it down to 6fps i suppose, if again that makes sense, or maybe i'm asking the impossible

Yes!

 

[TG.]

Yes!

Thats told me, lol, probably may as well just go for the Odins then.