When it comes to wireless trigger systems, there are more options on the market than I can count. For Nikon users the simplest is just to use the built in IR functionality of the CLS system, either with a built in commander function on your camera's pop up flash (like the D800), using a hotshoe mounted speedlight as a commander, or using the SU800 as a dedicated commander unit. This system is very capable, but there are some distinct limitations of the IR basis. Range is much less than radio (RF) trigger systems, you need to have a line of sight between the commander and the slaves, and the signal can get washed out if there is bright sunlght or other competing light sources in the space (bright stage or DJ club lights seem to kill my IR setups fairly regularly) so if you do a lot of off camera flash work, you will quicly find you want to move to an RF trigger system. Once you go RF, there are a lot of cheap systems that are perfectly functional in a competely manual mode, but then you lose all the advantages of your TTL system and you also will still need to manually set and change each speedlight in your system, which sucks if you have to mount them in hard to reach places like the ceiling of a Roller Derby arena over the tracks. This leads to the big guns of the RF trigger world, which for a while meant Pocket Wizard and PW only. Then came Phottix.
Phottix has been making accessories for a while, and has had various previous RF trigger systems, but their relatively new Odin system came as a direct competitor to PW. In addition they also released the Mitros flash as a direct competitor to Nikon's SB910 flagship speedlight. More recently they introduced a new version of the flash, the Mitros Plus, which incorporates the functionality of the Odin Transmitter and Reciever system into the flash itself, which is awesome because if removes the need to set up a separate trigger for each remote flash, you just pop it on the stand and you're ready to rock.
Obviously, given the title of this review, I decided to go with the Odin system instead of a PW setup when I chose to go to an RF system. I did this mainly for a two reasons. The first was High Speed Sync. I find myself quite often in situations where HSS is handy, and it seemed like the Odin system was designed to make using HSS simple. The other reason was simplicity overall. Part of my problem with the PW system is that they have been around so long and have so many options out there that getting what I wanted seemed to be a daunting project. There were compatibility charts and all sorts of things like that, but my brain hurt trying to figure out what transmitters worked with what receivers while allowing the functionality I wanted. With the Odin system it seemed simple. Here's the transmitter, get one receiver for each flash you need (until the Mitros+ made that redundant) and no more thought required. So I went with the Odin system when it was time to drop the coin.
Around the same time I went RF, I also decided to expand my lighting capabilities. I already had an SB910 and SB700. Thus far I have been on a continuously constrained budget, so while I would have liked to just keep buying SB910s, that wasn't really viable, so I was thinking of buying more SB700s when I came across the Mitros. For about the same price as a new SB700, the Mitros offered pretty close to the same capability of the SB910. So I decided to take a chance here as well.
So- two chances on relatively new systems, and so far I have not regretted either purchase at all. With one exception I will get into below, both the trigger system`and my mitros have performed flawlessly, going above and beyond expectation. The only major detractors I will mention right off the bat are customer service (which I will also cover later) and instructions. While, in general, both the flash unit and the Odin system are easy to set up and use in the basic functionality, for anything beyond the basics you must be prepared to do a lot of research and web crawling beyond just a basic reading of the manual. The manual that comes with each part of the system is very bare bones and lacking details on some indicators and any sort of troubleshooting. One good common feature to all is that each unit comes with a USB cable to connect to your computer for updates as well as a flash drive with the manuals.
I'll start with the Odin setup. The main transmitter unit slaps onto the hotshoe of your camera. It is a transmitter only, there is no flash or focus assist light, or any other feature associated with the transmitter. It has a bright, easy to read LCD display which tells you everything you need to know at a glance, and a few obviously labeled buttons. From the transmitter you have full control of each flash in the system. (obviously the availability of features and modes I will describe here will depend on the capabilities of the speedlights you have attached to the other end). With four channels and three groups (a coming update is reportedly going to expand this to 5 groups in the next Odin generation) You can control the flash modes (either manual, TTL or off), zoom settings of your flash heads, power levels of each group (either manually or via exposure compensation in TTL mode) and even set the system up to automatically manage lighting rations for you. The unit also allows for test and modeling light functions as well. Basically anything you could do with your flash if it was attached directly to your camera is very easy to do remotely via the Odin transmitter.
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| Odin transmitter and receiver |
The recievers are even simpler. A hot shoe mount (you also get a short pc sync cable included for use with studio strobes), a cold mount to attach to flash stands, a threaded connector for attachment to mounting posts, an on-off switch, and selector switches for channel and group. There is also a status LED. That's it. Put the batteries in, slide in the flash, set your channel and group, mount it and forget it. You're ready to rock.
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| Transmitted in Ratio Mode |
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| Transmitter in Manual Mode |
Not much else to say about the TX/RX system, it's simple, it works. I haven't found the limits of its' range yet, I think my longest test has been the DollHouse shooting roller derby, and from that I can say that my most remote flash fired consistently on command from around 100ft away, so the range it at least that, probably considerably farther but I have not had an occasion to test the limits yet.
The Mitros flash unit has also been a consistently flawless performer. On paper, it has slightly less power than the SB910 and the zoom head isn't as capable. For the shooting I do; however, I have seen no noticable functional or performance difference between my Mitros and my SB910. I dont really even diffferentiate between them, when I need a flash I reach into my bag and am happy with whichever one I grab first. The only major differences between the two in my eye are the accessories. The SB910 comes with a diffuser as well as filters for Tunsten and Flourescent balancing (and these filters are automatically recognizde by the flash unit when attached) but the Mitros only includes a diffuser and there is no auto recognition. Size wise there isn't much difference between the two units either.
What the Mitros comes with that the SB910 doesnt is one of the most awesome pouches I have seen. The main pocket will hold the flash and still have room for an extra set of batteries. There is a pocket on each side which can hold another set of batteries, filters, or other small accessories. The case has a belt loop as well as rings for attachment to a shoulder strap, or in my case, for clipping to my Think Tank Prospeed belt with a carabiner.
I actually keep meaning to ask phottix if I can just purchase the cases separately so I can have a couple for my other flashes, I like them better than even the Think Tank flash pouches I have seen, and that is saying a lot. Functionally the LCD screen on the flash is as good as that on the SB910 and the controls are just as intuitive and easy to figure out. The flash will function as a master or slave and will run the Nikon CLS system just as well as the Nikon flashes, and also has an optical slave mode if you need it.
When I originally sat down to start writing this review a few weeks back, in addition to my general satisfaction with both the Odin and the Mitros, I was going to rave uncontrollably about the durability of these things. During a shoot on the beach while I was in Hawaii last summer, a rougue wave came up a bit higher on the beach than anything else had all day, and my Mitros got swept out to sea along with the odin receiver controlling it. I dove in and was able to grab it within about 10 seconds, but apparently that was long enough to make things interesting because grabbing the combined unit was literally a shocking experience, the saltwater had obviously penetrated the battery compartment and the whole unit was electrified. Luckily, the AA batteries didn't do more than just tickle me, I was able to wrap it in a towel, get the power switch off and get the batteries removed. Since I had just dunked the unit in saltwater and the whole thing had been electrified, I figured it was dead and I was going to have to come up with a good story about a dog eating it for my insurance company, but I knew I was going to have a few weeks of sea travel before I had any more shoots, so I said what the hell, let's see if I can save it. I got a bucket full of distilled water, dunked the flash and reciever a few times, let them drain, stuck them both in a freezer bag full of rice, and left them in my locker until my ship got back to San Diego. When I got home, I took them out to test. Other than rattling from some grains of rice that must have gotten inside, the reciever worked perfectly. The flash powered up and fired, the only remaining issue was that the LCD was dead, so I had no way to tell what modes were set on it. Figured until I could afford to replace it, I would just use it as is and not put it anywhere critical, just a background light or such. But to my surprise, a couple of weeks later when I pulled it out for a shoot, the LCD was back and ever since then both the mitros and that receiver have performed flawlessly, good as new. So this system can take a hit and is much more durable than I would have expected. Usually anything electronic that falls into the ocean can be written off, but these two just keep kicking.
That being said, now we get to what held up this review for a few weeks, and makes me question things. On a shoot right before I was going to post this review, one of my receivers simply stopped working mid shoot. My first thought was batteries, changed those out, nope. Maybe settings, although how they would have changed themselves from working ones to non working ones mid shoot with no one near the unit was a mystery, but no, all settings were verified and were correct. I tried a few things, switching flash units, turning everrything off and completely resetting my whole setup, nothing worked. I had to just write than unit off, which stunk because that meant I was down a light for a long day of shooting where I could have used every bit of light I had available. I would have understood if this had been the same unit that took the ocean bath finally failing, but it wasn't. That one is still going strong, this one has had no unfortunate occurances that I am aware of. It just quit with no indication of why, and from all outward appearances it still works fine. The LED status light blinks away green as green can be, just the same as all the other receivers. (As an example of my earlier hit on the included documentation- I have been unable to find anwhere provided by phottix an explanation of what the colors and blink frequencies of the status light mean). So I decided to hold my review until I contacted Phottix customer service. The flashes have a year warranty, but the Odin system only has a 1 year warranty and my unit was just outside of that. I emailed their customer service with my story and waited. When I got a response, they said they would repair/replace the unit for $55, but to do that I had to not only ship the unit to Hong Kong myself but coordinate directly with the HK office. So I emailed the provided contact asking for details on where to ship and how to actually make payment. That was two weeks ago and I still have not gotten any response. I haven't decided yet if it's worth the PITA of trying to contact the HK office by phone. As for the unit, I decided that after $55 for repair plus shipping to China with an unknown turnaround time, it was just easier to spend $136 for new unit and probably would come up about the same price wise.
When I ordered the new unit, I also decided to take the plunge and add a Mitros + to my order. The plus is the same flash unit as the mitros, with the TX/RX capability of the odin system built in. I have only used it for one shoot so far, but it also functioned flawlessly. Various reviews of the plus I saw mentioned cycle time issues shooting at full power, so for this shoot I used it as a simple background light and not a key, but it was firing at full power the whole time. Granted, this was a quick shoot and didn't really stress the system, it fired flawlessly for about 30 minutes of nearly continuous use at full power with no issues, I will update in the future if any problems occur but for now it appears to be a good purchase.
So- overall I have been extremely happy with the functionality and durability of both my Odins and my Mitros units. Although the unexplained death of one of my receivers has taken a bit of the shine off and gives me a little pause, I would still recommend this setup for anyone looking for a wireless TTL system. Just don't expect to find everything you need to know in the manual, and don't expect easy repair/return if something does go wrong with your stuff. I guess reliability is a toss up, yours could either survive an ocean dunking or suddenly stop working with neither rhyme nor reason. But I will still use the system, and keep adding Mitros + units when I need more speedlights, and am eagerly awaiting the next version with additional group capabilities.
UPDATE:
A second receiver just died, mid shoot, exactly the same as the last one. Now I really can't say I recommend this system anymore. I need reliable gear. I am making another attempt at working with Phottix's customer service, but unless I get a much better response this time and some sort of actual explanation of what went wrong with these two units, it might be time to move on to Pocket Wizard.
UPDATE to the UPDATE:
Contacting Phottix's customer service was an entirely pointless endeavor. However; contacting their US distributor, Omegabrandess, although it took a while, has resulted in them replacing the broken units an no charge to me other than shipping the broken ones back to them. Turns out one was able to be repaired by reflashing the firmware load, but the second was unable to be restored so they are replacing it for me. So, while the international corporation seems to not give a rip about customer service, the US distributor does.
Since it is a real pain the ass, not to mention expensive, to get the same functionality the Odin's offer, guess I will stick with them for now.
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