With that digital display came the ability to dial in ‘Over Drive Sync’ compensation on the fly. It had all the promises of Hypersync, but a 2.4 GHz radio frequency and a digital display to actually see what was going on. That was until I found out about the undocumented feature named ‘Over Drive Sync’ in the Phottix Odin.
But until that day comes, I’ve been using Hypersync. If I could afford leaf shutters all the time, I’d be using the Phase One and would have nothing to worry about right up to 1/1600 of a second.
Some readers might be wondering ‘Why do you need to be that far away from the flash?’įor me, it’s all about the freedom to move around the hill or mountain, to hide a flash as part of a much bigger scene, and to give a sense of scale, all while using fast shutter speeds for rich blue skies. I eventually traded the TT1 for another TT5, hoping the larger antennas would help, but that still left a lot to be desired in terms of distance and reliability. The only problem I began to discover was reliability of the Mini and Flex units at anything more than 50 feet. I was particularly excited for Hypersync, as it allowed me to push my pack+head strobes from Elinchrom and Broncolor right up to 1/8000. With the announcement of the Mini and Flex came some interesting new technologies, especially iTTL control for Nikon and Hypersync.
I have continually upgraded as technology advanced owning most of the line including the Plus, Plus II, Plus 3, MultiMax, Mini TT1, Flex TT5, ST-4. If you are interested in learning more you can find out all the details over on the Phottix website.My years of Pocket Wizard loyalty run deep, starting with the first ‘blue’ Plus Wizards. The original Odin sells for $399 for a transmitter and 2 receiver kit, so I would imagine the Odin II units to be somewhere in that price range as well. No pricing has been announced for these Odin II units yet. I know at least some of you are chomping at the bit right now, but sadly the best information I have for you regarding availability is early 2015 for Canon, Nikon, and Sony. Compatible with Indra500 TTL, Mitros+, Odin, Strato II, Atlas II.Group buttons and control dial for fast power changes.That includes the varying levels of compatibility with other Phottix receiver/triggering products like the Mitros+, Strato systems. Also, an important note, is that all of the original features of the Odin are carried over to the Odin II. In addition to the above mentioned features, the Odin II receivers also got some upgrades in the form of a new LCD screen to display group and channel information. To my knowledge, no other system allows anything like this, yet it seems like such an obvious answer to the problem. Basically, no more worrying about another photographer’s system setting off your lights (Well, it COULD still happen, if they had the same channel, group, and pin as you.
The Digital ID system is probably the most interesting piece of the update to me, as it allows users to enter a pin which prevents their receivers from being set off by a transmitter that is not their own. Headlining the new Odin II is the addition of an AF assist light, a new and improved user interface, and a new ‘Digital ID’ system.